Editorial Policies
Editorial Policies are displayed on various journal pages, especially on the "About" and "Submission" pages. This page intends to provide a detailed description of editorial policies.
1. Editorial Policy
The Journal of Child Health Sciences invites manuscripts that adhere to the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The primary objective of this journal is to publish high-quality, peer-reviewed research in the field of child health sciences. It is an official publication of the University of Child Health Sciences, Lahore. The journal aims to enhance child health by providing publications that will establish future guidelines for the prevention and treatment of pediatric illnesses. Authors from all around the world, regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, or religion, are welcome to submit their work, and the editorial board does not discriminate based on any of these factors.
The Journal of Child Health Sciences (JCHS), owned by the University of Child Health Sciences, Lahore, adheres to the principles of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to ensure editorial independence, ethical publishing, and environmental responsibility. Editors operate with full autonomy, guided solely by the scientific merit of submissions, free from external influence. Appointed based on expertise, editors receive formal contracts outlining their rights, responsibilities, and terms of service, with performance evaluated through agreed-upon metrics. Dismissals are conducted only for substantial reasons, reviewed by an independent panel to ensure fairness.
The Editors-in-Chief have full authority over editorial content and publication timing without interference from owners or external parties. Editorial decisions are based on the validity and relevance of submissions, independent of commercial considerations. Editors have final authority over advertisements, sponsored content, and the use of the journal’s brand, supported by an independent advisory board. Editors are committed to confidentiality, accuracy, and adherence to ethical standards, with any breaches of editorial freedom addressed transparently in the medical, academic, and public spheres.
2. Open Access Policy
The Journal of Child Health Sciences is an Open-Access resource that is available to both authors and readers. It follows the principle that making research freely available to the public fosters a greater exchange of knowledge globally. The journal provides immediate open access to all published content, and readers can freely download and share full texts of any published scholarly articles in any category. Since its inception, every manuscript published in the Journal of Child Health Sciences has been accessible without the need for any subscription on the journal's website.
3. Peer Review Policy
The Journal of Child Health Sciences is a peer-reviewed publication that employs a double-blind peer-review process. During this process, authors and reviewers remain anonymous to each other to eliminate any potential biases and ensure the review process is authentic. Articles including Systematic Review/Meta-analysis, Original Articles, Narrative Review, Case Series, Case Reports, and Short Communication undergo review by at least two reviewers. If there are conflicting reviews, a third review can be conducted to resolve the discrepancies. Case Letters and Clinical Image articles are reviewed by at least one peer reviewer. Editorial, Letter to the Editor, Erratum, and Book Review articles are internally reviewed. The editorial team members may also conduct peer reviews of manuscripts following the double-blind review principle.
4. Digital Archiving Policy
This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. This is done through an automated process using the PKP PLN plugin utilized in the Open Journal System.
5. Public Identifier Policy
The journal publishes unique DOIs (Digital Object Identification) using the Crossref DOI service, for every published manuscript irrespective of the category. Also, every manuscript is given a unique publisher ID for internal identification of the manuscript. The publisher ID consists of the journal's initials and the manuscript number.
6. Copyright Policy
The authors of published manuscripts in the Journal of Child Health Sciences hold the copyright to their work. This is indicated on each manuscript's landing page and with the Fulltext files. However, by submitting their manuscript, authors grant the Journal of Child Health Sciences the right to publish it for the first time. Duplicate submissions, manuscripts that have already been published, or those under review by other journals will not be accepted. Authors must declare any such situations in the cover letter submitted with the manuscript. The submission checklist includes a statement on this, which authors must agree to before submitting their manuscript. If a duplicate submission is identified after publication, the journal will follow COPE guidelines to handle the matter. It is the author's responsibility to obtain proper consent for the use of any copyrighted material.
7. Licensing Policy
Journal uses Creative Commons License (CC-By) (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/) which allows the re-use of the content for educational purposes by acknowledging the author and journal. According to this license, you are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially
Under these terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
8. Disclaimer
The Journal of Child Health Sciences publishes manuscripts based on the original research of the authors, who are responsible for their accuracy and integrity. The journal cannot be held responsible for any harm or negative consequences that may arise from the use of the information presented in its publications. Therefore, it is recommended that the readers consider the current literature along with other reliable sources before utilizing the information provided in the Journal of Child Health Sciences. We acknowledge that scientific knowledge is constantly evolving, and findings that are valid today may not be applicable in the future.
9. Conflict of Interest Declaration
The Journal of Child Health Sciences has established a policy that both Authors and Reviewers must declare any potential conflict of interest. The conflict of interest statement is published alongside the manuscript. Authors are required to disclose any conflict of interest on the Title page and ICMJE conflict of interest declaration form. Reviewers are not allowed to review a manuscript until a conflict of interest has been declared. Manuscripts submitted by editorial board members are handled by other editors, and the concerned editor is not involved in the review process or the decision-making. Any conflict of interest statement regarding membership of the editorial board is published with the manuscript to ensure complete transparency.
10. Source of Support Declaration
Authors must declare any support or funding sources when submitting their manuscript. The statement on the funding source is published along with the manuscript. Authors must provide the statement on funding sources on both the Title page and the ICMJE conflict of interest form, which should accompany the manuscript. If there is no funding or support involved, authors should state "Source of Support: Nil". If there is funding, authors must provide a detailed description of the funding source, fund, and how it was utilized. This information should be submitted to the editorial office.
11. Consent to Publication
The Journal of Child Health Sciences has made it mandatory for authors to provide a statement on informed consent if their manuscript includes a clinical figure. To record the consent of a patient's legal caretakers, a "Consent Form" is available for download on the Submission page. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many patients are unable to visit hospitals. In such cases, the authors must obtain verbal consent to publish the clinical material and provide a statement on the same to the editorial office at the time of manuscript submission. Where possible, electronic signatures of the patient's legal caretakers can be obtained on the consent form. The Journal of Child Health Sciences also accepts submissions if consent is taken on institutional or departmental consent forms. If a manuscript contains clinical photographs of multiple patients, consent must be obtained individually for each patient. In any case, the identity of the patient must not be revealed. If the patient's face is shown, the eyes must be covered to hide their identity. Special consent will be required if it is necessary to show the full face without covering the eyes, and the authors should provide a reason for doing so.
Authors must agree to the following terms at the time of submitting their manuscript. They need to ensure that informed consent has been obtained from patients, parents, or caretakers before publishing any clinical material related to the patient. The Consent Form should be submitted along with the manuscript.
Furthermore, authors must confirm that they have obtained permission from relevant authorities if copyrighted material is used in their manuscript. A caption statement should be written on the permission of copyrighted material, and the permission document may be submitted as supplementary material during the submission process.
If clinical figures are used in a manuscript and the authors have declared that they have obtained consent, the journal will publish the following statement along with the full text of the manuscript: "The author(s) have declared that informed written consent has been obtained from the legal guardian of the patient for the publication of clinical photographs/material (if any used). Every effort will be made to conceal the identity of the patient, however, it cannot be guaranteed." In case no clinical figures are used in the manuscript, the journal will publish a statement that reads "No clinical figures are used in this manuscript".
12. Authorship Declaration
The Journal of Child Health Sciences adheres to the publication policies established by ICMJE. According to the ICMJE authorship criteria, a contribution is considered authorship if it meets the following conditions:
- Significant contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work.
- Drafting or revising the work in a manner that is crucial to its intellectual content.
- Giving final approval for the publication version.
- Accepting responsibility for all aspects of the work, ensuring that inquiries concerning the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are properly investigated and resolved.
It is important to note that authorship cannot be justified by funding acquisition, data collection, or general supervision of the research group alone. Similarly, the mere conception of an idea without contributing to the rest of the work does not warrant authorship.
When submitting a paper, it is important to properly credit each author for their contributions. To achieve this, the "Authorship declaration form" available on the journal's website should be used to specify the individual contributions of each author. Any contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged in a separate section. This includes individuals who provided technical help, writing assistance, or general support. The journal will publish an "Author contributions statement" with each manuscript, stating that the author(s) have fulfilled the authorship criteria as devised by ICMJE and approved the final version. Acknowledgment of individuals in a manuscript may imply their endorsement of the study’s data and conclusions. Therefore, the corresponding author must obtain written permission from all individuals being acknowledged before submission.
The Journal of Child Health Sciences follows ICMJE guidelines for determining authorship sequence and managing authorship changes, including additions or deletions, during manuscript processing. According to these guidelines, the order of authors should be collectively decided by the author group and not by journal editors. In cases where changes to authorship are requested after manuscript submission or publication, a detailed explanation must be provided along with a signed statement of agreement from all listed authors and the author being added or removed.
13. Language of Publication
The Journal of Child Health Sciences is published in English, preferably in US English. Authors may choose to submit manuscripts in either US or UK English, but a manuscript should not be a mixture of both accents. Only one accent should be used consistently throughout the manuscript.
14. Editorial Membership Policy
The Journal of Child Health Sciences expresses its profound gratitude towards the Editorial Board members for their unwavering support of the journal. The Editorial Board comprises a Patron, Editor in Chief, Executive Editor/Editor, Managing Editor, Associate Editors, and Editorial Consultants. The post of Assistant Editor is considered as a trainee editor position. The Journal has initiated a process to recruit assistant editors by inviting applications along with CVs as trainee editors. This will equip aspiring consultants to become future editors of the Journal. This will be a significant contribution of the Journal of Child Health Sciences to the scientific community. The Assistant Editors will gain practical experience in managing the Open Journal System and its various workflows such as editorial review, peer review, copyediting, article publication, and more.
15. Article Metrics
The Journal of Child Health Sciences displays article metrics on each manuscript's landing page.
16. Article Full Text
The Journal of Child Health Sciences publishes manuscripts in PDF and XML formats.
17. Plagiarism Screening Policy
The Journal of Child Health Sciences utilizes Turnitin to screen all submitted manuscripts for plagiarism before they are sent for editorial processing. Plagiarism, which is the act of stealing someone's intellectual property, is strongly discouraged in the journal. If plagiarism is detected, the authors will be notified and asked to clarify their point and remove the plagiarized content. If necessary, the editors will follow the COPE guidelines to rectify the situation. The manuscript should have a similarity score of less than 17%. Any manuscript with a similarity score above 30% will not be processed further.
18. Publications Ethics and Malpractice Statement
These guidelines are based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors on Publication Ethics.
Authors’ responsibilities:
Authors need to provide an accurate and objective account of their intellectual work in their papers. Pertinent details should be included, supported by references, particularly from recent literature, to enable others to replicate the work. It is considered unethical to make fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements. Additionally, authors should not publish the same research in multiple journals or primary publications. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that their work is entirely original. If authors use the work or words of others, they must be appropriately cited or quoted.
Proper acknowledgment of influential publications is required for reported work.
As an author, it is your responsibility to certify that your manuscript has not been published elsewhere, submitted to any other journal, or is currently under review for publication elsewhere. Our journal has a checklist that includes this statement, and without agreeing to it, you cannot submit your manuscript to us.
You should list all those who have made significant contributions as co-authors and acknowledge those who have participated in certain substantive aspects. The instructions to the authors contain the statement regarding authorship criteria.
The corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the article and have agreed to its submission to the journal for publication.
It is essential to notify the editors of any conflicts of interest and sources of funding. Also, the authors should agree to the double-blind peer review policy of the journal.
If there are significant errors or inaccuracies in the published work, the authors must inform the Journal editor promptly for the retraction or correction of the manuscript.
Finally, authors must understand what plagiarism means and its different types. We have a policy to subject the paper to a plagiarism check before sending it for review. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. When a required statement is verbatim, it should be given in double quotes with a proper reference.
Authors should disclose any use of AI chatbots or tools in research and manuscript preparation, detailing the extent of AI involvement.
Reviewers’ Responsibilities:
Peer review is crucial for improving the quality of a manuscript and helps editors in making editorial decisions. However, reviewers must adhere to certain guidelines to ensure publication ethics are followed.
Reviewers must maintain confidentiality of all information provided for review. They should not use the authors' research or report to reproduce the same or similar research, as it is considered unethical. Reviews should be conducted objectively without any personal criticism of the author. Reviewers should provide a fair assessment of the manuscript's originality, usefulness to the scientific community, and any relevant published work that has been missed or ignored by the authors. If a reviewer has personal knowledge of a duplicate publication or submission, they should notify the editor.
Reviewers should avoid reviewing manuscripts that conflict with their interests or are unrelated to their area of expertise. They should also avoid reviewing manuscripts if they are not in a condition to review them at that time. The reviewers should disclose any assistance received from colleagues or AI tools when reviewing.
Editors’ Responsibilities:
Editors have complete responsibility and authority to accept or reject an article based on its content and overall quality. When editing a manuscript, editors should aim to improve it based on the authors’ perspective and readers’ expectations. They must guarantee the quality of the papers and the integrity of the academic record by publishing errata pages or making corrections when necessary.
To evaluate a manuscript, editors should focus on its intellectual content and decide based on its importance, originality, clarity, and relevance to the publication's scope. They should not consider the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors. Editors should not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone except the corresponding author, reviewers, editorial board, and publisher.
Editors should have a clear understanding of research funding sources and must not disclose the identity of reviewers. Moreover, editors must ensure that all research material they publish complies with international ethical guidelines.
19. Content Deposit Policy
The Journal of Child Health Sciences permits authors to self-archive their manuscripts. Both the accepted and published manuscripts in any form can be shared on any website, repository, social media group, institutional repository, or with anyone without any restrictions. The information can be seen on Sherpa Romeo, https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/22916.
20. Advertising Policy
The Journal of Child Health Sciences has a fair advertising policy. The editorial team will be consulted before publishing any ads, ensuring that only relevant ones are selected. Ads promoting hate, pornography, tobacco, or other inappropriate materials will not be published as they are not suitable for the overall community. During the process of ad selection, we will adhere to principles of conflict of interest.
21. Article Processing/Publishing Charges
The Journal of Child Health Sciences does not charge authors for article submission/processing/publishing fees.
22. AI tools/Chatbot Policy
The editorial board of the Journal of Child Health Sciences fully endorsed the WAME recommendations on the use of chatbots or other AI tools. Please see the policy. The authors have to declare clearly in the manuscript if chatbots or other AI tools are used in the research or its drafting.
23. Submission Files Archive policy
When a manuscript is published, the Journal will keep copies of the original submission, reviews, revisions, and correspondence for at least three years. For declined submissions, the submission files will be deleted within 6 months of the submission.
24. Media Interaction policy
The Journal of Child Health Sciences recognizes the importance of balancing the public’s right to timely health information with the responsibility to ensure accuracy and integrity in scientific communication. Premature release of research findings before peer review and full publication may lead to misinterpretation and misapplication of results, particularly in sensitive areas of child health. To promote responsible communication, the Journal follows an embargo policy. Authors are expected not to publicize their work while it is under review or awaiting publication. Similarly, media outlets are requested to respect embargo timelines; in return, the Journal will cooperate by providing press releases, advance information, or expert referrals to support accurate reporting. Exceptions may be made in rare circumstances where research has urgent and significant public health implications. In such cases, early dissemination must be coordinated with relevant public health authorities, and the Editor-in-Chief must be consulted prior to any public release. Coverage of abstracts and presentations at scientific meetings is not restricted; however, authors are advised not to disclose more detail to the media than what is formally presented, as doing so may affect the priority given to subsequent publication in the Journal. When articles are scheduled for publication, the Journal will assist the media in preparing accurate reports—through news releases, responses to queries, or advance copies of articles—on the condition that media outlets align story release with the official publication date. This policy is designed to foster the orderly transmission of medical knowledge from researchers, through peer-reviewed publication, to health professionals and the public, while safeguarding scientific integrity and public trust.
Last updated on: 05-09-2025
