Author's Rights and Obligations

Responsibilities

Authors must ensure that data have been collected in an ethical manner.

Research Ethics Approval: Authors must obtain appropriate research ethics committee or institutional review board approval where required by the study design and applicable institutional or legal requirements. Where approval was not required or an exemption was granted, authors must provide an accurate explanation and supporting information where appropriate. Individual case reports do not automatically require formal research ethics approval. Consent for publication is a separate requirement and must be addressed in accordance with EJMCR policy. Further requirements are explained in the Protection of Research Participants policy.

Originality and Preprints: Submitted manuscripts must represent original work that has not been published as a journal article or submitted simultaneously to another journal, except where an acceptable form of prior dissemination or secondary publication is disclosed and permitted under EJMCR policy. Manuscripts previously posted on recognised preprint servers may be considered. Authors must disclose the preprint and provide its DOI or permanent URL where available. Posting a disclosed preprint does not, by itself, constitute prior journal publication. See the Editorial and Publishing Policies for detailed requirements concerning prior dissemination and preprints.

Authors of research manuscripts should ensure that the manuscript is prepared so as to facilitate the review process. 

Authors are responsible for disclosing potential conflicts of interest (e.g., an author evaluating the efficacy of a commercially available intervention program stands to benefit financially from a favorable pattern of results).

Authors who receive an editorial decision of revise-resubmit are expected to submit the revised paper within the time frame provided in the action letter. Failure to do so may rescind the invitation to revise the paper. Authors are expected to return copy-edited versions and galley proofs and answer queries regarding the proofs by the provided deadlines. Failure to do so may result in the paper not appearing in the Journal as scheduled or in the article being published as is.

Article Processing Charges: Where an article processing charge applies, authors are responsible for payment after manuscript acceptance and in accordance with EJMCR's published Article Processing Charges policy. APC payments do not influence editorial assessment or acceptance decisions.

Rights

Authors can expect to be notified that a manuscript has been received.

Editorial and Publication Timeline: EJMCR aims to complete the initial editorial assessment and communicate an initial decision within three weeks of manuscript submission. This may involve proceeding to external peer review, requesting preliminary revisions or declining the manuscript. For manuscripts that are accepted, the journal aims to complete the full editorial and publication process within 90 days of initial submission, including peer review, revisions, final editorial decision, author proofs and publication. These are indicative targets rather than guaranteed deadlines. Actual timelines depend on reviewer availability, revisions, author response times and completion of applicable publication requirements. Acceptance is determined solely through editorial assessment and is not guaranteed.

Manuscript Status Inquiries: EJMCR aims to communicate an initial editorial decision within three weeks of submission. Authors who have not received an initial decision or status update after three weeks may contact the Editorial Office for an update. Subsequent inquiries should be reasonable and take account of the time needed for external peer review and revisions.

Manuscript Withdrawal: Authors may request withdrawal of a manuscript before external peer review begins. Once the peer-review process has commenced, withdrawal is subject to approval by the responsible editor. Authors must communicate withdrawal requests to the Editorial Office through the journal's established submission or contact channels. For further information, see the Guide for Authors.

Authors can rebut a decision to reject a manuscript for publication in writing. Further, it is up to the Editor to decide whether a case has been made and what action to follow (e.g., obtaining an additional review, upholding the original decision).

Authors can index and store the published papers in the private or public archives or repositories like university databases, Internet Archives, Academia, ResearchGate, Semantic Scholar etc.

This document is adapted from a Council of Scientific Editors' Recommendations for Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications.

Last reviewed: October 2026