(1) General

The OSIR is an online open-access peer-reviewed journal publishing epidemiological works of animal health and public health professionals in the Asia Pacific region. Manuscripts on surveillance programs, investigations, epidemiological studies and field projects are accepted for submission for publication in OSIR.

The publication ethics of OSIR are based on the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as well as the recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

(2) Authors

Original Research

The manuscript must be an original article that has not been submitted or published in any peer-reviewed journals in another language. All co-authors of this manuscript are well informed and have given their consent for publication. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the OSIR Guideline.

Authorship

All authors listed in the manuscript must provide: substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; final approval of the version to be published; and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author(s) should be the person(s) who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal for submission, revision and publication process, and typically ensures to meet all the administrative requirements. The corresponding author(s) should work closely with editors throughout the reviewing and editing process in a timely manner.

Accuracy

Author(s) should commit to report accurate and original research based on evidence presented in the manuscript.

Plagiarism

Author(s) will avoid presenting the work of others (data, words or theories) as if they were his/her own and without proper acknowledgment

Conflict of Interest

Potential conflicts of interest could include employment, consultancy, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications or registrations, and grants or other funding. Potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed when the article is submitted.

Acknowledgments

Author(s) should acknowledge information and results from the previous publications in the references. Persons who provided support to the manuscript, apart from the authorship criteria, should be acknowledged.

Disclosure

Author(s) should declare any  conflicts of interest, sources of support, eligibility to access the study data and financial support.

Permission

Author(s) should be responsible to seek appropriate ethics approval, and its related information should be stated in the manuscript.

The manuscript submission to OSIR can be performed either by communication to the OSIR Editor at: <osireditor@osirjournal.net> or online submission via the website at: <http://www.osirjournal.net/index.php/osir/about/submissions>.

The manuscript must be approved by all relevant organizations/institutions for publication. Following manuscript submission, author(s) must sign and submit the OSIR clearance form in order to complete the submission process. During the editing process, the data set related to the information in manuscript should be available upon request.

Misconduct

Multiple, duplicate, concurrent or simultaneous submission to other journals must be avoided. Manuscript withdrawal from the OSIR following one of the stated actions is condemned and further articles from the authors will not be accepted.

(3) Editors

Responsibilities

Following one of the unique aspects of OSIR, editors should accept or reject a paper for publication based on scientific importance, originality, validity, clarity and interest of its readers. Editors should not reject a manuscript solely on the grounds of language or formatting issues. An editors’ decision on acceptance are not based on the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.

Editors should review instructions to authors and reviewers regularly, provide relevant guidelines, ensure appropriate reviewers selection with the scope of the content in the manuscript, provide coaching to the authors, encourage reviewers to comment on the originality of submissions, and acknowledge the contribution of reviewers to the journal.

Plagiarism, including text recycling, should be avoided with vigorous coaching to authors and intensive editing by editors.

Peer Review

Editors should ensure the submitted manuscripts undergo the double-blind peer-reviewing process by two reviewers and two chief editors. The chief editors are responsible for providing the final decision of acceptance based on the reviewers’ comments.

Confidentiality

As per the double-blind peer review process, editors protect the identity of author(s) and reviewers, and information from the peer review. Editors should not use the information in the manuscript for personal advantage.

Disclosure

Editors should not use the unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper for their own research purposes, without the author's explicit written consent.

(4) Reviewers

Responsibilities

Reviewers should provide verifiable and accurate personal and professional information to OSIR. Reviewers should agree to review only when qualified to assess the manuscript through expertise and able to return the review within the proposed or mutually agreed time-frame. Reviewers’ decision for acceptance should be unbiased with regard to nationality, religious or political belief, gender or other characteristics of the authors, origins of a manuscript or by commercial considerations.

Reviewers should not agree to review a manuscript just to gain sight of it or if the manuscript is very similar to one in preparation or under consideration at another journal. In case of unavailability, reviewers should recommend alternative reviewers.

Professional Contributions

The review should be based on fair, honest and unbiased assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript. The comments should be professional, objective and constructive to help authors and improve the manuscript; be specific in critique; and provide supporting evidence with appropriate references to help editors in their evaluation.

The reviewers’ comments could be a primary review on scientific contents based on the OSIR Checklist for Reviewer, or a comprehensive review of the manuscript, along with edition.

Confidentiality

Reviewers should respect the confidentiality of the peer-review process and information in the manuscript until it is published, and not for personal advantage.  If the reviewers suspect the identity of the author(s), the journal should be notified to assess the potential for competing or conflict of interest.

Disclosure

Reviewers should declare all potential competing or conflicting interests, including personal, financial, intellectual, professional, political or religious in nature.