About the Journal

AIMS AND SCOPE

The Journal of Health Sciences is an international, open access, peer-reviewed, and evidence-based scientific journal published by the University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Health Studies (UNSA FHS; https://www.unsa.ba/en; www.fzs.unsa.ba). It follows publishing standards set by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE; www.icmje.org), Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE; http://publicationethics.org/), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME; www.wame.org).

The Journal's mission is to promote excellence in nursing and a range of disciplines and specialties of allied health professions.  It welcomes submissions from the international academic and health professionals community. The Journal publishes evidence-based articles with solid and sound methodology, clinical application, description of best clinical practices, and discussion of relevant professional issues or perspectives. Articles can be submitted in the form of research articles, reviews, case reports, and letters to the editor or commentaries.

The Journal's priority is papers in the fields of nursing, physical therapy, medical laboratory science, environmental health, and medical imaging and radiologic technologies. Relevant papers from other disciplines of allied health professions may be considered for publication.

EDITORIAL POLICIES

• Archiving policy
• Publication schedule
• Review procedure
• Publication ethics
• The Process for Handling Cases Requiring Corrections, Retractions, and Editorial Expressions of Concern
• Plagiarism policy
• Research involving human participants and/or animals
• Informed consent
• Conflict of interest disclosure
• Copyright information
• Open Access
• Advertisements and sponsorships
• Article-processing charges
• Data Sharing Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Publisher

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE

The Journal of Health Sciences is published three times per year (April, September, and December) in its printed edition. However, accepted papers are published online, as soon as the corrected proofs are available, before print publication. Disclaimer: Articles appearing in the published ahead-of-print section are posted at the "Post Author Correction" stage of production. A Post Author Correction article is a composed proof of a peer-reviewed article that has been substantively edited and copyedited, and it contains the author's and editorial office's proofreading corrections. However, these articles will be reviewed one additional time before print publication. Any final changes in the manuscript will be made at the time of print publication and will be reflected in the final electronic version of the issue. The University of Sarajevo, the editors and authors, and their respective employees are not responsible or liable for the use of any potentially inaccurate or misleading data, opinion, or information that may be contained within the articles found in the published ahead-of-print section of the Journal of Health Sciences Web site.

REVIEW PROCEDURE

Once a manuscript is submitted, it is assigned to an Editor most appropriate to handle it, based on the subject of the manuscript and the availability of the Editors. If the Editor determines that the manuscript is not of sufficient quality to go through the normal review process or if the subject of the manuscript is not appropriate to the journal scope, the Editor rejects the manuscript with no further processing.

If the Editor determines that the submitted manuscript is of sufficient quality and falls within the scope of the journal, he/she assigns the manuscript to a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 external reviewers for peer-review. The reviewers submit their reports on the manuscripts along with their recommendation of one of the following actions to the Editor:

• Accept submission (Publish Unaltered)
• Revisions required (Consider after Minor Changes)
• Resubmit for review (Consider after Major Changes)
• Decline submission (Reject: Manuscript is flawed or not sufficiently novel)

When all reviewers have submitted their reports, the Editor can make one of the following editorial recommendations: Publish Unaltered, Consider after Minor Changes, Consider after Major Changes, Reject.

If the Editor recommends "Publish Unaltered," the manuscript is accepted for publication.

If the Editor recommends "Consider after Minor Changes," the authors are notified to prepare and submit a final copy of their manuscript with the required minor changes suggested by the reviewers. The Editor reviews the revised manuscript after the minor changes have been made by the authors. Once the Editor is satisfied with the final manuscript, the Acknowledgment can be accepted.

If the Editor recommends "Consider after Major Changes," the recommendation is communicated to the authors. The authors are expected to revise their manuscripts in accordance with the changes recommended by the reviewers and to submit their revised manuscript in a timely manner. Once the revised manuscript is submitted, the Editor can then make an editorial recommendation, which can be "Publish Unaltered" or "Consider after Minor Changes" or "Reject."

If the Editor recommends rejecting the manuscript, the rejection is immediate. Also, if two of the reviewers recommend rejecting the manuscript, the rejection is immediate. The editorial workflow gives the Editors the authority to reject any manuscript because of the inappropriateness of its subject, lack of quality, or incorrectness of its results. The Editor cannot assign himself/herself as an external reviewer of the manuscript. This is to ensure a high-quality, fair, and unbiased peer-review process of every manuscript submitted to the journal, since any manuscript must be recommended by one or more (usually two or more) external reviewers along with the Editor in charge of the manuscript in order for it to be accepted for publication in the journal.

The peer-review process is double-blinded, i.e., the reviewers do not know who the authors of the manuscript are, and the authors do not have access to the information of who the peer-reviewers are. Without the significant contributions made by peer reviewers, the publication of the journal would not be possible.

PUBLICATION ETHICS

Our Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement is based on the "Codes of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines" developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (http://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct). The International Standards for Editors and Authors were developed at the 2nd WCRI (see http://publicationethics.org/resources/international-standards-for-editors-and-authors).

Publication decisions: The editor is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Fair play:  An editor at any time evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality: The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest: Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's research without the express written consent of the author.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author, who may also assist the author in improving the paper.

Promptness: Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research report in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Confidentiality: Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement or observation, derivation, or argument that had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call the editor's attention to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest: Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Duties of Authors

Reporting standards: Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Originality and Plagiarism: The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works and if the authors have used the work or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication: An author should not, in general, publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgment of Sources: Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

THE PROCESS FOR HANDLING CASES REQUIRING CORRECTIONS, RETRACTIONS AND EDITORIAL EXPRESSIONS OF CONCERN

Journal of Health Sciences ensures compliance with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scientific Papers in Medical Journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf) and the Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (https://publicationethics.org/guidance).

We aim to ensure the integrity of the academic record of all published or potential publications. Whenever it is recognized that a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement, or distorted report has been published, it must be corrected promptly and with due prominence. If, after an appropriate investigation, an item proves to be fraudulent, it should be retracted. The retraction should be clearly identifiable to readers and indexing systems.

Corrections

Errors in published papers may be identified in the form of a corrigendum or erratum when the Editor-in-Chief considers it appropriate to inform the journal readership about a previous error and makes a correction to the error in the published article. The corrigendum or erratum will appear as a new article in the journal, and will cite the original published article.

Retractions

Retractions are considered and published when there are severe errors in an article that invalidate the conclusions. Retractions are also made in cases where there is evidence of publication malpractice, such as plagiarism, duplicate publication, or unethical research.

According to industry best practice and in accordance with COPE guidelines, AME implements the following procedure if a retraction is confirmed:

1. A retraction note titled “Retraction: [article title]” signed by the authors and/or the editor is published in a subsequent issue of the journal and listed in the contents list.

2. In the electronic version, a link is made to the original article.

3. The online article is preceded by a screen containing the retraction note. It is to this screen that the link resolves; the reader can then proceed to the article itself.

4. The original article is retained unchanged save for a watermark on the HTML and PDF indicating on each page that it has been “retracted.”

Editorial expressions of concern

Where substantial doubt arises as to the honesty or integrity of a submitted or published article, journal editors may consider issuing an expression of concern. However, expressions of concern should only be issued if an investigation into the problems relating to the article has proven inconclusive, and if there remain strong indicators that the concerns are valid. Under some rare cases, an editorial expression of concern may also be issued when an investigation is underway but a judgement will not be available for a considerable time.

The expression of concern will be linked back to the published article it relates to.

PLAGIARISM POLICY

Plagiarism and self-plagiarism are not allowed, and they will be dealt with according to the COPE guidelines (http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines). This Journal uses a Crosscheck/iThenticate software for the detection of the text-similarity and overlapping of the submitted manuscripts with published literature.

RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN PARTICIPANTS AND/OR ANIMALS

1) Statement of Human Rights When reporting studies that involve human participants, authors should include a statement that the studies have been approved by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration or comparable standards, the authors must explain the reasons for their approach, and demonstrate that the independent ethics committee or institutional review board explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.

The following statements should be included in the Declaration of interest section, before the References section:

 

2) Statement on the Welfare of Animals. The welfare of animals used for research must be respected. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals have been followed and that the studies have been approved by a research ethics committee at the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted (where such a committee exists).

For studies with animals, the following statement should be included in the Declaration of interest section, before the References section:

Topic	Statement
Ethical approval	Ethical approval: All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.
If applicable (where such a committee exists)	Ethical approval: All procedures performed in studies involving animals were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted.

If articles do not contain studies with human participants or animals by any of the authors, please select one of the following statement:

Statement

• Ethical approval: This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.
• Ethical approval: This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.
• Ethical approval: This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

INFORMED CONSENT

All individuals have individual rights that are not to be infringed. Individual participants in studies have, for example, the right to decide what happens to the (identifiable) personal data gathered, to what they have said during a study or an interview, as well as to any photograph that a real or perceived conflict.

Hence it is important that all participants gave their informed consent in writing prior to inclusion in the study. Identifying details (names, dates of birth, identity numbers, and other information) of the participants that were studied should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and genetic profiles unless the information is essential for scientific purposes, and the participant (or parent or guardian if the participant is incapable) gave written informed consent for publication. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve in some cases, and informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt.

For example, masking the eye region in photographs of participants is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic profiles, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning.

The following statement should be included:

CONFLICT OF INTEREST DISCLOSURE

Authors must disclose all relationships or interests that could have direct or potential influence or impart bias on the work. Although an author may not feel there is any conflict, the disclosure of relationships and interests provides a more complete and transparent process, leading to an accurate and objective assessment of the work.

Awareness of a real or perceived conflict of interest is a perspective to which the readers are entitled. This is not meant to imply that a financial relationship with an organization that sponsored the research or compensation received for consultancy work is inappropriate.

Examples of potential conflicts of interests that are directly or indirectly related to the research may include but are not limited to the following:

• Research grants from funding agencies (please give the research funder and the grant number)
• Honoraria for speaking at symposia
• Financial support for attending symposia
• Financial support for educational programs
• Employment or consultation
• Support from a project sponsor
• Position on advisory board or board of directors or another type of management relationships
• Multiple affiliations
• Financial relationships, for example, equity ownership or investment interest Intellectual property rights (e.g., patents, copyrights, and royalties from such rights)
• Holdings of spouse and/or children that may have a financial interest in the work

In addition, interests that go beyond financial interests and compensation (non-financial interests) that may be important to readers should be disclosed. These may include but are not limited to personal relationships or competing interests directly or indirectly tied to this research, or professional interests or personal beliefs that may influence your research.

The corresponding author collects the conflict of interest disclosure forms from all authors. In author collaborations where formal agreements for representation allow it, it is sufficient for the corresponding author to sign the disclosure form on behalf of all authors.

The form can be downloaded here: ICMJE form.

ADVERTISEMENTS AND SPONSORSHIP

Journal of Health Sciences accepts advertising and sponsorship for its website according to the following principles:

• Advertising is separate from content. Advertisers and sponsors have no advance knowledge of our editorial content, nor do the editors have advance knowledge of advertisers. Content is never altered, added, or deleted to accommodate advertising. Advertisers and sponsors have no input regarding any of our editorial decisions or advertising policies. The advertising sales representatives have neither control over, nor prior knowledge of, specific editorial content before it is published.
• Journal of Health Sciences reserves the right to decline or cancel any advertisement at any time.
• Advertising must be factual and in good taste in the judgment of the Publisher and Journal of Health Sciences management. Please note: Readers who click on an advertising banner or other advertising links may connect to a site different from the Journal of Health Sciences to view additional information. Such sites may also ask visitors for additional data. Journal of Health Sciences does not participate in, nor control such sites.
• Third-party advertisements on the Journal of Health Sciences website may not include any Journal of Health Sciences or University of Sarajevo Faculty of Health Studies publication name, logo, or title.
• Advertised products must be compliant with the regulations in the country where the advertisement will be seen.
• Users will be able to distinguish between advertising and editorial content clearly on the website.
• Journal of Health Sciences does not endorse any company, product, or service appearing in its advertising.
• Advertisers and sponsors have no control or influence over the results of searches a user may conduct on the Journal of Health Sciences website. Search results are based solely on the functionality available through our search software (e.g., keywords or natural language) and user-defined criteria.
• Updates to our Internet advertising policy will be posted on this website.

Types of Advertising

These types of advertisements are generally acceptable for consideration: research and laboratory reagents; medical/research equipment products and services; medical software; practice-management products and services (including office equipment and supplies, medical billing systems, medical software products), and medical websites.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Journal of Health Sciences applies the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL) to all works we publish (read the full license legal code). Authors retain copyright and publishing rights without restrictions. Appropriate attribution can be provided by citing the original article. This broad license was developed to facilitate open access to, and free use of, original works of all types. Applying this standard license to your own work will ensure your right to make your work freely and openly available. Learn more about open access. For more information about the license, please visit http://creativecommons.org/.

OPEN ACCESS

The Journal of Health Sciences conforms to open access policy and provides access to full-text content immediately upon publishing.

ARTICLE PROCESSING AND SUBMISSION FEE

The submission fee is not charged.

The article processing fee is used to cover the expenses of the maintenance of the Journal's basic operations and article production. If the article is accepted, part of the article processing fee may be used for English language editing in selected cases.

The article processing fee is 300 € (VAT included in price) and applies to accepted submissions. Bank charges are defrayed by the author.

Authors with insufficient funds may request a discount or APC waiver at the point of submission, in the cover letter, explaining the reasons for their request. The decision is made on a case-by-case basis.

NOTE: JHSCI imposes high English language criteria. If the English language and/or the scientific writing of the article is suboptimal, the manuscript will be returned to the authors for corrections. The authors are advised to have the manuscript corrected before the resubmission because well-written manuscripts have a much better chance at peer-review and subsequent acceptance. The authors may use the writing and editing service provided by the JHSCI professional editing partners at discounted prices. For more information contact office@jhsci.ba.

 

DATA SHARING POLICY

Where necessary, we encourage authors to share data to support the publication of studies and to interlink data with their published articles. “Research data” refers to the results of observations or experiments that confirm research findings, including but not limited to raw data, processed data, software, algorithms, protocols, models, methods, and other related materials.

In following this policy, if authors have made their study data accessible in a data repository, they can link their articles directly to the dataset.

 

PRIVACY POLICY

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.