Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Smart Medical Journal (2621-1408 (Print) 2621-0916 (Online)) is a peer-reviewed electronic journal. This statement clarifies the ethical behavior of all parties involved in the act of publishing an article in this journal, including the author, the chief editor, the Editorial Board, the peer-reviewer­­­­­ and the publisher (Faculty of Medicine Universitas Sebelas Maret Surakarta, Indonesia ). This statement is based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

Ethical Guideline for Journal Publication

The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed Smart Medical Journal is an essential building block in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. It is a direct reflection of the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles support and embody the scientific method. It is therefore important to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer, the publisher, and the society.  

Faculty of Medicine Universitas Sebelas Maret Surakarta as the publisher of Smart Medical Journal takes its duties of guardianship over all stages of publishing extremely seriously and we recognize our ethical and other responsibilities. We are committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on editorial decisions. In addition, the Faculty of Medicine Universitas Sebelas Maret Surakarta and Editorial Board will assist in communications with other journals and/or publishers where this is useful and necessary.

Publication decisions

The editor of the Smart Medical Journal is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always drive such decisions. The editors may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editors may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Fair play

An editor at any time evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality

The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions 

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

Promptness 

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Confidentiality 

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity 

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of Sources 

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest 

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Duties of Authors

Reporting standards 

Author's reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention 

Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data (consistent with the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases), if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Originality and Plagiarism 

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication 

An author should not, in general, publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of Sources 

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper 

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects 

If the work involves chemicals, human, animals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest 

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or another substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Plagiarism policy

Plagiarism Policy

Smart Medical Journal does not accept plagiarism in any form. Plagiarism includes:

• taking all or part of another person's work without citing the source properly;
• rewriting all or part of another person's work without using one's own words, even when the source is cited;
• reusing all or part of the authors' own published work without proper citation (self-plagiarism or text recycling);
• submitting a manuscript that has been published, or is under consideration, elsewhere (duplicate submission).

Identification. All submissions are checked with Turnitin at initial screening and again after revision, before publication. The editor reads the full similarity report rather than relying on the percentage alone. Matches in the reference list, correctly quoted and cited text, and standard methodological phrases are excluded.

Classification and handling before publication

• Overall similarity of 25% or less, with no substantial block of text from a single source: the manuscript proceeds.
• Overall similarity above 25%, or a substantial block of text taken from a single source: the manuscript is returned to the authors for rewriting, or declined.
• Evidence of deliberate plagiarism, including plagiarism of ideas, data, or figures: the manuscript is declined, and the editor may inform the authors' institution.

After publication. Plagiarism found in a published article is handled under the Allegations of Research Misconduct and the Correction, Retraction, and Withdrawal policies. Depending on its seriousness, it leads to a correction or a retraction.

Indexing

Google Scholar 

Dimensions

Portal Garuda

Sinta

AI Policy

Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

This policy sets out how authors, editors, and reviewers of Smart Medical Journal may and may not use artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including generative AI and large language models. It applies to all manuscripts submitted to the journal.

1. Authors

1. AI tools cannot be listed as an author or co-author, because they cannot take responsibility for the work, approve the final manuscript, or be accountable for its integrity.
2. Authors may use AI tools to improve the language and readability of their manuscript, under human oversight. Authors must check all AI-assisted text carefully.
3. Authors must not use AI tools to generate or alter research data, results, images, or figures, to create references, or to replace their own scientific interpretation and conclusions. If AI is part of the research method itself (for example, a machine-learning model used for analysis), it must be described in the Methods in enough detail to be reproduced.
4. Every manuscript must include a Declaration of AI Use before the References, stating whether AI tools were used. If they were, the declaration names the tool and version, the purpose, and the sections involved. Spelling and grammar checkers built into word processors need not be described, but the declaration is still required.
5. Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, confidentiality, and integrity of the whole manuscript, including content produced with the help of AI. Undisclosed use of AI is handled under the Allegations of Research Misconduct policy.

2. Editors

1. Editorial decisions are made by human editors. Editors must not use AI tools to evaluate manuscripts, to make or justify editorial decisions, or to write decision letters.
2. Editors must not upload a manuscript, or any part of it, to an AI tool, because this breaches the confidentiality of the review process.
3. If an editor uses an AI-assisted tool for a technical task on an accepted manuscript, such as language polishing or reference formatting, the editor must disclose this to the Editor-in-Chief and to the authors. Editors remain responsible for every decision and every change made to the manuscript.

3. Reviewers

1. Reviewers are prohibited from using AI tools at any stage of peer review. This includes using AI to analyze or assess a manuscript, to draft or edit review comments, and uploading a manuscript or any part of it into an AI application.
2. A review found to have been produced with AI will be discarded, and the reviewer may be removed from the journal's reviewer list.

4. Example declarations

• "The authors declare that no generative AI tools were used in the preparation of this manuscript."
• "During the preparation of this work, the authors used [tool name, version] to [purpose, e.g., improve the language of the Discussion]. After using this tool, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the publication."

This policy follows the COPE position statement on authorship and AI tools and the Indonesian technical guidelines for scientific journal accreditation (Decree of the Director General of Science and Technology No. 374/DST/D.D1/HM.01.01/2026).

Types of Manuscript

Types of Manuscript

Smart Medical Journal publishes the article types below. Original research articles make up at least 60% of the articles in every issue.

1. Original research article: reports of original research in basic medical sciences, clinical medical sciences, public health, or medical education. Structure: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion.
2. Systematic review and meta-analysis: systematic reviews reported according to the PRISMA 2020 statement; registration in PROSPERO or a similar registry is recommended. Narrative reviews, scoping reviews, and bibliometric analyses are considered only when they give a comprehensive, up-to-date synthesis and include a section with the authors' own critical analysis.
3. Case report and case series: reports of rare or instructive cases that add to clinical knowledge, written according to the CARE guidelines. Written informed consent for publication from the patient or guardian is required. Structure: Abstract, Introduction, Case Presentation, Discussion, Conclusion.
4. Brief communication: short reports of preliminary findings, new diagnostic procedures or treatments, or health-system issues of immediate importance.
5. Letter to the Editor: comments on articles published in Smart Medical Journal (see Post-Publication Discussion).

All article types go through double-blind peer review. Letters to the Editor are assessed by the editors and may be sent for review.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship and Contributorship

Smart Medical Journal follows the authorship criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Every author must meet all four criteria:

1. substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
2. drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
3. final approval of the version to be published; and
4. agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, so that questions about its accuracy or integrity are properly investigated and resolved.

Contributors who do not meet all four criteria, for example those who only provided funding, general supervision, help with data collection, or language editing, are listed in the Acknowledgements with their permission.

Author contribution statement. Every article includes an Author Contributions statement that describes each author's role using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) terms, for example: "Conceptualization: A.B., C.D.; Methodology: A.B.; Formal analysis: C.D.; Writing – original draft: A.B.; Writing – review and editing: all authors. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript."

Corresponding author. The corresponding author handles communication with the journal during submission, peer review, and after publication, and confirms that all authors have approved the submission.

Changes to authorship. Any addition, removal, or change in the order of authors after submission requires a written request to the editor that explains the reason and is signed by all authors, including any author being added or removed. Authors may not be added after acceptance without a clear and logical justification approved by the Editor-in-Chief.

Unacceptable practices. Gift, guest, and ghost authorship are not allowed. AI tools cannot be listed as authors (see AI Policy). Author names and affiliations must be genuine and given with the consent of the people concerned. Using a fictitious identity, or listing a person as an author without his or her consent, is treated as research misconduct.

Conflict of Interest

Conflict of Interest (Competing Interests)

A conflict of interest exists when financial, personal, academic, or institutional relationships could influence, or appear to influence, a person's judgment about a manuscript. Smart Medical Journal requires authors, reviewers, and editors to disclose such conflicts so that they can be managed openly.

Authors must declare all relevant conflicts of interest, including employment, consultancies, grants, honoraria, patents, shareholdings, and personal or professional relationships that could influence the work. Every article includes a Conflict of Interest statement. If there is none, authors write: "The authors declare no conflict of interest."

Reviewers must decline the invitation, or inform the editor, if they:

• work at the same institution as any of the authors;
• have collaborated or published with any of the authors within the last three years;
• have a close personal relationship or rivalry with any of the authors;
• have a financial interest in the subject of the manuscript.

Editors must not handle a manuscript in which they have a conflict of interest; such a manuscript is reassigned to another editor. A manuscript authored by a member of the Editorial Team is handled by an independent editor, and the author-editor has no access to its review.

Undisclosed conflicts found after submission or publication are handled under the Allegations of Research Misconduct policy and may lead to a correction or retraction.

Allegations of Research Misconduct

Allegations of Research Misconduct

Smart Medical Journal takes every allegation of research or publication misconduct seriously and handles it in line with the COPE flowcharts.

What counts as misconduct. Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

• fabrication: making up data or results;
• falsification: manipulating research materials, processes, data, or images;
• plagiarism (see Plagiarism Policy);
• unauthorized authorship, including gift, guest, or ghost authorship and listing a person without consent;
• undisclosed conflicts of interest;
• duplicate submission or redundant publication;
• citation manipulation;
• research carried out without the required ethical approval or informed consent;
• use of AI tools contrary to the AI Policy.

How to report a concern. Anyone may report a concern to the Editor-in-Chief at [[email address]]. A report should identify the article or manuscript and describe the concern with supporting evidence. The identity of the person raising the concern is kept confidential. Anonymous reports are considered if they contain sufficient evidence.

Procedure. The journal handles each allegation in five documented steps:

1. Preliminary assessment of the evidence by the Editor-in-Chief.
2. Clarification: the authors are told of the concern and invited to respond.
3. Investigation: if the response is not satisfactory, the journal asks the authors' institution to investigate, and may consult independent experts.
4. Decision by the Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with the Editorial Board and the publisher.
5. Corrective action, which may include rejecting the manuscript, publishing a correction or an expression of concern, retracting the article, or informing the authors' institution or funder.

The journal keeps a written record of every step and cooperates with other journals and with the national accreditation authority when misconduct involves more than one publication.

Correction, Retraction, and Withdrawal

Correction, Retraction, and Withdrawal Policy

Smart Medical Journal protects the integrity of the published record by following the COPE Retraction Guidelines. The Editor-in-Chief decides on corrective action after consulting the Editorial Board and, where relevant, the authors and their institution.

Correction (erratum or corrigendum). A correction is published when part of an article contains an error that does not undermine its main findings or conclusions, such as an error in an author's name, an affiliation, a table, a figure, a page number, or a DOI. An erratum corrects an error made by the journal; a corrigendum corrects an error made by the authors.

Expression of concern. The journal may publish an expression of concern when evidence of misconduct is inconclusive or an investigation is still under way.

Retraction. An article is retracted when its data, findings, or conclusions can no longer be relied on because of misconduct or serious honest error, or when it involves plagiarism, duplicate publication, unethical research, or unauthorized authorship.

Withdrawal. Authors may withdraw a manuscript before it is published as an official article by sending a written request, with reasons, signed by all authors. Withdrawal after acceptance requires the approval of the Editor-in-Chief. A published article cannot be withdrawn; it can only be corrected or retracted.

How notices are published

• Correction and retraction notices are freely available and published in the next issue as separate items with their own DOI.
• Each notice identifies the article, the type of action, the reason, and who made the decision, and is linked to the original article.
• A retracted article is not removed from the website or archive. Its landing page and PDF are clearly marked "RETRACTED", and its metadata at Crossref and indexing services is updated.
• The journal never deletes or replaces a published article without a public notice.

Post-Publication Discussion

Post-Publication Discussion

Smart Medical Journal welcomes discussion of its published articles as part of the scientific record.

• Letters to the Editor. Readers may comment on any article published in the journal by submitting a Letter to the Editor through the online submission system. Letters should be concise, cite the article by its DOI, and focus on its scientific content.
• Process. The editors assess each letter for relevance and may send it for review. If the letter is accepted, the authors of the original article are invited to reply, and the letter and reply are published together where possible.
• Concerns about errors or integrity. Concerns that an article contains errors or misconduct should be sent directly to the Editor-in-Chief at (smjfkuns@mail.uns.ac.id). They are handled under the Allegations of Research Misconduct and the Correction, Retraction, and Withdrawal policies.
• Conduct. Personal attacks and defamatory comments are not published.

Data Availability and Reproducibility

Data Availability and Reproducibility Policy

Smart Medical Journal encourages authors to share the data, code, and materials behind their findings so that the research can be verified and reproduced, while protecting the privacy of research participants.

Data Availability Statement. Every research article must include a Data Availability Statement before the References, explaining where and how the underlying data can be accessed. Examples:

• "The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [repository] at [DOI or URL]."
• "The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request."
• "The data are not publicly available because they contain information that could compromise the privacy of research participants. De-identified data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, with the permission of [ethics committee or data owner]."
• "The data were obtained from [third party, e.g., a hospital registry] and are available from that party subject to its data access requirements."
• "No new data were created or analyzed in this study."

Methods, code, and protocols. Authors should describe their methods in enough detail for the study to be replicated, and are encouraged to share questionnaires, analysis code, and study protocols as supplementary files or in a public repository. Clinical trials must be registered in a public trial registry, and the registration number must be reported in the Methods.

Access during review. Editors and reviewers may ask authors to provide the raw data during peer review. Authors should keep their raw data for at least five years after publication.

Privacy, ethics, and ownership. Shared data must be de-identified and must comply with the ethical approval, the participants' informed consent, and the Indonesian Personal Data Protection Law (Law No. 27 of 2022). Data sharing must also respect intellectual property rights and the terms set by data providers.

Ownership and Management

Ownership and Management

Smart Medical Journal (SMedJour; p-ISSN 2621-1408, e-ISSN 2621-0916) is owned and published by the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Jl. Ir. Sutami 36A, Kentingan, Jebres, Surakarta 57126, Central Java, Indonesia. The journal has been published since 2018.

Management. The journal is managed by an Editorial Team appointed by [[Decree of the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sebelas Maret No. ..., dated ...]]. The team consists of:

• the Editor-in-Chief, who is responsible for the journal's content and editorial policy and is affiliated with an institution in Indonesia;
• Editorial Board members, who handle manuscripts and peer review in their fields of expertise;
• Assistant Editors, who manage submissions, copyediting, layout, and publication.

Manuscripts are managed through Open Journal Systems hosted by Universitas Sebelas Maret.

Funding. The journal's operations are funded by the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sebelas Maret, and by article processing charges (see Author Fees).

Editorial independence. The publisher does not intervene in editorial decisions. Decisions to publish are made by the editors on academic grounds only, independent of the publisher, funders, sponsors, and commercial interests.