At Dr. Hany Akeel Institute and the Iraqi Medical Research Center, we uphold the highest editorial and ethical standards in medical and pharmaceutical publishing. Our editorial policies ensure the integrity, quality, and transparency of all published research.
1. Scope & Focus
Our journals and publications cover a broad range of topics in medical, pharmaceutical, and health sciences, including but not limited to:
✔ Pharmacology and drug discovery
✔ Clinical and experimental medicine
✔ Oncology and cancer research
✔ Infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance
✔ Molecular biology and genetics
✔ Herbal and natural product research
✔ Medical technology and innovation
2. Peer Review Process
All submitted manuscripts undergo a rigorous peer review process to ensure scientific accuracy, originality, and ethical compliance.
✔ Double-blind peer review – Identities of authors and reviewers are kept confidential.
✔ Minimum two independent reviewers per manuscript.
✔ Editor-in-chief and associate editors oversee the final decision.
✔ Review process ensures:
- Scientific soundness and originality
- Methodological accuracy
- Ethical compliance
✔ Authors may be asked to revise their manuscripts based on reviewer feedback.
3. Ethical Guidelines & Research Integrity
We adhere to international publishing standards, including:
✔ COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) Guidelines
✔ ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) Recommendations
✔ WAME (World Association of Medical Editors) Best Practices
All research must comply with:
✔ Informed consent for human studies
✔ Animal research ethics compliance
✔ No data fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism
✔ Full disclosure of conflicts of interest
Any plagiarism, duplication, or research misconduct will result in immediate rejection and potential blacklisting from future submissions.
4. Open Access & Copyright Policies
✔ Open-access publishing model – Ensuring global accessibility to all research.
✔ Authors retain copyright under Creative Commons licenses (CC BY-NC 4.0).
✔ Research can be freely shared and reused with proper attribution.
5. Data Transparency & Reproducibility
Authors must provide:
✔ Raw data availability upon request
✔ Detailed methodology for reproducibility
✔ Clinical trial registration (if applicable)
6. Authorship & Contribution Criteria
To qualify as an author, individuals must have made substantial contributions to:
✔ Research conception and design
✔ Data collection and analysis
✔ Manuscript drafting and revision
✔ Approval of the final version
Ghostwriting and honorary authorship are strictly prohibited.
7. Conflict of Interest & Funding Disclosure
✔ Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any conflicts of interest.
✔ Funding sources must be fully acknowledged.
8. Special Editorial Review for Submissions from Editors
We are highly committed to maintaining editorial neutrality and ensuring that no conflict of interest arises when an editor submits their own research.
✔ If an editor submits a manuscript, the final decision is made by another independent editor.
✔ The manuscript will go through a longer review period to allow maximum scrutiny by multiple reviewers.
✔ A minimum of three to four independent reviewers will assess the submission instead of the usual two.
✔ The submitting editor will not be involved in any part of the decision-making process.
✔ Any perceived bias or conflict of interest will be reported to the Ethical Committee for assessment.
This process ensures fairness, objectivity, and transparency in the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts, even when they are submitted by members of the editorial board.
9. Retraction & Corrections Policy
✔ Retractions occur in cases of proven fraud, plagiarism, or ethical violations.
✔ Corrections are issued for honest errors that do not affect the study’s main findings.