Privacy Statement

Publishing Ethics and Policy

We operate a robust and well-regarded peer-review process to ensure that content is always of the highest standard and trusted content. For all parties involved in the act of publishing (the author, the journal editor(s), the peer reviewer and the publisher) it is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior. The ethics statements for the Azman Journal of Health and Sciences (AJOHS) are based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices.

ETHICS OF PUBLISHING IN AJOHS

Submissions to AJOHS are automatically screened using iThenticate's Cross Check within the editorial system to detect plagiarism issues including instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. High similarity papers above 30% will be desk rejected.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must:

•        include a statement on ethics approval and consent (even where the need for approval was waived)

•        include the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee's reference number if appropriate

All materials must adhere to high ethical and animal welfare standards. Any use of animals must be based on ethological knowledge and respect for species-specific requirements for health and well-being. A statement indicating that the protocol and procedures employed were ethically reviewed and approved, and the name of the body giving approval, must be included in the Methods section of the manuscript.

Consent for publication

If your research or manuscript contains any individual person's data in any form (including any individual details, images or videos), consent for publication must be obtained from that person, or in the case of children, their parent or legal guardian. All presentations of case reports must have consent for publication.

Studies in humans and animals

If the work involves the use of human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. The manuscript should be in line with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and aim for the inclusion of representative human populations (sex, age and ethnicity) as per those recommendations. The terms sex and gender should be used correctly.

The author should ensure that the manuscript contains a statement that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and have been approved by the appropriate institutional committee(s). This statement should contain the date and reference number of the ethical approval(s) obtained. Authors should also include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects. The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed.

The journal will not accept manuscripts that contain data derived from unethically sourced organs or tissue, including from executed prisoners or prisoners of conscience, consistent with recommendations by Global Rights Compliance on Mitigating Human Rights Risks in Transplantation Medicine. For all studies that use human organs or tissues authors must provide sufficient evidence that they were procured in line with WHO Guiding Principles on Human Cell, Tissue and Organ Transplantation. The source of the organs or tissues used in clinical research must be transparent and traceable. Authors of manuscripts describing organ transplantation must additionally declare within the manuscript:

1.      that autonomous consent free from coercion was obtained from the donor(s) or their next of kin; and

2.      that organs/tissues were not sourced from executed prisoners or prisoners of conscience.

All animal experiments should comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and should be carried out in accordance with the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 and associated guidelines, EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, or the National Research Council's Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such guidelines have been followed. The sex of animals must be indicated, and where appropriate, the influence (or association) of sex on the results of the study.

Plagiarism

Authors should note that plagiarism and breach in research ethics are not tolerated by this Journal. Hence, all manuscripts submitted to AJOHS will be subjected to plagiarism checks before accepting for publication. Authors must not submit papers that are under review/consideration in other journals. Authors must fully acknowledge all sources of their information, such as methodology, figures etc.

Authors are responsible and liable to the content of their manuscripts.

Authorship

Authorship is restricted to persons who contributed to the paper (eg. design and/or analysis and interpretation of the data/or drafting of the paper). All authors must review and approve the contents of the final version of the manuscript before submitting it for publication.

 

Conflict of Interest

The authors must declare a conflict of interest (if any) while submitting the final version of the manuscript for publication.

Acknowledgement

Authors are required to state contributions that do not justify authorship but need to be acknowledged/disclosed, source of funding, technical or material support, etc.

MANUSCRIPT WITHDRAWAL POLICY

Azman Journal of Health and Sciences reserves the right to retract any published article when there is suspected plagiarism or any scientific misconduct. The author can request for the withdrawal of manuscripts before or after publishing via a formal written request addressed to the Editor-in-Chief of AJOHS with full justifications. Approvals for the withdrawal of manuscripts depend on the decision of the Editor-in-Chief and the editorial board of AJOHS. There will be no refunds of article processing and /or Publication charges paid to AJOHS if the processed/published manuscript is withdrawn. 

ARCHIVE POLICY 

All articles published by AJOHS will be archived in the database of the E-library of Azman University, Kano portal to ensure long-term/permanent data preservation. 

Authors Repository Option: Authors are free to deposit versions of their published manuscripts in an institutional or other repository of their choice.

COPYRIGHT POLICY

By submitting a manuscript for publication in the AJOHS, authors have agreed on the copyright policy of AJOHS, which operates based on an open access copyright policy (CCBY-NC 4.0 license) under which any person can copy, reuse or redistribute the published articles for any non-commercial purpose(s) provided that the author and the source of the article are properly cited. 

Similarly, authors can deposit the published version of their articles in an institutional or other repository of their choice without any restriction, provided the original portable document format (pdf) published by AJOHS is maintained (not tempered or restructured). 

Copyright Holder of Published Articles: Authors retain the copyright and full publishing rights of their article without restrictions.

JOURNAL STRUCTURE

The journal will follow the IMRDC structure; Introduction, Methodology/Procedure, Research, Discussion, and Conclusion which aligns with international standards for scientific publishing. This format is widely recognized and allows for clear, logical organization of research papers, making it easier for readers to understand and evaluate the purpose, methods, findings, and implications of each study.

JOURNAL TYPE

The journal will adopt a combined approach of online approach coupled with hard copy to provide a lasting physical record of the university’s research output, creating an archive that future generations of students and faculty can access and also to maintain the university’s intellectual heritage.

•        REVIEWERS

Azman Journal of Health and Sciences (AJOHS) will implement a systematic approach to manuscript review by inviting reviewers with expertise directly related to the submitted work. Upon receiving a manuscript, the journal editor will carefully pair it with qualified reviewers who possess the relevant knowledge and experience in the specific area of research.

   • INSTRUCTION FOR AUTHORS

Submission Guidelines and Peer Review Process

Authors interested in publishing their works with AJOHS are required to log in (pre-existing users) or register (for new users) their account on the journal website. Using the journal online submission platform, three (3) separate attachments are required to be uploaded at the time of the submissions:

1.      Title page: A document containing the Manuscript title, authors' names, affiliations and other information (ORCID IDs and the corresponding authors' email). 

2.      Blank   manuscript:     Main    manuscript        (without            the Authors'      names   and             their affiliations/information).

3.      POP: Copy of evidence of payment (of the manuscript processing fee). Manuscripts not accompanied by processing fees will not be processed.

 

 

GUIDE TO AUTHORS

•         Article structure 1. Research article

Subdivision - Numbered Sections: Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. The abstract is not included in section numbering. Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to "the text". Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

Abstract: The abstract may follow the structured or unstructured format, as determined by the author of the submission. The objective is to provide a concise overview of the proceeding text.

Introduction: State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Material and methods: Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference, and only relevant modifications should be described.

Results: Results should be comprehensive but concise.

Discussion: This should explore the significance of the results of the work, and should not simply repeat the results. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Conclusions: The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may appear alone or form a subsection of a Discussion, or Results and Discussion section.

Appendices: If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.  

2. Review

Three types of review manuscript are accepted by the AJOHS. These are:

1.      State-of-the-Art Review: This article type is intended to review contemporary topics. Authors of this type of review can discuss global public health topics. The editors encourage, but do not require, the submission of topics that elicit some degree of controversy allowing both sides of the controversial issue to be presented in detail using the latest peer-reviewed evidence available. The review should be comprehensive but appropriately concise and, ideally, should be authored by two or more experts presenting opposing perspectives.

2.      Systematic Review: This manuscript type comprehensively evaluates the peer-reviewed literature relating to a specific global health topic. Article selection should be based on clearly defined inclusion and exclusion criteria intended to capture all appropriate articles and to minimize selection bias. These criteria must be described in detail. The literature review must be thorough and should incorporate a careful evaluation of the levels of evidence associated with each of the included articles.

3.      Evidence-Based Review (Meta Analyse): This article type represents the highest level of evidence. An Evidence-Based Review incorporates a systematic review and specific global public health recommendations. Upon evaluating the strength of the evidence, authors should use the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) Working Group criteria to classify recommendations as either "Strong" or "Weak". In brief, if the balance of evidence conclusively indicates that a particular intervention will be of benefit to the people, outweighing the risks, then the recommendation can be strong. Similarly, if the evidence conclusively indicates that the risk outweighs the benefit, a strong recommendation for not performing a particular intervention can be made. When the balance of risks and benefits is uncertain or similar, a weak recommendation should be made. Critically, when making recommendations, the authors should discuss the values and preferences that were brought to bear in making the decision, particularly in the context of weak recommendations.

Reviews should be formatted as follows:

•  Abstract (300 words)

•  Introduction

•  Methods (not applicable to State-of-the-Art Review)

•  Results (not applicable to State-of-the-Art Review)

•  Discussion

•  Conclusion

•  References

Systematic and Evidence-Based Reviews should follow the formatting guidelines described in the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) document (http://www.prisma-statement.org/). The PRISMA checklist, found on the same website, provides a concise reference that should guide manuscript preparation.

    • Language 

 

Manuscripts must be written in English. Authors whose first language is not English are encouraged to have their manuscripts professionally edited before submission to improve readability.

    • Formatting

Manuscripts should be prepared according to journal Author guidelines, including the appropriate formatting of headings, references, figures, and tables.

    • Length 

The manuscript length should not exceed 6,000 to 7,000 words, or approximately 12–15 pages, 1.5 line spacing, 12 font size, and Times New Roman font type. These formats include the abstract, body of the manuscript, tables, figures, and references.

    • Figures/Tables

The figures/table should not exceed 10 in total.

      •     Peer Review Process 

Articles Submitted to AJOHS will be pre-screened by the editorial board for suitability. Articles found suitable will be peer-reviewed by at least two (2) different reviewers to ensure a high standard. The decision to accept an article for publication will be based on the comments/recommendations of the reviewers. Upon acceptance of the article for publication, the corresponding author must pay a publication fee of …….

      •     Title page information

Title: Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.

Author names and affiliations: Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name.

Corresponding author: Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.

Present/permanent address: If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a "Present address" (or "Permanent address") may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Keywords

Authors are invited to submit keywords associated with their paper.

Abbreviations

Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Acknowledgements

Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proofreading the article, etc.).

Nomenclature and units

Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. Authors wishing to present a table of nomenclature should do so on the second page of their manuscript.

Math formulae

Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

 

Footnotes

Footnotes should be used for the e-mail address of corresponding author(s).

Figure captions

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Tables

Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

References

AJOHS journal adheres to the APA Citation Style, 7th Edition for referencing.

Citation in text

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Changes to authorship

 

This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts:

Before the accepted manuscript is published: Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the Journal Manager from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript and must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, fax, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement.

•        Reviewer Reports

Reviewers are asked to evaluate the manuscript based on its originality, methodological soundness, relevance to the field, and clarity of presentation. They should provide constructive, detailed feedback to help the authors improve their work.

•        Decision

Based on the reviewers' comments, the Editor-in-Chief will decide:

a.      Accept without revision: The manuscript is accepted for publication as is.

b.      Accept with minor revisions: The manuscript requires minor changes before it can be accepted.

c.      Revise and resubmit: The manuscript requires significant changes and must be resubmitted for review.

d.      Reject: The manuscript is not suitable for publication in journal .

•        Revisions

Authors are given a specific timeline to complete any required revisions. Once the revisions are submitted, the manuscript may be sent back to the original reviewers for further review or directly assessed by the Editor-in-Chief.

•        Appeal

Authors have the right to appeal a rejection by contacting the Editor-in-Chief with a detailed explanation of their reasons for the appeal.

•        Confidentiality

All manuscripts submitted to the journal are treated as confidential documents. They are privy only to the individuals involved in the review process.

By maintaining a robust, double-blind peer review process, journal ensures the publication of high quality, impactful research in the fields of library and information science, management, technology, and education.

 

      •   SUMMARY OF AJOHS EDITORIAL PROCESS 

➢  Call for papers. 

➢  Article submission via the journal’s website submission portal or as email to the journal’s email address.

➢  Processing/screening of received manuscripts at the editorial level. 

➢  Manuscripts that meet the journal standard are sent for peer review, otherwise, rejected manuscripts at the editorial level are sent back to the authors. 

➢  The editorial board awaits the decision of the panel of reviewers. Acceptance letter is communicated to corresponding authors for articles that were accepted after peer review. 

➢  Authors are given at most two weeks to submit back corrected copies. 

➢  Corrections made by the authors are ascertained (vetted). 

➢  Papers are sent to the press for publication. 

➢  Galley proofs are sent to the corresponding authors. 

➢  Final published copies are released online and in hard copies.

 

     • ARTICLE REJECTION CRITERIA

All papers submitted to AJOHS undergo a pre-review evaluation, which determines whether they are sent for external review. The assessment of the manuscripts considers several elements, including novelty, scientific rigour, scientific advancement of a particular field, and overall interest to the readership. These are the most common reasons for rejection before or after review: 

1)  Papers that lack novelty 

2)  Papers with limited sampling, poor experimental design, or other methodological flaws or limitations that raise concerns about the validity or reliability of the findings. 

3)  Papers describing fragmentary results 

4)  Papers that may raise ethical concerns related to research conduct, authorship, plagiarism, or conflicts of interest. 

5)  Papers discovered to be generated by AI 

6)  Papers with poor writing quality, including issues with clarity, organization, grammar, and style, making the manuscript difficult to understand or unprofessional in appearance