Ethics & Compliance

 Journal of University Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (JUPSP)

Ethics & Compliance Page

JUPSP upholds the highest standards of scholarly publishing ethics, guided by globally recognized frameworks. Every editorial decision, peer review process, and manuscript evaluation is grounded in transparency, accountability, and responsible research conduct.

1. COPE Compliance – Ethical Oversight

JUPSP implements the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) principles for managing:

  • Plagiarism
  • Authorship disputes
  • Data falsification or fabrication
  • Corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern

Ethical violations trigger formal investigations. The journal reserves the right to reject or retract affected content, and may notify affiliated institutions when necessary.

2. ICMJE Compliance – Authorship & Disclosure

JUPSP adheres to ICMJE Recommendations, including:

  • Authorship criteria: substantial contribution, revision, final approval, accountability
  • Credit taxonomy (optional) to define author roles
  • Mandatory disclosures of:
    • Conflicts of interest
    • Funding or institutional support
    • IRB approvals and clinical trial registration
      All declarations are enforced through the Author Submission Form and Author Declaration Form.

3. DOAJ Compliance – Open Access & Transparency

JUPSP fullfills the DOAJ Basic Criteria:

  • Immediate, free access to published articles
  • CC BY 4.0 license ensuring reuse with attribution
  • Clear documentation of editorial and peer review processes
  • Editorial independence from institutional or financial pressure

4. PubMed & PMC Compliance – Archiving & Metadata

To maintain PubMed Central eligibility, JUPSP ensures:

  • Scientifically rigorous, ethically approved content
  • XML-ready formatting via OJS and digital archiving
  • Accurate metadata for authorship, abstracts, and references
  • Registration details for clinical studies included in metadata

5. Web of Science Compliance – Citation Integrity & Governance

JUPSP aligns with Web of Science Core Collection standards:

  • Double-blind peer review and multi-stage editorial evaluation
  • International representation across authors and editorial board
  • Ethical policy enforcement (retractions, appeals, citation monitoring)
  • Transparent documentation and impact performance metrics

Ethics Policy

AI Disclosure and Ethical Oversight
The Journal of University Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (JUPSP) acknowledges the emerging role of artificial intelligence in publishing. AI tools may be used for non-research editorial assistance under strict human supervision. Misrepresentation of AI-generated work as human-authored, use of AI to falsify data, or to bypass editorial scrutiny is considered an ethical violation and will be investigated accordingly.

Editorial Commitment

JUPSP pledges to:

  • Protect scholarly and ethical integrity
  • Enforce fair authorship and ethical peer review
  • Maintain open access and licensing integrity
  • Pursue indexing compliance across COPE, ICMJE, DOAJ, PMC, and WoS