Immediate & Barrier-Free Access: All articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and adaptation with proper attribution.
Author Rights: Authors retain copyright while granting the journal a non-exclusive publishing license.
Funding Model: No Article Processing Charges (APCs) for the first two years to encourage submissions from LMIC researchers. Post-2025, a tiered fee structure will apply based on country income classification.
Publication Frequency: Annual publication of three issues each in February, June and October.
Online ISSN (e-ISSN): International Standard Serial Number specifically assigned to the electronic version of the journal. e-
Editorial Independence: Decisions are based solely on scientific merit, originality, and relevance, free from commercial or institutional influence.
Originality and Prior Publication: All submissions must be original and not under consideration, peer review, or accepted by any other journal. Additionally, no significant portion of the data presented in the submission should have been published previously. By submitting their work, authors confirm their adherence to these guidelines.
The journal will accept negative results studies so long as scientific merit, originality, and relevance are confirmed.
Diversity & Inclusion: The Editor-in-Chief oversees the editorial board, comprising experts from comprises experts from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and allied Global North partners.
Peer Review Policy
Double-Blind Review: Ensures impartiality (authors and reviewers remain anonymous).
Rigorous Evaluation: Minimum of two independent reviewers per manuscript, with a third reviewer for contentious decisions.
Fast-Track Option: Expedited review for time-sensitive public health research.
Peer Review Process
Initial Screening (7 days): Checks for scope, plagiarism (<15% similarity), and formatting.
Peer Review (4–6 weeks): Reviewers assess methodology, significance, and clarity.
Editorial Decision: Accept/Revise/Reject, with detailed feedback.
Post-Review: Revised manuscripts may undergo re-evaluation.
Final Decision & Publication.
Academic Fraud Policy
Zero Tolerance: Plagiarism, data fabrication/falsification, or duplicate submission leads to immediate rejection, retraction, blocklisting and institutional notification.
Screening Tools: Turnitin and/or ;iThenticate for plagiarism checks.
AI-generated content must be declared.
Retraction: The journal will retract articles when clear evidence demonstrates that the findings are unreliable due to misconduct (e.g., data fabrication or plagiarism) or honest error, following COPE guidelines.
Appeal and Complaint Policy
Appeals: Must be submitted within 30 days with a point-by-point rebuttal.
Complaints: Investigated by the Ethics Committee; resolved within 21 days.
Journal aligns with the ICMJE conflict of interest policy
Full Disclosure is required from authors, reviewers, and editors.
Management Strategies:
Exclude conflicted reviewers.
Recuse involved editors from decision-making.
Digital Archiving and Repository Policy
Long-Term Preservation: All content is archived in LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and Portico using the Open Journal System (OJS).
Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs): Assigned via CrossRef for permanent citation.
Authors are permitted to deposit all versions (including submitted, accepted, and published) of their articles in institutional and other repositories of their choice without an embargo.
Copyright Policy
Author Ownership: Authors retain copyright under CC BY 4.0 but grant the journal a non-exclusive publishing license.
Preprints: Encouraged (e.g., medRxiv, ResearchSquare), provided they are disclosed during submission.
Disclaimer Policy
Views expressed are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect the journal’s stance.
No Liability: GSHH is not responsible for clinical decisions based on published content.
