Editorial Policy

Journal of Digital Health Informatics and Intelligence (JDHII) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of scholarly publishing, ethical integrity, transparency, and scientific rigor. Our editorial policies align with best practices in academic publishing, including the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and relevant open-access publishing guidelines.

^*International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) provides uniform, widely accepted standards for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals.

^*Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines provide international standards for editors, publishers, and authors to ensure integrity in scholarly publishing.

1. Peer Review Process

JDHII employs a rigorous double-blind peer review process to ensure the highest standards of scientific quality, objectivity, and fairness in the evaluation of all submitted manuscripts.

• All original research articles, reviews, and most other submission types undergo double-blind peer review (both authors and reviewers remain anonymous).
• Manuscripts are initially screened by the Editor-in-Chief or Associate Editors for scope, quality, originality, and adherence to submission guidelines.
• Submissions passing initial screening are assigned to at least two independent expert reviewers.
• Reviewers evaluate submissions based on scientific merit, methodological soundness, novelty, clarity, ethical compliance, and relevance to digital health informatics and intelligence.
• Reviewers are asked to complete their reports within 3–4 weeks. Authors typically receive an initial decision within 6–8 weeks of submission.
• Possible decisions include: Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, Reject with invitation to resubmit, or Reject.
• Revised manuscripts may undergo additional rounds of review. The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision.

2. Authorship and Contributor Criteria

Authorship is limited to those who have made substantial contributions to:

• Conception and design, or acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
• Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
• Final approval of the version to be published.
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

All authors must meet all four criteria (ICMJE recommendations). Contributors who do not qualify for authorship should be acknowledged in an “Acknowledgements” section. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring all co-authors approve the final manuscript and agree to submission.

3. Conflicts of Interest and Competing Interests

Authors must disclose all relevant financial and non-financial relationships that could influence (or be perceived to influence) the work. This includes funding sources, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, patents, and personal relationships.

• Disclosures are required at submission (via the submission system) and must appear in a “Competing Interests” section in the manuscript.
• Editors and reviewers must also declare any conflicts and recuse themselves if necessary.

4. Research Ethics and Integrity

• Studies involving human participants must include ethics approval from an appropriate institutional review board/ethics committee, informed consent procedures, and compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki (or equivalent).
• Animal studies must follow relevant national/international guidelines (e.g., ARRIVE^*).
• Clinical trials must be prospectively registered in a recognized public registry (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO ICTRP^*) and the registration number included in the manuscript.
• Authors must follow appropriate reporting guidelines (e.g., CONSORT for trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews, TRIPOD for prediction models, CHEERS for economic evaluations).
• Data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, redundant publication, and other forms of misconduct are strictly prohibited. Suspected cases are investigated following COPE guidelines.

^*ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) are a 21-item checklist designed to improve the transparency, reliability, and reproducibility of animal studies.

^*World Health Organization (WHO)-International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP)-Primary Registries.

^*WHO ICTRP is a global initiative promoting prospective registration of clinical trials and public accessibility to trial information, fostering transparency and collaboration in medical research.

5. Open Access and Copyright

JDHII is a diamond open-access journal. All articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license unless otherwise specified, allowing non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction provided the original authors and source are credited. Authors retain copyright of their work but grant JDHII a non-exclusive license to publish. An Article Processing Charge (APC) may apply to cover publication costs (waivers or discounts are available for authors from low- and middle-income countries or in cases of financial hardship—contact the editorial office).

6. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

JDHII follows COPE guidelines for handling post-publication issues:

• Minor errors are corrected via a Correction notice.
• Serious issues affecting reliability or validity may result in a Retraction or Expression of Concern.
• Retractions include a clear notice explaining the reason and are linked to the original article.

7. Plagiarism and Similarity Checking

All submissions are screened using plagiarism detection software. Manuscripts with unacceptable levels of similarity (excluding properly cited material and reference lists) may be rejected or returned for revision.

8. Appeals and Complaints

Authors may appeal editorial decisions by emailing the Editor-in-Chief with a detailed justification. Appeals are considered only if there is evidence of a serious mistake in the review process. Complaints about editorial handling should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief (editor.jdhii@ciir.in).

9. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently of commercial or financial interests. The journal maintains separation between editorial and business functions.

Contact: We encourage all authors, reviewers, and readers to contact the editorial office with any questions or concerns regarding these policies by mailing to editor.jdhii@ciir.in.

Please Note: The above policy is subjected to periodic review and revision.