Editorial Policy

Publication ethics

Authors’ Responsibilities

Authors play a vital role in upholding the integrity of the academic community and ensuring that manuscripts published in the WESR journal meet the highest standards of quality and research ethics.

Originality of Manuscripts

Submissions must be original works that have not been previously published or under consideration in any peer-reviewed journal. Authors must not plagiarize or misappropriate others’ work. Articles must comply with the formatting and referencing guidelines of WESR.

Plagiarism

Any form of plagiarism or copyright infringement is strictly prohibited. Proper citation must be provided to acknowledge all referenced works. Manuscripts with plagiarism exceeding 20% will be rejected immediately. Authors bear sole legal responsibility for copyright violations.

Data Integrity

Authors must ensure that research data are accurate, reliable, and appropriately interpreted. Fabrication, falsification, or biased presentation of findings is unacceptable.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors must provide evidence of approval from Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) or Independent Ethics Committees (IECs) for studies involving humans or animals.
All potential conflicts of interest and sources of funding must be disclosed.

Acknowledgements

All financial support, technical assistance, and contributions from individuals or institutions not qualifying for authorship must be acknowledged. References must be complete and accurate. WESR requires acknowledgements to state only names and affiliations, without specifying detailed contributions (e.g., “for statistical review”).

Ethical Misconduct

WESR does not tolerate ethical violations such as data fabrication, falsification, duplicate submission, or simultaneous submission to multiple journals. Detected misconduct will result in immediate rejection, withdrawal of the article, and suspension of future submissions.

Consent for Publication
All listed authors must have actively contributed to the research and must agree to the submission and publication of the manuscript.
Authorship Criteria
Authorship must follow ICMJE guidelines. Authors must meet all four conditions:

Substantial contribution to the conception, design, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation.
Drafting or critically revising the manuscript.
Final approval of the version to be published.
Accountability for all aspects of the work, ensuring accuracy and integrity.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) cannot be listed as authors, as they cannot take responsibility for accuracy, integrity, or originality. If AI is used, its application must be disclosed in both the manuscript and submission email. Authors remain fully responsible for reviewing, editing, and verifying AI-generated content, ensuring that no plagiarism or unreferenced material is included. Non-original articles published in WESR may be prepared by staff of the Division of Epidemiology or other units within the Department of Disease Control. Such articles must not be generated entirely by AI tools.

Roles and responsibilities of the reviewers

Reviewers assess original articles solely on their academic merit. Before beginning the evaluation, the reviewers must check for potential conflicts of interest. In cases where a conflict of interest is identified that could compromise impartial feedback, the reviewers should promptly inform the editor and decline to review the article.
Reviewers bear the responsibility of assisting authors in enhancing manuscripts within their respective areas of expertise. Reviewers should utilize academic principles and knowledge to support scientific or empirical arguments, refraining from relying solely on personal opinions without evidence.
Reviewers are obligated to maintain strict confidentiality regarding the original articles they are assigned to review.
Reviewers are strictly prohibited from using any information contained in the article for their personal work or that of others.
Reviewers must not seek personal gain in exchange for altering their opinions or the results pertaining to the original article.
Reviewers should adhere to the WESR guidelines throughout the article evaluation process and uphold ethical standards.

Roles and responsibilities of the Editors

Editors evaluate articles solely on their academic merit. They consider the objectives and scope of the journal, the quality of the article, and refrain from any form of discrimination based on race, religion, philosophy, politics, or institutions. The decision to accept or reject a manuscript is based exclusively on academic merit, and editors do not use the results of the decision for personal gain.
Editors are obliged to maintain the confidentiality of original articles and any related information until they are published.
In cases where there is suspicion of a violation of publishing ethics, the editor has the authority to withdraw a manuscript from consideration without requiring the author’s consent.
Editors are prohibited from altering reviewers’ comments and must not interfere with reviewers’ opinions and assessments of the original article.
Editors must avoid conflicts of interest with article authors or evaluators.
Editors may not utilize any information from the manuscript for personal or professional gain.
Editors should adhere to the WESR guidelines throughout the article evaluation process while upholding ethical standards.

Publication ethics

Authors’ Responsibilities

Roles and responsibilities of the reviewers

Roles and responsibilities of the Editors

กองระบาดวิทยา กรมควบคุมโรค กระทรวงสาธารณสุข

การติดต่อ

สมัครรับจดหมายข่าว

The Division of Epidemiology, Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health

Contact

Subscribe to our newsletter