Believers Medical Journal (BeMJ) is committed to maintaining research integrity, scholarly transparency, accountability, and public trust in the biomedical literature. The journal does not permit research misconduct, publication misconduct, deliberate misrepresentation, or serious violations of accepted ethical standards. Authors, reviewers, editors, and publishing personnel are expected to act responsibly throughout the research and publication process.
This policy is informed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations, and transparency principles reflected in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) criteria. BeMJ considers credible allegations concerning submitted or published work through a fair, confidential, and evidence-based process.
For the purposes of this policy, research and publication misconduct includes deliberate or reckless conduct that may distort the research record, misrepresent evidence, compromise ethical oversight, or mislead readers, reviewers, or editors.
Concerns considered by BeMJ may include:
Authors are expected to:
Reviewers and editors should:
When a credible allegation is raised by a reviewer, reader, complainant, author, editor, institution, or screening system, BeMJ may follow a structured process informed by relevant COPE guidance.
The Editor-in-Chief or a designated editor reviews the allegation, available evidence, and relevant manuscript or publication records to determine whether further inquiry is warranted.
The corresponding author or other relevant individuals may be contacted with specific questions and provided a reasonable period to submit an explanation or supporting documentation.
Where appropriate, an uninvolved editor, subject expert, research-integrity adviser, or designated editorial panel may assess the available evidence and submitted responses.
A proportionate editorial decision is made based on the available evidence. Relevant institutions, funders, or oversight bodies may be contacted when further investigation falls within their authority.
When misconduct, unreliable findings, or a significant breach of journal policy is established, BeMJ may take one or more appropriate actions after considering the available evidence and applicable guidance:
A retracted article will normally remain accessible as part of the scholarly record and will be clearly identified as retracted. A separate retraction notice will explain the reason for the action and will be linked to the affected article.
Where persistent article metadata has been registered with an external indexing or DOI service, relevant article and notice metadata may be updated as appropriate.
BeMJ takes reports submitted in good faith seriously and seeks to protect the identity of complainants and whistleblowers to the extent reasonably possible.
Anonymous allegations may also be considered when they contain sufficiently specific and verifiable information to support a responsible assessment.
This policy is reviewed periodically and may be updated when necessary to reflect changes in journal procedures, COPE Core Practices, ICMJE Recommendations, DOAJ transparency principles, and relevant ethical, legal, or scholarly publishing standards.
Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, authenticity, ethical conduct, and integrity of their submitted and published work. Believers Medical Journal (BeMJ) may assess credible allegations and take appropriate editorial action in accordance with journal policy and relevant publication-ethics guidance.