PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT
The Nigerian Journal of Psychiatry (NJP) is committed to responsible, transparent and ethical scholarly publishing. We expect authors, reviewers and editors to uphold standards that protect the integrity of research, the fairness of the editorial process and the reliability of the published record.
Our policies are informed by internationally recognised publication-ethics principles, including guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
This statement applies to everyone involved in the submission, review, editing and publication of work in NJP.
1. AUTHORSHIP AND CONTRIBUTORSHIP
Authorship should reflect genuine scholarly contribution.
NJP follows the four ICMJE authorship criteria. An author should:
make a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data;
participate in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
approve the final version for publication; and
accept responsibility for the integrity of the work and for addressing questions that may arise about its accuracy.
Anyone who contributes to the work but does not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged appropriately rather than listed as an author.
Guest, honorary and ghost authorship are not acceptable.
Any request to add, remove or reorder authors after submission should be explained clearly and supported by the agreement of all affected authors. Where an authorship dispute cannot be resolved by the authors themselves, NJP may refer the matter to the relevant institution rather than attempt to determine authorship independently.
2. ORIGINALITY, PLAGIARISM AND DUPLICATE PUBLICATION
Manuscripts submitted to NJP should be original and should not be under consideration by another journal at the same time.
Plagiarism is not acceptable. This includes the unattributed use of another person's words, ideas, images or data.
Authors should disclose substantial overlap with previously published or submitted work. Duplicate publication, redundant publication and inappropriate division of one study into several minimally different papers are discouraged and may constitute publication misconduct.
Where previously published material is reused legitimately, it should be clearly cited and any necessary permissions obtained.
3. RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION MISCONDUCT
NJP takes concerns about research and publication misconduct seriously, whether they arise before or after publication.
Examples include:
fabrication or falsification of data;
plagiarism;
inappropriate manipulation of images or data;
undisclosed duplicate or redundant publication;
inappropriate authorship;
undeclared conflicts of interest;
citation manipulation;
misrepresentation of methods, results or ethical approval; and
other serious departures from accepted research or publication standards.
Concerns will be considered fairly and, where appropriate, confidentially. Authors may be asked to provide clarification, supporting documents or original data.
Where necessary, NJP may refer a matter to the relevant institution, research ethics committee, funder or other appropriate body.
Depending on the circumstances, editorial action may include rejection of a manuscript, correction of the published record, retraction or another proportionate response.
4. PEER REVIEW AND EDITORIAL INTEGRITY
NJP uses a double-blind peer-review process in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from each other.
Editorial decisions are based on the quality, originality, relevance and clarity of the work, together with its suitability for the Journal.
Submitted manuscripts should be treated as confidential documents. Editors and reviewers must not use unpublished information, ideas or data obtained through peer review for personal or professional advantage.
Reviewers are expected to:
provide fair, constructive and timely assessments;
declare relevant conflicts of interest;
decline a review if they cannot provide an impartial assessment;
protect the confidentiality of the manuscript; and
inform the Editor if they identify possible plagiarism, duplication or other ethical concerns.
Editors should not take part in decisions on manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest. Such submissions should be handled by another appropriate editor who can act independently.
5. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND FUNDING
Authors should disclose financial or non-financial interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their work.
Funding sources should also be stated, together with the role of the funder, where relevant, in the design, conduct, analysis, interpretation or reporting of the study.
Reviewers and editors are expected to disclose interests or relationships that could affect, or appear to affect, their objectivity. Where necessary, they should withdraw from the review or decision-making process.
6. ETHICAL OVERSIGHT OF RESEARCH
Research involving human participants should comply with applicable ethical standards and should have approval from an appropriate research ethics committee or institutional review board where approval is required.
Authors should state the name of the approving body and, where applicable, the approval or reference number.
Appropriate informed consent should be obtained where required.
Particular care should be taken to protect the privacy, dignity and confidentiality of participants, especially children, people with impaired decision-making capacity and other vulnerable groups.
Identifiable patient information, photographs or case details should not be published without appropriate consent for publication unless there is a clear ethical and legal basis for doing so.
Research involving animals should comply with relevant institutional, national and international standards for ethical animal research and welfare.
7. DATA INTEGRITY, AVAILABILITY AND REPRODUCIBILITY
Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of the data presented in their work.
Fabrication, falsification, selective manipulation or misleading presentation of data is unacceptable.
Where appropriate, and where ethical, legal and confidentiality considerations allow, authors are encouraged to make supporting data available or provide a clear data-availability statement.
NJP may request access to relevant data, ethics documentation or other supporting material where this is necessary to clarify concerns about a manuscript or published article.
8. CLINICAL TRIALS AND REPORTING STANDARDS
Clinical trials should be registered in an appropriate publicly accessible trial registry in keeping with accepted international standards.
Authors are also expected to use recognised reporting guidelines where appropriate, including CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, STARD and CARE.
Where trial registration is required, failure to disclose registration or important deviations from an approved protocol may require clarification before publication or further editorial action.
9. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND AI-ASSISTED TOOLS
NJP supports the responsible use of artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies in research and scholarly communication. AI may assist with tasks such as idea development, manuscript organisation, drafting from author-provided content, language improvement, translation, literature organisation, coding and data visualisation.
Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity and scholarly content of their work. AI must not replace human scholarly judgement, be listed as an author, fabricate or misrepresent data or references, or compromise research integrity, patient privacy, copyright or confidentiality.
Substantive use of generative AI in manuscript preparation must be disclosed in the acknowledgement section, stating the tool used and its purpose. Routine spelling, grammar and punctuation checks do not require disclosure.
AI-assisted figures, diagrams and visualisations are permitted where the underlying information is verifiable and AI use is appropriately disclosed. AI must not be used to fabricate or misleadingly manipulate primary research, clinical or evidential images.
Reviewers and editors may use AI to assist with language, organisation, reporting checklists, literature exploration and critical reflection, provided confidentiality is maintained and scholarly judgement is not delegated. Confidential manuscripts or manuscript information must not be uploaded to public or unsecured AI systems. Reviewers and editors remain fully responsible for their assessments, recommendations and decisions.
10. CITATION PRACTICES
References should be relevant to the work and used for genuine scholarly purposes.
Authors should not manipulate citations in order to increase citations to themselves, particular authors, journals or organisations.
Reviewers and editors should not request unnecessary citations for the purpose of increasing citation counts.
Any recommendation to add a reference should be based on its relevance to the manuscript.
11. COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS
Authors may appeal an editorial decision where they believe that an important factual or procedural error has occurred.
An appeal should clearly explain the basis for reconsideration and provide any relevant supporting information.
Complaints concerning the editorial process, publication ethics or the conduct of editors, reviewers or others involved with the Journal will be considered fairly and, where appropriate, confidentially.
Where a complaint or appeal concerns the Editor-in-Chief, it should be handled by an appropriate senior editor or other responsible person who was not involved in the original matter.
An appeal does not automatically lead to reversal of an editorial decision.
12. CORRECTIONS, RETRACTIONS AND EXPRESSIONS OF CONCERN
NJP is committed to maintaining an accurate and trustworthy scholarly record.
Where an error is identified after publication, the Journal may publish a correction or other appropriate notice.
Retraction may be considered where findings are unreliable because of serious error or misconduct, where substantial plagiarism or redundant publication has occurred, or where another serious problem undermines confidence in the publication.
An expression of concern may be issued where significant concerns have been raised but an investigation is incomplete or the available evidence is not yet conclusive.
Corrections, retractions and expressions of concern should be clearly linked to the affected article and should explain the reason for the action.
Published articles should not normally be removed simply because an error has been identified. Where a correction is sufficient, the scholarly record should be amended transparently rather than erased.
13. ARTICLE WITHDRAWAL
A manuscript may be withdrawn before publication where there is a legitimate reason and the relevant authors have been appropriately informed.
Withdrawal of an already published article is different from retraction and should be considered only in exceptional circumstances, such as where continued publication creates serious legal, privacy or safety concerns that cannot reasonably be addressed by correction or retraction.
14. POST-PUBLICATION DISCUSSION
NJP welcomes responsible scholarly discussion after publication.
Readers may contact the Journal to raise questions or concerns about published work. Where appropriate, authors may be invited to respond.
Substantive concerns about the integrity of a publication will be reviewed under the Journal's publication-ethics procedures and may lead to a correction, retraction, expression of concern or other appropriate action.
15. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND COPYRIGHT
Authors are responsible for ensuring that material submitted to NJP does not infringe copyright or other intellectual-property rights.
Where previously published tables, figures, images or other substantial copyrighted material are reproduced or adapted, appropriate permission should be obtained where required.
This policy should be read alongside the Journal's copyright and licensing arrangements.
16. EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE
Editorial decisions should be made independently and on scholarly and ethical grounds.
Commercial, institutional, personal or political interests should not determine whether a manuscript is accepted or rejected.
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board are responsible for protecting the independence of the editorial process and the integrity of the Journal's published record.
17. HANDLING ETHICAL CONCERNS
Anyone who identifies a possible ethical concern relating to a submitted or published article may contact the NJP Editorial Office using the contact details provided on the Journal website.
Concerns should identify the manuscript or article involved and provide enough information to allow the matter to be assessed properly.
NJP will review concerns objectively, maintain confidentiality where appropriate, seek clarification from relevant parties when necessary and take action proportionate to the evidence available.
Where appropriate, the Journal will be guided by established COPE procedures and other recognised standards of publication ethics.
18. RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SCHOLARLY RECORD
For NJP, publication ethics does not end when an article is published.
Authors, reviewers and editors are expected to cooperate with reasonable enquiries and with any necessary corrections to the scholarly record.
The Journal reserves the right to take appropriate editorial action whenever credible concerns arise about the integrity, ethics or reliability of work submitted to or published by NJP.
