Sriwijaya Journal of Internal Medicine (SJIM) — published by Phlox Institute: Indonesian Medical Research Organization, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — is an international, open-access, peer-reviewed medical journal committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity in scholarly publishing. This statement defines the ethical responsibilities and conduct expected of every party engaged in the publication process — authors, editors, peer reviewers, and the publisher — and the procedures the journal follows to safeguard the integrity of the published record.

The journal's policies are explicitly aligned with the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the principles of the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). These standards correspond to the ethical and governance criteria required for indexing by major international databases such as Scopus and the Web of Science. Where an ethical question is not addressed by this statement, SJIM is guided by the relevant COPE guidance and flowcharts.

1. Editorial Independence and Journal Governance

Editorial decisions at SJIM are made solely on the basis of scholarly merit and are free from interference by the publisher, advertisers, sponsors, professional societies, or any commercial interest. The publisher guarantees the autonomy of the Editor-in-Chief and the editorial board in all matters of content. Decisions to accept or reject a manuscript are never influenced by the origin of the work, the standing of the authors, or any commercial consideration, including the Article Processing Charge.

Responsibilities at a Glance

2. Duties of Editors

Publication Decisions and Fair Play

The Editor-in-Chief holds final responsibility for deciding which submitted manuscripts are accepted for publication. Decisions are driven exclusively by the clinical significance, scientific validity, methodological rigour, originality, and relevance of the work to the journal's scope. Manuscripts are evaluated on their intellectual content without regard to the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, institutional affiliation, or political philosophy. Editors are bound by the legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, the assigned and potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate. Submitted manuscripts are treated as privileged and confidential communications and may not be used for an editor's own research without the explicit written consent of the authors.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a competing interest arising from collaborative, competitive, financial, or personal relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the work, and must arrange for an alternative member of the editorial board to manage such submissions.

Ethical Oversight

Editors critically assess the ethical conduct of all submitted research. Any study involving human participants must explicitly state compliance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki, and editors verify that appropriate ethics-committee approval and informed consent have been documented. Editors will not consider, and may reject without further review, manuscripts for which adequate ethical clearance cannot be demonstrated.

Integrity of the Published Record and Post-Publication Vigilance

Editors are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the academic record. When genuine errors, ethical concerns, or evidence of misconduct come to light, editors act promptly and proportionately — issuing corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions in accordance with COPE guidance — and publish such notices clearly and without undue delay. Every reported case of unethical publishing behaviour is investigated, even when discovered years after publication.

3. Duties of Reviewers

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through constructive communication with the author, may also help the author improve the manuscript. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication and lies at the heart of the scientific method.

• Promptness. Any invited reviewer who feels unqualified, or who knows that a prompt review will be impossible, should notify the editor without delay and decline the invitation.
• Confidentiality. Manuscripts received for review are confidential documents; they must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorised by the editor, and copies must not be retained.
• Use of AI in review. Reviewers must not upload a submitted manuscript, or any part of it, to generative artificial-intelligence tools or other third-party platforms, as doing so breaches confidentiality. Any AI-assisted use must be disclosed; reviewers remain fully responsible for the content and impartiality of their reports.
• Objectivity. Reviews must be objective and supported by specific, evidence-based arguments; personal criticism of authors is strictly prohibited.
• Acknowledgement of sources. Reviewers should identify relevant published work not cited by the authors and alert the editor to any substantial overlap with other published work.
• Conflicts of interest. Reviewers must decline manuscripts in which they have competitive, collaborative, financial, or other conflicts with the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the work.

4. Duties of Authors

Reporting Standards, Originality, and Data

Authors reporting original research must present an accurate account of the work performed together with an objective discussion of its significance; underlying data must be represented accurately and in sufficient detail to permit replication. Reporting should conform to the recognised reporting guideline appropriate to the study design (CONSORT, STROBE, STARD, PRISMA, CARE). The work must be entirely original, with all sources appropriately cited; all submissions are screened with similarity-detection software. Authors should retain the underlying data for a reasonable period and provide access on reasonable request, subject to patient confidentiality. Authors must not submit the same research to more than one journal concurrently.

Authorship and CRediT

Authorship is limited to those meeting the four ICMJE criteria; all who qualify must be listed and all others acknowledged. The corresponding author ensures every qualifying author is included and has approved the final version. Any change to authorship after submission requires the written agreement of all authors and the editor's approval. Contributions are declared using the CRediT taxonomy.

Disclosure of the Use of Artificial Intelligence

Any use of generative AI tools or large language models in preparing a manuscript must be disclosed in the methods or acknowledgements, specifying the tool and the manner of its use. AI tools cannot be listed as authors, since they cannot accept responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, or originality of the work; authors remain fully accountable for all content.

Human Subjects, Ethical Approval, and Consent

For studies involving human participants, authors must confirm approval by an appropriate Institutional Review Board or research ethics committee, cite the approval number, confirm compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and confirm that written informed consent was obtained. Where a participant lacks decision-making capacity (for example, the critically ill or unconscious adult), consent must be obtained from a legally authorised representative, with the participant's assent sought wherever possible. For experiments involving animals, authors must confirm compliance with applicable guidelines, report per the ARRIVE guidelines, and state the approval number.

Clinical Trial Registration, Funding, and Errors

In accordance with ICMJE policy, clinical trials must be prospectively registered in a recognised public registry before recruitment of the first participant, and the registration number must appear in the abstract and at the end of the manuscript. All authors must disclose any financial or other conflict of interest and all sources of funding, including industry funding and the role of any sponsor. An author who discovers a significant error in their published work must promptly notify the editor and cooperate in its correction or retraction.

5. Duties of the Publisher

Phlox Institute, as the publisher of SJIM, safeguards the integrity of the scholarly record, respects the editorial independence of the journal, provides the editorial and technical infrastructure necessary to detect and respond to research and publication misconduct, assists in communications with other journals and institutions where required by an investigation, and is committed to the permanent preservation and continued availability of published scholarship through reliable digital archiving.

6–7. Plagiarism Screening & Competing Interests

Every submitted manuscript is screened for textual similarity before peer review and again before acceptance; manuscripts containing plagiarised or improperly recycled content are handled per COPE guidance and may be rejected or, if published, corrected or retracted (see the Plagiarism Policy). All parties — authors, reviewers, and editors — must declare any relationship or interest that could be perceived to bias their work; declared interests are managed transparently to protect editorial objectivity.

8–9. Misconduct, Corrections & Retractions

SJIM welcomes substantive appeals and complaints, addressed to the Editor-in-Chief. Allegations of misconduct are investigated impartially per the relevant COPE flowcharts, whenever the concern is raised; authors are given a fair opportunity to respond, confidentiality is protected, and matters may be referred to institutions or regulators where appropriate. The journal maintains the published record through timely corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern, each linked to the original article, clearly labelled, and freely available.

10–13. Data Sharing, IP, Advertising & Reporting Concerns

• Data sharing. Authors include a data-availability statement describing whether, where, and under what conditions the underlying data can be accessed, consistent with patient privacy and applicable law.
• Intellectual property & open access. Articles are distributed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; authors retain copyright. Permission must be obtained for any reused material.
• Advertising. Any advertising is kept entirely separate from editorial decision-making and has no influence on content.
• Reporting concerns. Concerns regarding publication ethics may be raised in confidence with the editorial office at sjim.editor@gmail.com; all concerns are handled in accordance with this statement.