Policies

Publication Ethics

Journal of Medical Rehabilitation Science expects authors to follow publication ethics, including original work, correct citations, permission to reuse any material, protection of participants when needed, and keeping peer review confidential. Journal of Medical Rehabilitation Science follows guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and checks submissions for plagiarism.

Desk Rejection Policy

The Journal of Medical Rehabilitation Science applies an initial editorial screening (desk review) to all submitted manuscripts. At this stage, the editorial team may reject a manuscript without external peer review if it does not meet the journal’s basic requirements.

Desk rejection enables authors to receive a timely decision and seek a more appropriate venue without delay.

Duplicate Submission and Redundant Publication

Authors submitting to the Journal of Medical Rehabilitation Science must confirm that their manuscript is original and is not under consideration by another journal at the time of submission. Simultaneous submission to multiple journals is not permitted.

Manuscripts that substantially overlap with previously published work, including redundant or duplicate publication, are not acceptable. If the submitted work is a translated version or a secondary publication of an earlier study, authors must clearly disclose this at submission and provide written permission from the original publisher and copyright holder, in accordance with journal guidelines and applicable publication ethics standards.

Failure to disclose prior or concurrent submission or publication may result in immediate rejection or retraction after publication.

Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose conflicts/competing interests that could bias or appear to influence results. If none exist, authors should explicitly state: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

Funding Statement

Authors should acknowledge all funding sources and include funding agency name and grant number if applicable

Authorship and Contributions

To be listed as an author, the researcher must have made a major contribution to the study as: planning the work, collecting or analysing the data, or writing and carefully revising the manuscript.

Research Data Policy and Data Availability

All papers must include a data availability statement, and authors are strongly encouraged to upload their data to a repository.

For acceptance, the paper must also explain how the sample size was decided, and it must follow patient privacy and informed consent rules.

Ethics Approval

All manuscripts reporting research involving human participants, human data, or human biological materials must include a clear statement of ethics committee or institutional review board (IRB) approval within the Methods section. The statement must identify the approving committee and include the approval or reference number, where applicable.

Authors are required to confirm that the study was conducted in accordance with recognized international ethical standards for human research, including the principles of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

If ethics approval was waived, the authors must provide the name of the approving body that granted the waiver and the justification for the waiver. Submissions lacking appropriate ethics documentation may be returned or rejected.

Informed Consent

Researchers must always protect participants’ privacy. Informed consent must be obtained, especially if the paper includes photos or other details that could identify someone. If the original consent did not allow publishing identifiable material, authors must get extra consent or remove the identifying content. Do not include unnecessary identifying details, and do not change or falsify data to hide identity. The manuscript must clearly state that informed consent was obtained when required.

Consent to Publish

If authors reuse any published material (such as figures, tables, or text), the author must get written permission from the copyright owner and submit the permission document with the manuscript. Further, note the permission in the figure/table caption or where the material appears. If no proof is provided, the journal will treat the material as the authors’ own.

Use of Generative AI in Writing

Manuscripts submitted to the journal must not include text generated by artificial intelligence, machine learning, or comparable algorithmic tools. Furthermore, AI systems are not eligible to be recognized as authors in any publication within the journal.

Use of AI in Peer Review

To protect manuscript confidentiality and preserve independent scholarly judgment, reviewers must not upload, share, or process submitted manuscripts or any part of their content using generative AI tools or external automated systems during the peer-review process.

Peer review must be conducted solely by the invited reviewer using their own expert evaluation. The use of generative AI to analyze, summarize, or generate review reports is not permitted. Reviewers are responsible for ensuring that all comments and recommendations reflect their independent scientific assessment.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

Journal of Medical Rehabilitation Science accepts only original work that is not submitted to another journal. Each manuscript is first checked for originality and fit with the journal, then sent for double-blind review by independent experts. If accepted, the paper is copyedited and may be posted online ahead of print, and authors must return the page proofs within three days.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors may appeal a rejection if they believe a mistake was made. To appeal, they must email a detailed explanation to the editorial office at . The office will confirm receipt and review the case fairly, and the process will be completed within 8 weeks. During the appeal, the manuscript must not be submitted to another journal. The Editor-in-Chief’s decision is final, and no further appeals will be considered.

Special Issues and Guest Editors

Special issues of the Journal of Medical Rehabilitation Science may be organized to highlight emerging topics or focused themes within medical rehabilitation sciences. Guest Editors may be appointed based on subject expertise and editorial experience.

All manuscripts submitted to special issues are subject to exactly the same peer-review procedures, quality standards, and ethical policies as regular issues of the journal. The editorial office and Editor-in-Chief retain oversight of the review and decision process where the final decision is made.

Editorial Independence

Journal of Medical Rehabilitation Science editor has full authority and responsibility for the final accept/reject decision, guided by relevance, quality, and integrity.

Reviewer selection is at the editor’s discretion and remains confidential.

Copyright and Open Access

Authors retain copyright and articles are published under CC BY 4.0 license permitting unrestricted reuse with proper attribution.

Digital Archiving and Preservation

The journal ensures long-term preservation through institutional repositories and digital archiving systems.

Images and Figures

Figure requirements include: ≥600 dpi, accepted formats PNG/JPEG/TIFF, encouraged RGB color (8-bit/channel), no editable parts in images; tables must have headings and can use smaller fonts (not below 8 pt); figures/tables should be placed near first citation, numbered in order, and accompanied by titles/captions with symbol explanations.

Statements and Declarations

All submissions must include the required declarations, or they will be returned as incomplete. Authors must confirm the work is original, not published or under review elsewhere, and approved by all co-authors and relevant institutions; declare any conflicts of interest (or include “The authors declare no conflict of interest”); and list funding sources with the agency name and grant number.

Corrections and Retractions

If errors are identified after publication that affect the accuracy or integrity of the article—but do not invalidate its findings—the journal will publish a formal correction notice.

Erratum: Issued to correct errors introduced during the publication process.
Corrigendum: Issued to correct errors made by the authors.

Corrections will be linked to the original article and clearly describe the nature of the amendment.

A retraction may be issued if there is clear evidence of:

Research misconduct (fabrication, falsification, plagiarism)
Major methodological errors invalidating the findings
Redundant or duplicate publication

Retraction decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief in consultation with the editorial board. Retraction notices will remain permanently linked to the original article.