Editorial policy

Editorial policies

  • Peer review process
  • Conflicts of interests
  • Acceptance of originality
  • Authorship and contribution
  • Copyright and reproduction
  • Plagiarism, redundant publication and fabrication of data
  • Errata and retractions
  • Anti-plagiarism policy
  • Ethical supervision
  • Open access policy
  • Self archiving
  • Data preservation
  • Payments by reception or publication
  • Complaint management
  • Attention to complaints and resources
  • ORCID

Peer review process

Manuscripts submitted to OJS-AMP will be presented and placed under consideration of the Editorial Committee, which is constituted by healthcare professionals, members of renowned research institutions. The Editorial Committee will decide whether the manuscript is accepted for entering the editorial process under these circumstances: 1) if it is in line with its editorial line; 2) if it fits well into AMP sections; and 3) if it brings new information, has a sound methodology with the problem under investigation, and if it has been properly written; then it may go to the peer review process. If that is not the case, the submitted material will not be accepted and it will be returned to the author(s).

Peer review

Peer review aims to guarantee the quality of the papers to be published. This is a double-blinded review. Reviewers are selected on the basis of their expertise in a particular area (proven through their publications and their academic achievements), or according to their expertise on methodological issues (i.e. biostatistics, epidemiology specialists). This review is ad honorem. Every reviewer has the obligation of declaring every possible conflict of interest regarding the paper to be reviewed and inhibit himself/herself from the review; also, he/she should maintain confidentiality with respect to the data included n the paper. The reviewer is an external professional, independent from AMP.

Rating may be as follows: a) accepted with no modifications; b) may be published, with minor observations; c) may be published, with major observations; d) should not be published. Also, the reviewer may suggest the paper is published in a different section of AMP (i.e., as an original paper instead of a short communication).

Taking into account the reviewers’ observations, the Editorial Committee will finally decide whether the paper may be published, if it is not approved, or if it is necessary to send a document with objections/observations to the author(s).

Review formats (download PDF)

Paper Review Form

Conflicts of interests

The Editorial Team and the reviewers will refrain in case of conflict of interest about an author, some authors or the content of their manuscript to be evaluated. The Editorial Team will avoid any conflict of interest between the authors, reviewers and themselves. The Editorial Team and reviewers must refrain from making decisions when: there is a direct relationship between authorship and a reviewer; there is recent and significant professional collaboration between reviewers and authors; the editor or reviewer is a contributor to the article being submitted; the editor or reviewer considers that his evaluation cannot be objective, either for personal reasons or for economic interest. 

Any manuscript including any member of AMP Editorial Committee is not exempt from complying with the requisites specified in these instructions, and manuscripts to be processed will follow the same pathway that has been outlined for any paper; nonetheless, the process will take place without the participation of the involved Editorial Committee member. This means he/she will not be able to participate in any session regarding that particular manuscript (decision, review), and he will not know the names of the assigned reviewers. Also, members of the Editorial Committee will have to declare their potential conflicts of interest with respect to that particular manuscript, and they will inhibit themselves from decision making on that issue.

Acceptance of originality

Scientific articles, brief communications, case reports, special articles and/or other articles must be free of arbitration in another journal or, if applicable, be translations previously published in their original language (if it were the case). In addition, it is necessary that the texts sent are original and that they have not been partially published or that they are in the process of being published in another journal or dissemination medium. In any of its types, the articles immediately received will be evaluated for their academic honesty using the Turnitin software.

If the works that exceed 20% similarity and coincidence with another text, book, article, etc., they will be returned to their authors. If in the process the article has been accepted by another journal, the author must inform such condition. If so, the article will be withdrawn from the evaluation or editing process. It should be noted that the Editorial Committee, if it deems it necessary, has the power to request a declaration of originality of the articles.

The manuscripts received must be unpublished and original, whose themes revolve around health sciences in all its branches and related disciplines.

Authorship and contribution

Authors must be qualified for such authorship, and must have been sufficiently involved in the work to take responsibility for its content. They must meet these criteria: 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or data acquisition, or data analysis and interpretation; 2) writing of the article or critical revision of its important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. In addition, they must meet conditions 1, 2 and 3. Obtaining funding, data collection or general supervision of the research group do not justify authorship. 

Copyright and reproduction

AMP adheres to the International Creative Commons 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0). Therefore, 1) Authors maintain their copyright and guarantee to AMP that this is the first time their work is published, as long as the CC BY 4.0 license is adhered to; 2) Authors may adopt other non-exclusive distribution license for their manuscript, as long as the initial AMP publication is cited; and 3) Authors may have the capability to spread their work.

The journal adheres to the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, the World Association of Medical Publishers-WAME, and Latindex. 

The journal encourages authors to cite publicly available research data in their reference lists. References to data sets must include a persistent identifier. We encourage research data to be made available under open licenses for unrestricted reuse.

Plagiarism, redundant publication and fabrication of data

Acta Medica Peruana (AMP) adheres itself to recommendations issued by the Committee in Publication Ethics (COPE; https://publicationethics.org), specifically:  Code of conduct and guidelines on good practices for Journal editors, and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). AMP reviews potential faults against ethics in publication, such as plagiarism, redundant publication, fabrication of data, as well as faults related with authorship and institutional affiliation. Should this occur during the publication process, the paper will be rejected; in case the paper had already been published, retractation will take place. This will occur after an investigation process and deposition from implicated author(s), according to COPE flow charts. In both cases, competent authorities, the institutions where the authors come from, sponsors, professional organizations, and ethics committees that approved the study, will be informed, if pertinent. Also, the case will be reported to the Ethics and Deontology Committee of the Peruvian College of Physicians, if deemed necessary.

Journal editors may publish in AMP; however, they will not participate in any of the editorial processes of their manuscripts and will be exempt from discussions when they are decided upon. This will be made explicit in the article if it is published.

In case of doubt about any ethical misconduct, author(s) may contact the Editorial Committee in order to obtain adequate orientation (actamedicaperuana@cmp.org.pe).

Errata and retractions 

Errata will be processed by email atactamedicaperuana@cmp.org.pe and may be sent by the corresponding author. 

AMP reviews potential faults against ethics in publication and this occur during the publication process, the paper will be rejected; in case the paper had already been published, retractation will take place.

Anti-plagiarism policy

AMP adheres itself to the recommendations of the Committee in Publication Ethics (COPE; https://publicationethics.org) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). AMP reviews all potential misconducts against publication ethics, such as plagiarism, redundant publication, data manipulation and invention, as well as any infringement related with authorship and institutional affiliation(s). Every manuscript submitted to AMP will undergo review by anti-plagiarism software (Turnitin (R)).

Should plagiarism be found during the publication process, the manuscript will be rejected; if found after the paper had been published, a rectification will be issued. Afterwards, a communication will be sent to the institutions where the author(s) is/are affiliated, following COPE recommendations.

For complaints: the email address actamedicaperuana@cmp.org.pe is available for complaints about bad practices in the scientific publication process.

Ethical supervision

The ethical supervision of the Journal is the responsibility of the Editorial Committee. The Journal adhered to the COPE good practice policies and the management of faults follows its flowcharts. 

Open access policy

Acta Medica Peruana (AMP) gives free immediate open access to its contents, based on the principle that states that giving the public free access to scientific research helps global knowledge exchange. AMP uses the Creative Commons Atribución 4.0 internacional (CC BY 4.0) which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, provided they are duly cited and taking into consideration the copyright, established in Legislative Decree 822, Law on the Copyright, of Peru. 

World Health Organization https://www.who.int/about/policies/publishing/open-access  

Plan S https://www.coalition-s.org/plan_s_principles/     

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf   

COPE Core practices: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices   

REWARD: https://www.thelancet.com/campaigns/efficiency/statement  

EQUATOR (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research): https://www.equator-network.org/about-us/  

Good Publication Practice (GPP) Guidelines for Company-Sponsored Biomedical Research: 2022 Update. https://www.ismpp.org/gpp-2022#:~:text=GPP%202022%20is%20the%20third,publications%2C%20and%20policies%20and%20procedures 

Self archiving

The journal allows the self-archiving of the articles in their peer-reviewed version, edited and approved by the Editorial Board of the Journal to be available in Open Access through the Internet. More information in the following link:  https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/37435

Data preservation

Acta Medica Peruana (AMP) adheres to the LOCKSS system for paper collection, preservation, and storage (https://amp.cmp.org.pe/index.php/AMP/gateway/lockss).

Acta Medica Peruana (AMP) will preserve electronic versions of all published documents. Its website and all contents are supported and guarded by the Systems Office from the Peruvian College of Physicians. Contents are twice-yearly updated.

Payments by reception or publication

Acta Medica Peruana journal has no fees for the publication of articles submitted by the authors, nor payment by manuscripts reception.

Complaint management

Acta Medica Peruana (AMP) reviews every submitted manuscript in a transparent and objective manner. AMP decides if a manuscript may be published according to consensus reached by the members of the Editorial Committee, being peer reviewing the main basis for making any decision on that respect. Nonetheless, it is established that any author may request a reassessment of the decision taken by AMP in case he/she should not agree with this decision; he/she may also request manuscript withdrawal at any stage of the editorial process if he/she may deem it necessary. If doing so, he/she may communicate through the OJS-AMP system or by sending a message to the following e-mail: actamedicaperuana@cmp.org.pe.

Attention to complaints and resources

The Journal will receive complaints and resources through the email actamedicaperuana@cmp.org.pe. The Journal will follow the COPE flowcharts for handling complaints and appeals. 

ORCID

Every author of every manuscript submitted for potential publication to Acta Medica Peruana must have an ORCID identifier (https://orcid.org/signin) that must be included within the documents attached to their evaluation request. Not including this requisite may be a reason for not accepting a manuscript for evaluation by the Editorial Committee.