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Policies

Contents

Philosophy of Aesculapius Journal (Health Sciences & Medicine)

For more information, please see Aesculapius Aims and Scope page.

Who Can Submit?

Anyone may submit an original article to be considered for publication in Aesculapius provided he or she owns the copyright to the work being submitted or is authorized by the copyright owner or owners to submit the article. Authors are the initial owners of the copyrights to their works (an exception in the non-academic world to this might exist if the authors have, as a condition of employment, agreed to transfer copyright to their employer).

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General Submission Rules

Submitted articles cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in an archival journal or book (print or electronic). Please note: "publication" in a working-paper series does not constitute prior publication. In addition, by submitting material to Aesculapius, the author is stipulating that the material is not currently under review at another journal (electronic or print) and that he or she will not submit the material to another journal (electronic or print) until the completion of the editorial decision process at Aesculapius Journal (Health Sciences & Medicine). If you have concerns about the submission terms for Aesculapius Journal (Health Sciences & Medicine), please contact the editors.

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Authorship & Contributions

The Aesculapius adheres to the authorship criteria established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Authorship credit should be based on all of the following: 1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data. 2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content. 3. Final approval of the version to be published. 4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. All individuals who meet these criteria should be listed as authors. Contributors who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged appropriately in the Acknowledgments section, with their permission. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all listed authors meet the authorship criteria and that no qualified individuals have been omitted. Any changes to authorship (addition, removal, or reordering) after submission must be approved by the editors.

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Conflict of Interest

To maintain the integrity and transparency of the scholarly publishing process, Aesculapius requires all participants (authors, reviewers, and editors) to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. Authors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be perceived to influence the content or outcomes of their manuscript. This includes, but is not limited to, funding sources, affiliations, consultancies, stock ownership, or patent interests. All disclosures should be included at the time of submission. Reviewers are expected to recuse themselves from reviewing any manuscript where a conflict of interest exists. This includes situations involving personal relationships, professional collaborations, financial interests, or competitive research. Reviewers must contact the editors immediately if they identify a conflict. Editors must avoid handling manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest. This includes submissions from current or recent collaborators, or individuals with whom they have a personal or financial relationship. In such cases, the manuscript will be reassigned to another editor to ensure impartiality.

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Ethical Standards

All research involving human participants must have received prior approval from an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) or ethics committee. For studies involving human participants, informed consent to take part in the research and publication must have been obtained. Verbal consent may acceptable, when a full explanation for why written consent was not obtained and/or how consent was documented must be included in the submission. Please see patient consent form for guidance on publishing case reports. Where participant data have been anonymized, this should be clearly stated within the submission materials to confirm that such alterations have not distorted the scholarly meaning.

Studies involving animals must comply with institutional, national, and international guidelines for the ethical treatment of animals in research. Authors must provide a statement confirming that the research was approved by an appropriate animal care and use committee and conducted in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.

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Data Availability & Sharing

The Aesculapius supports transparency and reproducibility in research. Authors are encouraged to share the data, code, and other materials underlying their findings whenever possible, in accordance with ethical and legal considerations.

Attribution and Usage

Reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of the article or any material therein, in any medium as permitted by a personal-use exemption or by written agreement of USD RED, requires credit to USD RED as copyright holder (e.g., USD RED © 2025).

Rights for Authors and USD RED

As further described in our submission agreement (the Submission Agreement), in consideration for publication of the article, the authors assign to USD RED all copyright in the article, subject to the expansive personal use exceptions described below.

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Personal Use Exemptions

The following uses are always permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from USD RED provided the author does not alter the format or content of the articles, including the copyright notification:

  • Storage and back-up of the article on the author's computer(s) and digital media (e.g., back-up servers, external drives, etc.), provided that the article stored on these computers and media is not readily accessible by persons other than the author or authors;
  • Posting of the article on the author or authors' personal website, provided that the website is non-commercial;
  • Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)'s place of employment; and
  • Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.

People seeking an exception, or who have questions about use, should contact the editors.

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General Terms and Conditions of Use

Users of the USD RED website and/or software agree not to misuse the USD RED service or software in any way.

The failure of USD RED to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between USD RED and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.

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Peer Review

All manuscripts submitted to Aesculapius undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review process, ensuring both author and reviewer identities remain confidential. Each submission is evaluated by a minimum of two qualified peer reviewers. Depending on the complexity, breadth, or interdisciplinary nature of the manuscript, additional reviewers may be invited to provide further expertise. This process is designed to uphold the highest standards of scholarly integrity, relevance, and methodological rigor.

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Corrections & Retractions

It is our policy to update, correct or retract the published scientific record according to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices.

Formatting Requirements

Submissions must follow the Final Manuscript Preparation Guidelines. Authors are responsible for submitting a high-quality PDF or a file (Word, WordPerfect, or RTF) that can be converted to PDF. Note: PDF compatibility may vary across devices and software. See Manuscript Preparation Guidelines (Style Guide) for details.