About the Journal

Audience

Audience include researchers from the fields of Public Health, Global Health, Applied Public Health, Applied Global Health, Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases, Chronic Diseases, Occupational Health, Environmental Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Program Monitoring and Implementation, Program Assessment and Evaluation, Intervention or Protocol Research, Clinical Trials, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nursing, International Health, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Natural Products Research, Community-Based Participatory Research, Field Survey Research, Implementation Research.

Editorial Independence

The Publisher is committed to editorial independence, editorial freedom, transparency, and the integrity of the scholarly record. The journal follows recognized guidance on editorial independence and conflicts of interest, including guidance from World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE), and others.

These policies include:

1. Conflict of Interest in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals (WAME);
2. The Relationship Between Journal Editors-in-Chief and Owners (formerly titled Editorial Independence) (WAME);
3. Recommendation D: Journal Owners and Editorial Freedom (ICMJE), and
4. Editorial Independence (COPE).

The Publisher provides publishing, administrative, technical, production, financial, indexing, archiving, and operational support. The Publisher’s leadership does not serve as the final decision-maker for manuscripts and does not control peer review or editorial outcomes.

The Editor-in-Chief has full authority over the editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication. Editorial decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief, designated editors, and the editorial board in accordance with the journal’s aims and scope, peer review policy, conflict-of-interest policy, and publication ethics policies.

The Publisher, its officers, directors, executives, employees, contractors, and representatives do not interfere, directly or indirectly, in the evaluation, peer review, selection, acceptance, rejection, scheduling, editing, correction, retraction, or publication timing of individual articles. Editorial decisions are based on the validity, quality, originality, ethical soundness, relevance, and importance of the work to the journal’s readers and not on the commercial, financial, institutional, reputational, or strategic interests of the Publisher or any sponsor, advertiser, donor, partner, or affiliated organization.

Separation of Publisher and Editorial Roles

The Publisher is responsible for supporting publisher-side functions, including journal infrastructure, website hosting, production, copyediting coordination, metadata, DOI registration, archiving, indexing support, financial administration, and general publishing operations.

The Editor-in-Chief and editorial team are responsible for editorial functions, including editorial policy, manuscript assessment, editor assignment, reviewer selection, peer review oversight, editorial decisions, appeals, corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, and publication timing of accepted content.

Conflicts of Interest and Recusal

The journal recognizes that the Publisher-affiliated individuals, including members of the Publisher leadership, may have scholarly or professional expertise relevant to the journal’s scope. However, expertise does not eliminate the need to manage actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest arising from publisher ownership, governance, executive, or management roles.

Publisher-affiliated individuals may provide non-binding subject-matter or strategic advice where appropriate, but they do not serve as final decision-makers for manuscripts and do not control peer review or editorial outcomes. They must recuse themselves from editorial decisions, editor appointments, appeals, complaints, special issue decisions, and manuscript matters where their Publisher role or other relationships could reasonably be perceived to influence judgment.

Manuscripts involving the Publisher, its officers, staff, programs, data, the Publisher-funded activities, or close collaborators of the Publisher leadership are assigned to an independent editor with no relevant relationship to the Publisher or the authors.

The Publisher requires disclosure and management of actual, potential, and perceived conflicts of interest involving editors, editorial board members, reviewers, authors, publisher representatives, sponsors, and partner organizations.

Editors do not handle manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest, including manuscripts submitted by themselves, close collaborators, institutional colleagues, supervises, recent coauthors, the Publisher officers or staff, the Publisher-affiliated programs, or individuals or organizations with which they have a relevant relationship.

Manuscripts involving the Publisher, its officers, staff, programs, data, and funded activities, or close collaborators of the Publisher leadership are assigned to an independent editor with no relevant relationship to the Publisher or the authors and undergo the journal’s standard independent peer review process.

Independent Oversight

The Publisher maintains an independent editorial governance and oversight mechanism to safeguard editorial independence and manage conflicts of interest. This mechanism may review concerns involving editorial independence, publisher interference, conflicts of interest, appeals, editor recusals, and disputes between the publisher and the editorial office.

Oversight members must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from matters in which they have an actual, potential, or perceived conflict. Oversight does not replace the Editor-in-Chief in routine editorial decision-making but serves to protect the integrity and independence of the journal’s editorial processes.

Advertising, Sponsored Content, and Supplements

The Editor-in-Chief has final editorial authority over journal content, including editorials, supplements, special issues, sponsored content, corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions. Advertising, sponsorship, donations, partnerships, publication fees, waiver decisions, and institutional relationships do not influence editorial decisions.

Advertisements, sponsored content, and supplements must be clearly identified and must not compromise editorial independence.

Protection of Editorial Freedom

Editors are free to publish responsible, evidence-based editorial views, including views that may differ from the positions, priorities, or interests of the Publisher, sponsors, advertisers, donors, partner organizations, or other stakeholders. Editors will not be penalized, removed, or disadvantaged for good-faith editorial decisions made in accordance with journal policy and publication ethics standards.