Publication Ethics

Thai Health Sciences Frontiers (THSF) adheres to the publication ethics guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for editors, reviewers and authors, as follows.

1. Editorial Ethics

The editor is responsible for accepting or rejecting manuscripts based solely on academic merit and relevance to the journal's scope, without regard to the authors' race, gender, nationality, religious beliefs, or institutional affiliation.

The editor must maintain confidentiality of all manuscripts under review and must recuse themselves from the review process in cases of conflict of interest. The editor is obligated to take appropriate action when evidence of research misconduct, plagiarism, or duplicate submission is identified, following the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

2. Reviewer Ethics

Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively with relevant expertise and provide constructive feedback to improve manuscript quality. The double-blind review process is strictly maintained to ensure impartiality throughout the evaluation.

Reviewers must maintain confidentiality of all manuscripts assigned for review, must not use information from manuscripts for personal gain, and must notify the editor of any conflict of interest or significant similarity to other published works. Reviewers should respond to review invitations promptly and submit completed reviews within the agreed timeframe.

3. Author Ethics

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts represent original work that has not been previously published and is not under consideration by any other journal simultaneously. Duplicate submission constitutes a serious breach of publication ethics.

Authors must accurately identify all individuals who have made significant contributions to the research and manuscript preparation, in accordance with established authorship criteria. Individuals listed as authors must have made substantive contributions to the research design, data collection, analysis, or manuscript writing.

Authors must present research data and findings accurately and must not fabricate, falsify, or selectively omit significant results. All conflicts of interest that may affect the objectivity of the research must be disclosed. Authors are responsible for properly citing all sources used. Plagiarism in any form is considered a serious violation of publication ethics.

4. Research Ethics Involving Human Subjects

All research articles involving human subjects must have received formal approval from a recognized institutional review board or ethics committee. Authors must include the ethics approval number and the name of the approving committee within the manuscript.

Research involving human subjects must be conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent must be obtained from all research participants. In cases where personally identifiable data are collected, strict measures for personal data protection must be implemented and documented.

5. Research Ethics Involving Animals

Where a study involves animals, the manuscript must state the approval number and name of the institutional animal care and use committee, and the research must comply with national regulations and internationally accepted principles for the care and use of animals in research. Manuscripts that do not involve animals are not required to provide this information.

6. Conflicts of Interest and Submissions by Editors

Authors, reviewers and editors must disclose any financial, personal or professional relationship that could influence their work. Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, an editorial board member or an advisory board member are handled by an editor who has no conflict of interest with the author, and the author takes no part in the review or in the decision on his or her own manuscript. Such manuscripts follow the same double-blind peer review as all other manuscripts.

7. Plagiarism and Similarity Screening

Every manuscript is screened for similarity and duplicate publication by the editorial office before peer review. Manuscripts with unacceptable overlap with previously published work are returned to the authors or rejected, and cases of suspected misconduct are handled following the COPE flowcharts.

8. Use of Generative AI and AI-assisted Tools

Generative AI tools must not be listed as authors. Authors who use such tools in preparing a manuscript must disclose the tool and its purpose in the manuscript and remain fully responsible for the accuracy and originality of the content. Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscripts or review reports to generative AI tools.

9. Complaints and Appeals

Authors, readers or other parties may submit a complaint about the journal's processes or content, or appeal an editorial decision, by e-mail to the editorial office (keydatacorp@gmail.com) with supporting evidence. The Editor-in-Chief reviews each complaint or appeal, and if necessary assigns an editor who was not involved in the original decision. The outcome is communicated to the complainant in writing.

10. Corrections and Retractions

When errors are found in a published article, the journal publishes a correction notice. When an article is found to contain serious errors or research misconduct, such as fabrication, falsification, plagiarism or duplicate publication, the journal retracts the article following COPE retraction guidelines, and the retraction notice states the reason for the retraction.