About the Journal

The International Journal of Transformative Multidisciplinary Studies (IJTMS) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by JMED Research and Development on Medical Sciences in Iligan City, Philippines.

IJTMS publishes original and methodologically sound research that contributes to the improvement of knowledge, professional practice, public policy, institutions, and communities. The journal gives particular attention to studies that connect disciplines, examine complex problems, or present solutions with wider academic or social value.

The journal welcomes submissions from researchers, educators, professionals, policymakers, postgraduate students, and independent scholars from all countries. Editorial decisions are based on the quality, relevance, originality, and ethical conduct of the research. Decisions are not influenced by an author’s nationality, institutional affiliation, academic position, gender, religion, political belief, or ability to pay the Article Processing Charge.

Aims

IJTMS aims to:

Publish reliable and original research that advances knowledge across disciplines.
Support interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to complex problems.
connect research findings with professional practice, policy, and community needs.
Provide a platform for research from established and emerging scholars.
Encourage responsible, transparent, and ethical research practices.
Promote scholarly exchange among researchers from different countries and fields.
Publish studies with clear theoretical, methodological, practical, or policy contributions.

Scope

IJTMS considers manuscripts in the following broad areas:

Education, Language, and Human Development. This area covers teaching and learning, educational leadership, curriculum, assessment, teacher development, educational technology, language education, literacy, inclusive education, special education, psychology, lifelong learning, and related fields.

Health and Allied Health Sciences. This area includes public health, health professions education, clinical and community practice, healthcare management, health technology, mental health, occupational health, health equity, and interdisciplinary healthcare research.

Studies conducted in a specific school, institution, community, city, or country are welcome. However, the manuscript must explain why the findings matter beyond the immediate study setting. Authors should identify the wider theoretical, professional, methodological, or policy value of the research.

Manuscripts that are purely descriptive, have weak methods, repeat well-established findings, or do not show a clear contribution may be declined during the initial editorial screening.

Target Readership

The journal is intended for:

Researchers and university faculty;
Postgraduate students;
Educators and school leaders;
Healthcare and allied health professionals;
Government officials and policymakers;
Business and organizational leaders;
Community development practitioners;
Scientists, technologists, and innovators; and
Readers interested in multidisciplinary research and social transformation.

Article Types

Original Research Article

Original Research Articles present complete empirical studies using quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method, experimental, observational, historical, documentary, computational, or other appropriate research designs. The usual length is 6,000 to 10,000 words, excluding references and supplementary files.

Review Article

Review Articles provide a critical and organized analysis of existing research. These may include systematic reviews, scoping reviews, integrative reviews, meta-analyses, bibliometric studies, or critical narrative reviews. Systematic and scoping reviews should follow the appropriate reporting guideline and include a clear search strategy, eligibility criteria, screening process, and method of analysis. Review Articles may contain up to 12,000 words.

Theoretical or Conceptual Article

Theoretical or Conceptual Articles develop, assess, extend, or challenge a theory, model, framework, or body of concepts. The argument must be based on relevant scholarship and should make an identifiable contribution to the field. The usual length is 4,000 to 8,000 words.

Case Study or Case Analysis

Case Studies provide an in-depth examination of a program, institution, policy, community, event, professional practice, or other clearly defined case. Authors must explain the basis for selecting the case and its wider relevance. The usual length is 3,000 to 6,000 words.

Brief Report or Research Note

Brief Reports present focused findings from pilot studies, methodological work, preliminary investigations, instrument development, replication studies, or small but important research projects. The usual length is 2,000 to 4,000 words.

Perspective or Commentary

Perspectives and Commentaries present evidence-based views on current academic, professional, ethical, or policy issues. They should offer a clear argument and must not be used mainly for personal opinion or promotion. The usual length is 1,500 to 3,000 words. Some commentaries may be invited by the Editorial Board.

Editorial

Editorials address matters relevant to the journal, its disciplines, or scholarly publishing. Editorials are normally written or invited by the Editor-in-Chief and are reviewed internally. The usual length is no more than 1,500 words.

Editorial Independence

The publisher provides administrative, financial, and technical support to IJTMS. However, the publisher does not control the acceptance or rejection of individual manuscripts.

The Editor-in-Chief has final authority over editorial content and publication decisions. Decisions must be based on the manuscript’s scholarly merit, relevance to the journal, methodological quality, originality, and ethical compliance.

Commercial interests, personal relationships, institutional pressure, sponsorship, advertising, or payment of the APC must not influence editorial decisions.

Editors must declare any conflict of interest involving a submission. When an editor has a conflict, the manuscript will be assigned to another qualified editor who has no involvement in the matter.

Manuscripts written by editors, Editorial Board members, reviewers, publisher representatives, or their close collaborators will undergo the same review process as other submissions. The author-editor will not participate in reviewer selection, manuscript assessment, or the final decision.

Editorial Board

Members of the Editorial Board are selected based on their academic qualifications, subject expertise, research experience, publication record, professional integrity, and ability to contribute to the journal.

The journal seeks appropriate geographical, institutional, disciplinary, and gender representation on the Editorial Board.

The journal website lists the name, academic qualification, institutional affiliation, country, research interests, and ORCID or academic profile of each editor.

Editorial Board membership does not guarantee publication in IJTMS. Board members are expected to take part in manuscript evaluation, policy review, reviewer recruitment, quality improvement, and the promotion of responsible research practices.

Appointments may be reviewed or ended when a member becomes inactive, provides inaccurate credentials, fails to disclose conflicts of interest, or acts against the journal’s ethical standards.

Submission Guidelines

Submission Files

Authors should submit the following:

A separate title page;
An anonymized manuscript;
A cover letter;
An author contribution statement;
Ethics approval or exemption documents, when applicable;
Required research permits, when applicable;
Supplementary materials, instruments, datasets, or reporting checklists, when required; and
A point-by-point response for revised submissions.

Manuscripts and cover letters should be sent to [email protected].

Authors will normally receive an acknowledgment within seven days. An acknowledgment only confirms receipt and does not mean that the manuscript has entered peer review.

a. Title Page

The title page should contain:

Complete manuscript title;
Full names of all authors;
Institutional affiliations;
Country of each affiliation;
ORCID IDs;
Email address of the corresponding author;
Author contribution statement;
Funding statement;
Competing interest statement;
Data availability statement;
Ethics approval statement, when applicable; and
Acknowledgments, when applicable.

The corresponding author must ensure that all author information is correct and that every listed author has approved the submission.

b. Anonymized Manuscript

The anonymized manuscript must not contain author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, contact information, or other details that could reasonably identify the authors.

Authors should also remove identifying information from the document properties before submission.

c. File and Page Format

Manuscripts must:

Be submitted in an editable Microsoft Word format;
Use the journal’s manuscript template;
Use Times New Roman, 12-point font;
Use double spacing;
Use one-inch margins;
Use a single-column layout;
Include continuous line numbers; and
Use clear and consistent headings.

PDF files may be submitted as supplementary copies but will not replace the editable manuscript file.

d. Abstract and Keywords

Research Articles should contain a structured abstract of 200 to 250 words with the following parts:

Background;
Objective;
Methods;
Results; and
Conclusion.

Other article types may use an unstructured abstract when appropriate.

Authors should provide four to six keywords that are specific, searchable, and not unnecessary repetitions of words already used in the title.

e. Organization of Research Articles

Research Articles should follow this order:

Title;
Abstract;
Keywords;
Introduction;
Methods;
Results;
Discussion;
Limitations;
Conclusion;
Author Contributions;
Funding;
Ethics Approval and Informed Consent;
Competing Interests;
Data Availability;
Declaration of AI Use;
Acknowledgments;
References; and
Supplementary Materials, when applicable.

The Results and Discussion may be combined when this is suitable for the discipline or research design.

f. Reporting Guidelines

Authors should use the appropriate reporting guideline for their research design. Examples include:

CONSORT for randomized trials;
STROBE for observational studies;
PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
PRISMA-ScR for scoping reviews;
COREQ or SRQR for qualitative research;
CARE for case reports;
ARRIVE for animal research;
TREND for nonrandomized interventions; and
Relevant discipline-specific guidelines.

The completed reporting checklist may be requested during editorial review.

g. Tables and Figures

Tables must be editable and should not be submitted as screenshots or photographs.

Each table and figure must:

Be mentioned in the text;
Be numbered in the order of appearance;
Have a clear title or caption;
Identify abbreviations and units;
Include the source when reproduced or adapted; and
Have written permission when required by copyright law.

Figures should be clear and of sufficient resolution for publication. Images must not be altered in a way that misrepresents the original information.

h. References

References must follow APA 7th Edition.

Authors should use relevant, accurate, and reliable sources. Recent research should be included when it is necessary to represent the present state of knowledge, while important foundational work should not be excluded only because it is older.

IJTMS does not require authors to cite a fixed number or percentage of sources from Scopus, Web of Science, the journal itself, its editors, or its reviewers.

Authors must verify every reference before submission. All sources listed in the reference section must be cited in the text, and all in-text citations must appear in the reference list.

Digital Object Identifiers should be included when available.

Editors and reviewers must not request unnecessary citations. Requests to cite the reviewer’s work, the editor’s work, or IJTMS articles must be based only on clear scholarly relevance.

Peer-Review Process

IJTMS uses a double-blind peer-review process. Authors do not know the identity of the reviewers, and reviewers do not receive author-identifying information.

Initial Administrative Check

The Editorial Office checks whether the submission:

Is complete;
Follows the journal format;
Contains the required declarations;
Has been anonymized;
Falls within the journal’s scope; and
Meets basic ethical and technical requirements.

Incomplete submissions may be returned to the corresponding author before editorial screening.

Editorial Screening

A qualified editor evaluates the manuscript’s scope, originality, methods, clarity, ethical compliance, and potential contribution.

A manuscript may be declined without external review when it:

Falls outside the journal’s scope;
Has serious methodological weaknesses;
Does not present a clear contribution;
Contains major ethical problems;
Is substantially incomplete;
Has poor language that prevents proper evaluation;
Is a duplicate or redundant submission; or
Does not meet the minimum standards for scholarly publication.

A desk rejection is an editorial decision and does not mean that the topic has no value.

External Review

Manuscripts that pass editorial screening are normally reviewed by at least two independent experts.

Reviewers are selected based on subject knowledge, research experience, methodological competence, publication record, and absence of conflicts of interest.

A statistical or methodological reviewer may be invited when the manuscript uses advanced or specialized analyses.

The editor may obtain an additional review when:

The first two reviews substantially disagree;
A specialist opinion is needed;
Ethical or methodological concerns arise; or
The editor cannot make a sufficiently informed decision from the available reports.

Review Criteria

Reviewers are asked to examine:

Relevance to the journal;
Originality and contribution;
Strength of the research question;
Suitability of the design and methods;
Quality of the data and analysis;
Ethical compliance;
Clarity of the results;
Depth of the discussion;
Support for the conclusions;
Appropriate recognition of limitations;
Quality and relevance of the references; and
Value to theory, practice, policy, or future research.

Editorial Decisions

The journal uses the following decisions:

Accept;
Minor Revision;
Major Revision;
Reject with Invitation to Submit a New Manuscript; or
Reject.

Reviewer recommendations guide the editor but do not determine the decision. The handling editor evaluates the reports, the manuscript, and the authors’ responses. The final editorial decision rests with the assigned editor or Editor-in-Chief.

Revisions

Authors invited to revise must submit:

A clean revised manuscript;
A version showing changes, when requested; and
A point-by-point response explaining how every comment was addressed.

Authors may disagree with a reviewer, but they must provide a clear and respectful explanation supported by evidence.

A revised manuscript may be returned to the original reviewers or assessed by the editor.

Failure to submit a revision within the stated period may result in closure of the submission. Authors may request a reasonable extension before the deadline.

Review Period

The usual peer-review period is 6 to 12 weeks, but this is not guaranteed. The period may be longer when suitable reviewers are difficult to obtain, the manuscript covers a highly specialized subject, or additional review is required.

Authors will be informed when a substantial delay occurs. They may request withdrawal when the delay is no longer acceptable to them.

IJTMS does not guarantee acceptance or provide review outcomes in exchange for payment.

Reviewer Guidelines

Reviewers should accept an invitation only when they have the required expertise and can complete the review within the agreed period.

Reviewers must:

Disclose actual or possible conflicts of interest;
Decline when they cannot provide an impartial assessment;
Keep the manuscript and review confidential;
Provide clear, respectful, and useful comments;
Assess the work fairly and without discrimination;
Avoid personal or insulting remarks;
Identify major methodological, ethical, or reporting concerns;
Avoid unnecessary citation requests;
Not use unpublished ideas or information for personal benefit;
Not delegate the review without the editor’s approval; and
Delete manuscript copies after completing the review.

A reviewer should normally decline when the reviewer:

Works at the same institution as an author;
Has recently collaborated or co-authored with an author;
Has a close personal or professional relationship with an author;
Has a direct financial interest in the outcome; or
Has a rivalry or dispute that could affect impartiality.

Prior review of the same manuscript for another journal does not automatically create a conflict, but the reviewer should disclose it to the editor.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must be limited to individuals who:

Made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or development of the work;
Drafted the manuscript or reviewed it critically for important intellectual content;
Approved the final version; and
Agree to be accountable for the accuracy and integrity of the work.

All authors must meet these conditions.

Individuals who provided administrative support, language editing, data entry, technical help, funding assistance, or general supervision without meeting the authorship requirements should be named in the Acknowledgments, with their permission.

IJTMS does not allow:

Guest authorship;
Gift or honorary authorship;
Ghost authorship;
Purchased authorship; or
The addition of authors who did not contribute to the work.

Author roles must be reported using the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author is responsible for:

Communication with the journal;
Accuracy of the author list;
Approval of the manuscript by all authors;
Submission of required declarations;
Communication of reviewer comments to co-authors;
Approval of proofs; and
Communication after publication.

Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors must be made in writing and must include:

The reason for the change;
Written agreement from all listed and affected authors; and
An updated contribution statement.

Authorship changes after acceptance will be allowed only in exceptional and well-supported cases.

The journal does not decide who deserves authorship when the authors disagree. Unresolved disputes may be referred to the authors’ institutions.

Originality, Prior Publication, and Preprints

A submission must not be under consideration by another journal at the same time.

Authors must disclose any closely related paper, working paper, thesis, conference paper, report, preprint, or earlier version of the work.

Preprints

Posting a manuscript on a recognized preprint server before submission is not considered prior journal publication. Authors must disclose the preprint during submission and provide its identifier.

After publication, the preprint record should be updated to link to the published Version of Record.

Conference Presentations and Theses

A manuscript based on a thesis, dissertation, conference presentation, or conference abstract may be considered when:

The submitted article is a complete journal manuscript;
Earlier dissemination is disclosed;
Copyright restrictions are addressed; and
The article provides a clear and substantial scholarly contribution.

Redundant Publication

Authors must not divide one study into several papers without a valid scholarly reason. Substantial overlap with an earlier publication must be disclosed and properly cited.

Translations or republications of previously published articles require approval from the original publisher, clear identification of the original article, and prior approval from IJTMS.

Similarity Screening and Plagiarism

IJTMS screens submitted manuscripts using appropriate similarity-checking software.

A similarity percentage is not used as an automatic pass-or-fail measure. Editors examine the source, amount, location, and nature of matched text.

Properly quoted material, standard method descriptions, references, institutional names, and unavoidable technical phrases may produce legitimate similarity. A lower score does not prove originality, and a higher score does not automatically prove misconduct.

Plagiarism includes:

Copying text without acknowledgment;
Using another person’s ideas or data without attribution;
Inappropriate paraphrasing;
Unauthorized reuse of images or tables;
Translating another work without acknowledgment;
Presenting another person’s work as one’s own; and
Extensive undisclosed reuse of an author’s own published work.

Suspected plagiarism will be reviewed before a decision is made. Authors will normally be given an opportunity to explain the matched material.

Authors are not required to purchase or submit their own similarity report unless the Editorial Office specifically requests supporting documentation.

Research Integrity and Misconduct

IJTMS is guided by recognized publication-ethics principles, including the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

The journal does not tolerate:

Fabrication or falsification of data;
Plagiarism;
Manipulation of images or research records;
Citation manipulation;
Duplicate or redundant publication;
Undisclosed conflicts of interest;
Unethical research involving humans or animals;
False authorship information;
False reviewer identities;
Interference with peer review;
Paper-mill submissions; or
Other acts that damage the integrity of the scholarly record.

When a concern is raised, the journal will conduct an initial confidential assessment. The authors may be asked to provide original data, ethics documents, approval letters, instruments, analysis files, consent forms, or other relevant records.

Authors will be given an opportunity to respond. Editors may contact the authors’ institution, ethics committee, funder, or another journal when an independent investigation is needed or when public safety or research integrity requires it.

Possible actions include:

Requesting clarification or additional documentation;
Returning the manuscript for correction;
Rejecting the manuscript;
Suspending editorial consideration;
Publishing a correction;
Publishing an expression of concern;
Retracting the article;
Informing the relevant institution or authority; or
Applying a proportionate temporary submission restriction in serious or repeated cases.

Actions will be based on the available evidence and the seriousness of the concern. IJTMS does not maintain or publish informal author blacklists.

Good-faith concerns from reviewers, readers, editors, or whistleblowers will be considered. The journal will protect the identity of a complainant when confidentiality is requested and can reasonably be maintained.

Ethical Oversight

Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants must receive approval from a competent institutional ethics review board before data collection, unless the board formally determines that the research is exempt.

The manuscript must state:

The name of the ethics review body;
Approval or exemption number;
Approval date, when available;
How informed consent was obtained; and
How privacy and confidentiality were protected.

Research should follow applicable laws, institutional requirements, and accepted ethical principles. Health-related human research should be consistent with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed Consent and Assent

Participants must receive enough information to make a voluntary decision about participation.

For participants who cannot legally provide consent, permission must be obtained from a parent, guardian, or legally authorized representative. Assent should also be obtained from children or other participants capable of providing it.

Identifiable Information

Authors must obtain specific consent before publishing identifiable photographs, case details, recordings, quotations, or personal information.

Removing a participant’s name may not be enough when other details could reveal the person’s identity.

Vulnerable Participants

Studies involving children, persons with disabilities, displaced persons, prisoners, indigenous communities, disaster-affected populations, or other vulnerable groups must describe the additional safeguards used to protect participants.

Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Communities

Research involving indigenous peoples or cultural communities must comply with applicable community, institutional, and government requirements.

Where required, authors must provide evidence of community consent, cultural review, or a permit from the relevant authority.

Animal Research

Animal research must receive approval from the appropriate animal care and use committee and comply with applicable laws and accepted welfare standards.

Authors must describe measures taken to reduce pain, distress, and unnecessary animal use.

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials must be registered in a recognized public trial registry when required by the field or applicable guidelines. The registry name and registration number must appear in the manuscript.

Environmental and Biological Research Permits

Authors must obtain and disclose applicable permits for research involving:

Protected areas;
Wildlife;
Biological specimens;
Genetic resources;
Biosafety concerns;
Imported or exotic organisms; or
Controlled environmental materials.

Competing Interests

All authors must disclose financial and nonfinancial interests that could reasonably be viewed as affecting the research.

Examples include:

Employment;
Consultancy work;
Research funding;
Honoraria;
Patents;
Stock ownership;
Legal involvement;
Personal relationships;
Academic competition; and
Institutional or political interests.

When no competing interest exists, the manuscript should state:

“The authors declare no competing interests.”

Editors and reviewers must also disclose relevant conflicts and withdraw from the manuscript when impartiality cannot be assured.

Funding

Authors must identify all financial and material support received for the research.

The funding statement should include:

Name of the funding organization;
Grant number, when applicable; and
Role of the funder in the design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing, or publication decision.

When no external funding was received, the manuscript should state:

“This research received no external funding.”

Data Availability and Reproducibility

All research articles must include a Data Availability Statement.

Authors are encouraged to deposit de-identified data, code, instruments, protocols, and other reusable materials in a trusted institutional or subject repository.

Suitable repositories may include OSF, Zenodo, institutional repositories, discipline-specific repositories, or another stable platform.

Data sharing may be restricted when it would:

Breach participant consent;
Reveal confidential or identifiable information;
Violate legal or ethical requirements;
Infringe indigenous or community rights;
Violate a valid agreement; or
Create a clear risk of harm.

When data cannot be shared openly, the statement must explain the reason and indicate whether controlled access is possible.

Editors may request access to data or analysis files during review or after publication when questions arise about the work.

Failure to provide records needed to verify a serious concern may affect the editorial decision or lead to post-publication action.

Policy on Artificial Intelligence

AI and Authorship

Artificial intelligence systems and chatbots cannot be listed as authors because they cannot approve the manuscript, accept responsibility, manage conflicts of interest, or be accountable for the work.

Human authors remain responsible for all submitted and published content.

Permitted Uses by Authors

Authors may use AI-assisted tools for limited and responsible purposes, such as:

Language improvement;
Coding assistance;
Data processing;
Literature organization;
Transcription;
Image processing;
Translation; or
Other research support.

The use must be consistent with research ethics, participant consent, data-protection requirements, copyright, and the policies of the authors’ institutions.

Generative AI must not be used to fabricate data, participants, quotations, results, references, images, ethics documents, reviewer reports, or author information.

Authors must verify all AI-assisted output. AI-generated text or references must not be accepted as accurate without checking the original source.

Disclosure

The use of generative AI must be disclosed in the cover letter and in the manuscript.

The disclosure should identify:

Name of the tool;
Purpose of its use;
Part of the research or manuscript in which it was used; and
Extent of human review and verification.

AI used for data collection, analysis, coding, simulation, or image generation must be described in the Methods.

AI used for writing or language support should be disclosed in the Acknowledgments or Declaration of AI Use.

Ordinary spelling-checking functions that do not generate substantive content do not need to be disclosed.

Editors and Reviewers

Submitted manuscripts are confidential.

Editors and reviewers must not upload manuscripts, data, figures, review reports, or supplementary files into public AI systems or any system where confidentiality, data retention, and reuse cannot be assured.

Use of an AI tool during editorial assessment or peer review requires prior journal approval and disclosure. AI may assist with limited administrative or language tasks, but it must not replace the editor’s or reviewer’s scholarly judgment.

Editors and reviewers remain responsible for the accuracy, fairness, confidentiality, and originality of their work.

AI-detection results will not be treated as conclusive proof of misconduct. Concerns will be examined using the manuscript, citations, research records, author explanations, and other available evidence.

Article Processing Charge

IJTMS is an open-access journal. An Article Processing Charge supports editorial administration, production, online publication, and journal maintenance.

The APC is:

US $40, or
PhP 2,400

The applicable amount will be stated in the official invoice.

No Submission or Review Fee

IJTMS does not charge:

Submission fees;
Peer-review fees;
Editorial decision fees;
Fast-track fees;
Fees for guaranteed acceptance; or
Withdrawal fees.

When the APC Is Charged

The APC is requested only after:

Peer review has been completed;
Required revisions have been approved; and
The manuscript has received a formal acceptance decision.

Payment does not influence reviewer selection, editorial assessment, or the decision on the manuscript.

A manuscript will not be accepted because an author is willing to pay, and a manuscript will not be rejected because an author requests a waiver.

What the APC Covers

The APC supports:

Submission and correspondence management;
Editorial administration;
Similarity screening;
Basic copyediting and consistency checks;
Article layout and production;
Preparation of article metadata;
Online hosting;
Website and archive maintenance; and
Publication-quality checks.

The APC does not purchase authorship, peer-review outcomes, citations, indexing, or preferential treatment.

Waivers and Discounts

Authors without access to publication funds may request a full or partial waiver.

Priority may be given to:

Student-led manuscripts without institutional or grant support;
Authors with demonstrated financial difficulty;
Authors from low-resource settings; and
Research with substantial public or community value.

Waiver requests are handled separately from the academic review. Reviewers are not informed about an author’s payment or waiver status.

Approval of a waiver does not guarantee acceptance.

Invoice and Receipt

After acceptance, the Editorial Office will issue an official notice showing:

Manuscript title and identification number;
Corresponding author;
Amount due;
Payment instructions; and
Payment reference requirements.

An acknowledgment or receipt will be provided after payment.

Changes in APC

Any future change in the APC will be announced clearly on the journal website. The fee stated when a manuscript is submitted will normally apply to that submission.

Refunds

An APC may be refunded when:

A duplicate payment was made;
The journal charged the wrong amount; or
The journal cannot publish the article because of a verified editorial or production error.

Payments are normally not refundable after the article has been published.

No refund will be provided when publication is stopped because of false author information, plagiarism, data problems, undisclosed duplicate publication, ethics violations, or another breach attributable to the authors.

Open Access Policy

IJTMS provides immediate and free access to its published articles. Readers are not required to register or pay to read or download the full text.

The journal does not apply an access embargo.

Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain copyright in their articles.

Authors grant IJTMS the right of first publication and the right to publish, distribute, preserve, and identify the article as part of the journal’s scholarly record.

Published articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Under this license, readers may copy, share, distribute, and adapt the work for noncommercial purposes when:

Proper credit is given to the authors;
IJTMS is identified as the original journal of publication;
A link to the license is provided; and
Changes are clearly indicated.

Commercial reuse requires permission from the copyright holder.

The license and copyright information must appear on the article landing page and in the full-text PDF or HTML version.

Self-Archiving and Repository Policy

Authors may deposit the following versions in an institutional, subject, or personal scholarly repository:

The submitted manuscript or preprint;
The accepted manuscript; and
The published Version of Record.

No embargo is applied.

Repository copies of the Version of Record should include the complete citation and link to the official article page.

Corrections and Version Control

IJTMS will correct the scholarly record when an error is found.

A correction may be issued when an error affects the presentation, interpretation, attribution, or understanding of an article but does not invalidate its main findings.

Minor typographical errors that do not affect meaning may be corrected directly when appropriate.

Substantive changes after publication will be explained in a dated correction notice linked to the original article. The original and corrected records will remain connected.

Changes to authorship after publication require written agreement from all affected authors and may require an authorship correction.

Retractions and Expressions of Concern

An article may be retracted when its findings are unreliable because of:

Fabrication or falsification;
Major error;
Plagiarism;
Unethical research;
Duplicate publication;
Manipulated peer review;
Invalid authorship; or
Another serious breach of research integrity.

A retracted article will normally remain accessible to preserve the scholarly record. It will be clearly marked as retracted and linked to a notice explaining the reason.

An Expression of Concern may be issued when serious questions exist but:

The investigation is incomplete;
Available evidence is inconclusive;
An institution has not completed its investigation; or
A final decision cannot yet be made.

An article will be removed from the website only in exceptional cases involving a legal order, serious privacy violation, unlawful content, or an immediate and substantial risk of harm. A notice explaining the removal will remain whenever legally possible.

Appeals

An author may appeal an editorial decision when there is a reasonable claim of:

A serious factual misunderstanding;
A major procedural error;
An undisclosed conflict of interest;
Discrimination or unfair treatment; or
A failure to consider important evidence provided during review.

An appeal must be submitted in writing to [email protected], normally within 30 days of the decision.

The appeal must identify the specific error and provide supporting information. Disagreement with the reviewers or the rejection decision alone is not enough.

The appeal will be reviewed by an editor who was not directly responsible for the original decision whenever possible. One appeal will normally be considered for each submission.

Submitting an appeal does not guarantee that the decision will be changed for the original decision whenever possible. One appeal will.

Complaints

Complaints may concern:

Editorial conduct;
Peer-review procedures;
Publication delays;
Conflicts of interest;
Ethical concerns;
Copyright;
Privacy;
Discrimination;
Published content; or
Journal administration.

Complaints should be submitted in writing with enough information for the journal to understand and investigate the matter.

A complaint concerning the Editor-in-Chief may be sent to the publisher at [email protected].

The journal will acknowledge the complaint, review the available evidence, allow relevant parties to respond, and communicate the outcome when possible.

Complaints and appeals will not affect the fair treatment of future submissions.

Post-Publication Discussion

IJTMS welcomes well-supported comments, questions, and criticisms concerning published articles.

Readers may submit a Letter to the Editor or formal comment. The submission should:

Identify the article concerned;
Focus on scholarly or ethical issues;
Present evidence for the concern;
Avoid personal attacks; and
Disclose competing interests.

The original authors may be invited to respond. Comments and responses may undergo editorial or external review.

A post-publication discussion does not prevent the journal from beginning a separate correction, investigation, or retraction process.

Special Issues

Special Issues must fall within the aims and scope of IJTMS and follow the same academic and ethical standards as regular issues.

The Editor-in-Chief retains responsibility for all Special Issue content.

Guest Editors must:

Have suitable qualifications and subject expertise;
Disclose competing interests;
Follow IJTMS policies;
Maintain confidentiality;
Use independent peer review; and
Report concerns to the Editor-in-Chief.

Articles submitted by a Guest Editor or close collaborator will be handled by an independent editor.

Special Issue articles will not receive guaranteed acceptance, shorter review, or preferential treatment.

Digital Preservation

Published articles, metadata, issue files, and editorial records are maintained through secure online and off-site backups.

For long-term preservation independent of the journal website, IJTMS deposits its published content with Internet Archive.

If the journal or publisher stops operating, preserved copies should remain available through the identified preservation service or repository.

Publication Frequency and Online First

IJTMS publishes one volume each year with two regular issues: June and and December.

The journal may publish accepted articles online before they are formally assigned to an issue.

An Online First article is considered published once its final version, publication date, and permanent identifier are available. Its permanent identifier will remain unchanged when the article is assigned to an issue.

The journal will maintain its announced schedule. Any exceptional delay will be explained on the journal website.

Article Metadata

Each published article should have its own permanent landing page containing:

Article title;
Author names;
Affiliations and countries;
ORCID IDs, when available;
Abstract;
Keywords;
Article type;
Received, revised, accepted, and published dates;
Volume, issue, year, and page range or article number;
Permanent identifier or DOI;
Full-text link;
Copyright and license information;
Funding statement;
Competing interest statement;
Ethics statement;
Data availability statement; and
Links to corrections, retractions, or supplementary files.

Metadata supplied to indexing services must match the information appearing in the published article.

Indexing and Journal Metrics

IJTMS will list only indexing services, databases, directories, identifiers, and metrics that can be verified through an official record.

The journal will not claim that it is indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, DOAJ, or another selective database until official confirmation has been received.

Indexing logos should link to the official journal record whenever possible.

IJTMS will not display fabricated, misleading, unofficial, or unverifiable impact factors.

Journal and article metrics, when displayed, must identify their source and must not be presented as the only measure of research quality.

Advertising, Sponsorship, and Direct Marketing

Advertising or sponsorship, if accepted, must be clearly separated from editorial content.

An advertiser, sponsor, donor, partner, or service provider has no authority over:

Manuscript acceptance;
Reviewer selection;
Editorial decisions;
Interpretation of findings; or
Publication of corrections or retractions.

Direct invitations to submit, review, or join the Editorial Board must be accurate, professional, targeted, and not misleading.

Recipients should be able to ask that further promotional messages stop.

Privacy Statement

Names, email addresses, affiliations, ORCID IDs, correspondence, reviewer information, and other personal information collected by IJTMS will be used only for legitimate journal activities.

These activities may include:

Submission processing;
Peer review;
Editorial correspondence;
Publication;
Indexing and metadata registration;
Ethics investigations;
Archiving; and
Compliance with legal obligations.

Personal information will not be sold or used for unrelated commercial purposes.

Access to confidential submission and review records is limited to authorized editorial and publishing personnel.

Reviewer identities will remain confidential under the journal’s double-blind review policy unless disclosure is required by law, needed for an ethics investigation, or approved by the reviewer.

Ownership, Publisher, and Source of Support

Owner and Publisher: JMED Research and Development on Medical Sciences

Address: 2nd Street, Palmspring, San Miguel, Iligan City, Philippines 9200

Journal Email: [email protected]

Publisher Email: [email protected]

Telephone: (063) 302 2123; +63 912 760 4627

The publisher supports journal administration, website management, production, archiving, and publication services. Income may include Article Processing Charges and other disclosed sources of support.

Financial or administrative support does not give the publisher, sponsor, or donor control over individual editorial decisions.

Disclaimer

The views, interpretations, findings, and conclusions expressed in articles published by IJTMS belong to the authors.

They do not necessarily represent the views of the editors, reviewers, publisher, authors’ institutions, funders, or affiliated organizations.

The journal, editors, reviewers, and publisher are not responsible for losses, damages, or consequences arising from the improper use of published information.

Publication does not constitute endorsement of any product, service, institution, method, policy, or personal opinion mentioned in an article.