Editorial Policies
Anderson Journal of Medical Sciences (AJMS) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal and the official academic publication of Anderson's Hospital, Nigeria. The journal is committed to maintaining a transparent, rigorous, fair, and ethical editorial process in accordance with internationally recognized standards of scholarly publishing.
1. Manuscript Submission
All manuscripts must be submitted through the official submission system of Anderson Journal of Medical Sciences (AJMS). Upon successful submission, the corresponding author will receive a manuscript identification number (AJMS Manuscript ID), which will be used to track the manuscript throughout the editorial and peer-review process.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their submissions comply with the journal's author guidelines, ethical requirements, and manuscript preparation standards.
2. Preliminary Review and Editorial Pre-check
After submission, the Editorial Office conducts an initial assessment to verify completeness, compliance with submission requirements, ethical declarations, and suitability for the journal's aims and scope.
The Editor-in-Chief, an Associate Editor, or a designated Editorial Board member subsequently evaluates the manuscript's scientific relevance, originality, methodological quality, and overall suitability for peer review.
At this stage, the responsible editor may:
- Proceed with external peer review.
- Request preliminary revisions or additional information.
- Reject the manuscript without external peer review if it does not meet the journal's editorial or scientific standards.
AJMS maintains strict editorial independence and requires all editors and Editorial Board members to avoid involvement in the evaluation of their own scholarly work.
Manuscripts submitted by editors, Editorial Board members, or individuals with close professional or personal relationships with the editorial team will be managed by independent editors without relevant conflicts of interest. Such manuscripts will undergo the same rigorous evaluation process as all other submissions, including assessment by at least two independent external reviewers.
For special issues, Guest Editors must disclose potential conflicts of interest. Manuscripts involving conflicts will be assigned to the Editor-in-Chief or another independent Editorial Board member.
3. Peer Review Process
Anderson Journal of Medical Sciences (AJMS) adopts a double-blind peer-review process, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from one another.
Manuscripts that successfully pass the preliminary editorial assessment are assigned to at least two independent experts with relevant scientific and clinical expertise.
Reviewers evaluate manuscripts based on scientific originality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, clarity of presentation, clinical or scientific significance, and relevance to the journal's scope.
Before accepting a review invitation, reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest and decline assignments that could compromise their independence or objectivity.
The Editorial Office and responsible editors ensure that reviewers are selected independently and that the peer-review process is conducted fairly, confidentially, and without inappropriate influence.
Reviewer recommendations are advisory, and the designated editor remains responsible for final editorial decisions.
4. Author Revisions
Following peer review, authors may be requested to revise their manuscripts in response to reviewers' and editors' comments.
Revisions are generally classified as minor or major:
- Minor Revisions: Authors are required to address specific comments or make limited modifications. The responsible editor may evaluate the revised manuscript directly or return it to reviewers when necessary.
- Major Revisions: Authors are required to undertake substantial modifications or provide additional clarification, analyses, or supporting evidence. Revised manuscripts are generally returned to the original reviewers for further evaluation.
Authors must submit a detailed, point-by-point response addressing every reviewer and editorial comment. Where authors disagree with a recommendation, they must provide a clear, scientifically justified explanation.
AJMS generally permits up to two rounds of major revisions. Additional revision rounds may be authorized at the discretion of the responsible editor when scientifically justified.
Submission of a revised manuscript does not guarantee acceptance.
5. Editorial Decision
The Editor-in-Chief or a designated editor makes final decisions on manuscript acceptance or rejection based on reviewers' evaluations, the authors' responses, and the manuscript's scientific quality.
The possible editorial decisions include:
- Accept in Present Form
- Accept after Minor Revisions
- Reconsider after Major Revisions
- Reject
Editorial decisions are based on scientific merit, originality, methodological validity, ethical compliance, and relevance to the journal's scope.
In exceptional circumstances, an editor may consider accepting a manuscript despite a negative reviewer recommendation. In such cases, an additional independent assessment may be requested from another Editorial Board member or qualified expert before a final decision is issued.
As the official academic publication of Anderson's Hospital, AJMS maintains editorial independence. The hospital, as the publisher, does not influence individual manuscript acceptance or rejection decisions.
6. Author Appeals
Authors who believe that a manuscript has been rejected due to a significant scientific misunderstanding, procedural irregularity, or factual error may submit a formal appeal to the AJMS Editorial Office.
Appeals must include a detailed justification and, where applicable, point-by-point responses to the reviewers' and editors' comments.
The appeal will be evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief or an independent Editorial Board member who was not involved in the original decision and has no relevant conflicts of interest.
Following an assessment of the manuscript and supporting documentation, the journal may:
- Uphold the original rejection decision.
- Request an additional independent review.
- Reconsider the manuscript for further editorial evaluation.
An appeal does not guarantee reconsideration or acceptance. The decision reached following the appeal process will be final.
7. Production and Publication
Following acceptance, manuscripts undergo a production process designed to ensure accuracy, consistency, readability, and compliance with the journal's publication standards.
The production process includes copyediting, language and grammatical review, typesetting, formatting, and preparation of the final electronic publication files.
Authors may be requested to review the final proofs before publication to identify typographical errors or production-related inaccuracies. Substantial changes to the scientific content are generally not permitted at the proof stage without editorial approval.
AJMS is a fully online, open-access journal. The journal publishes accepted manuscripts electronically through its official website.
Published articles will include relevant bibliographic information, including submission, acceptance, and publication dates. Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) will be assigned when the journal's DOI registration infrastructure becomes operational.
The following definitions apply:
- Received Date: The date on which the original manuscript was received by the journal.
- Accepted Date: The date on which the final acceptance decision was formally communicated to the authors.
- Published Date: The date on which the final version of the article was first made publicly available on the journal's website.
All published articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, with copyright retained by the authors.
8. Ethical Standards and Publication Integrity
Anderson Journal of Medical Sciences (AJMS) is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, scientific integrity, transparency, and accountability.
The journal's editorial policies are guided by the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
AJMS expects authors, reviewers, and editors to comply with internationally recognized ethical standards concerning:
- Research integrity and scientific misconduct.
- Plagiarism, duplicate publication, and inappropriate text recycling.
- Authorship criteria and contributorship transparency.
- Conflicts of interest and funding disclosure.
- Research involving human participants or animals.
- Informed consent, patient confidentiality, and data protection.
- Responsible use of artificial intelligence in scientific publishing.
- Data fabrication, falsification, and inappropriate image manipulation.
- Corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern.
Suspected violations of publication ethics will be investigated fairly and confidentially, following established ethical procedures and internationally recognized best practices.
Where necessary, AJMS may request explanations or supporting documentation, contact relevant institutions, issue corrections or retractions, or take other appropriate editorial actions.
The journal is dedicated to ensuring that its editorial and publication practices contribute to the reliability, credibility, and advancement of medical science worldwide.
