Sriwijaya Journal of Neurology (SJN) is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics. Our policies are founded on the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and the recommendations of the ICMJE and WAME. All parties involved in the act of publishing—editors, reviewers, authors, and the publisher—are expected to adhere to these standards.

1. Editorial Independence and Journal Governance

Editorial decisions are based solely on the scholarly quality, originality, validity, and relevance of a manuscript to the journal’s scope, and are never influenced by commercial interests or the origin of the authors. The publisher guarantees the full autonomy of the Editor-in-Chief and editorial board in all matters of content.

Responsibilities at a Glance

2. Duties of Editors

• Publication decisions: the Editor-in-Chief holds final responsibility for accept/reject decisions, guided by editorial-board advice and reviewer reports.
• Fairness: manuscripts are evaluated without regard to race, gender, religion, nationality, or institutional affiliation of the authors.
• Confidentiality: editors disclose no information about a submission to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
• Conflicts of interest: editors recuse themselves from manuscripts in which they have a competing interest.
• Vigilance: editors act promptly on any ethical concern raised about a submitted or published article, in line with COPE flowcharts.

3. Duties of Reviewers

• Contribution to decisions: peer review assists editors in decision-making and helps authors improve their manuscript.
• Promptness & competence: a reviewer who feels unqualified or unable to review in time should notify the editor and withdraw.
• Confidentiality: manuscripts under review are privileged communications and must not be shown to or discussed with others.
• Objectivity: reviews are conducted objectively; personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.
• Disclosure: reviewers declare competing interests and alert the editor to substantial overlap with other published work.

4. Duties of Authors

• Originality & integrity: authors warrant that the work is original, has not been published elsewhere, and is not under consideration by another journal.
• Data & reproducibility: authors present accurate data and retain raw records; fabrication and falsification constitute serious misconduct.
• Authorship: authorship is limited to those who made a significant contribution, consistent with ICMJE criteria; all co-authors approve the final version.
• Ethics approval & consent: studies involving humans must report ethics-committee approval and informed consent; identifiable patient data require written consent for publication.
• Acknowledgement & citation: sources are properly cited and prior work is appropriately acknowledged.
• Disclosure: all sources of funding and any financial or personal conflicts of interest are declared.

5. Duties of the Publisher

The Phlox Institute is committed to the permanent availability and preservation of scholarly research. It safeguards editorial independence, maintains the journal’s digital archive and Crossref DOIs, and supports the editors in handling allegations of misconduct and in publishing corrections and retractions where required.

6–7. Plagiarism Screening & Competing Interests

All submissions are screened with similarity-detection software. Manuscripts showing unacceptable levels of overlap, or evidence of plagiarism or self-plagiarism, are rejected or retracted. All participants must declare any competing interests that could be perceived to influence the work.

8–9. Misconduct, Corrections & Retractions

Allegations of research or publication misconduct are investigated following the relevant COPE flowcharts. Where errors are identified, the journal issues corrections (errata), expressions of concern, or retractions as appropriate, with a clear and citable public record.

10–13. Data Sharing, Intellectual Property, Advertising & Reporting Concerns

• Data sharing: authors are encouraged to make data available and to provide data-availability statements.
• Intellectual property & licensing: articles are published open access; authors retain copyright under a Creative Commons licence (see Copyright & Licensing pages).
• Advertising: any advertising is independent of editorial decision-making.
• Raising concerns: ethical concerns about a published article may be sent in confidence to the editorial office at sriwijayajournalneurology@gmail.com.