JOURNAL POLICY

1. SCOPE OF JOURNAL

Bhutan Sorig Journal is a multidisciplinary journal with subject contents in:

  • Sowa Rigpa (science of healing)
  • Complementary and alternative medicine
  • Traditional medicine
  • Integrative medicine
  • Healing medicine practiced in communities around the globe
  • Studies on biological mechanisms of action, efficacy, safety, costs, patterns of use and implementation of traditional herbal formularies.

It is a peer-reviewed journal meeting the standards of scientific publishing. It provides a balanced and inclusive platform for researchers, professors and student-researchers to share their ideas of innovation and technology.

2. PUBLISHER

This journal is published by the Faculty of Traditional Medicine, Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan, Thimphu, Bhutan.

The journal abides by the publication ethics, standards and the best practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) and the International Committee for Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

3. FREQUENCY OF JOURNAL PUBLICATION

Two issues of Bhutan Sorig Journal is published annually (May and November). Based on the volume of incoming submissions, there may be additional or supplementary issues. The journal produces coloured print publication for each issue.

4. EDITORIAL BOARD

The journal has a team of editorial board members with broad multi-disciplinary representation. The editorial board members serve to provide technical advice on the quality of manuscripts, the veracity of scientific information in the manuscripts and advices on strategic planning and direction of the journal. The Editor-in-Chief provides the overall lead on all activities of the journal. The term for the members of the editorial board are for a period of three years and renewable.

5. JOURNAL EDITORIAL OFFICE

A team of individuals from the Faculty of Traditional Medicine function as the journal editorial office. Editorial Assistants handle the submission, perform initial clerical check and coordinate peer review communications and editorial decision making processes. The journal editorial office is located at the Faculty of Traditional Medicine, Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan, Kawang Jangsa, Thimphu, Bhutan. All functions of the journal editorial office are guided by standard operating procedures.

6. PUBLICATION CHARGE POLICY

No fees will be charged to the authors for submissions.

7. PLAGIARISM POLICY

Plagiarism is the malicious act of stealing the work of already published articles and is a violation of academic integrity and a breach of ethics in scientific research. Self-plagiarism is the act of reusing substantial parts of an individual’s own publication without the use of any reference. This leads to similar contents on multiple platforms.

Plagiarism can be identified for the following traits but, is not limited to:

  1. Publishing the exact contents derived from another author’s work.
  2. Using the same figures, tables, equations, illustrations that are not common knowledge.
  3. Copying and pasting texts from internet sources.
  4. Copying or downloading figures and the like, and using them without the required acknowledgements and references.

The Bhutan Sorig Journal accepts 20% similarity in articles submitted by the authors. We do not accept artificial intelligence generated manuscripts.

8. PEER REVIEW PROCESS

All manuscripts submitted to the journal undergoes a double-blinded peer review. Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and the author in improving the quality of the manuscript. Peer reviewers must declare conflicts of interests and must not have published with the authors in the past two years.

The number of reviewer reports required is given in the section on Types of Manuscripts. A summary of the handling of manuscripts is shown in the figure.

After a manuscript is received, the time to desk reject or proceed to peer review must be made within 2 weeks. A reviewer is given 4 weeks to return the peer review report but may be subject to extension with communication with the handling Editorial Assistant. After two peer review reports have been received, an editorial board decision is to be given within 2 weeks. After all these processes, the Editor-in-Chief gives the final editorial decision within 2 weeks.

If a manuscript is solicited for re-submission, the author may be given 1 month for Minor revisions and 2 months for Major revisions. For types of editorial decisions, see the section on Editorial Decision Stages.

9. TYPES OF MANUSCRIPTS

The following are the types of articles published in Bhutan Sorig Journal.

Article type

Abstract

Main text

Other notes

Research article

250 words, structured

2000 – 2500 words, up to 5 tables and figures, up to 40 references

Ethics statement required wherever relevant

Short communication

250 words, structured

Up to 1500 words, up to 5 tables, up to 10 references

Preliminary findings of research

Editorial

-

1000 – 1500 words, up to 5 references

Invited manuscripts

Review article

250 words, unstructured

3000 – 5000 words, up to 5 tables and figures, references as required

-

Commentary

250 words, unstructured

Up to 2000 words, up to 5 tables and figures, up to 10 references

Thematic discussion on subjects, primary data not required

Perspective

250 words, unstructured

Up to 3000 words, up to 5 tables and figures, up to 10 references

Personal opinion on a topic, often with an engaging through rigorous investigation that enhances the understanding of the subject.

Conference proceedings

250 words, unstructured

Up to 2000 words, up to 5 tables and figures, up to 10 references

Articles published in the context of a conference, individually or thematic summary

Case report

150 words, unstructured

Up to 1500 words, up to 5 tables or figures, up to 15 references

Ethics statement and participant's consent required wherever relevant

Letter to editor

-

Up to 1000 words, up to one table or figure, up to 5 references

Communications to the editor

News

-

Up to 1000 words, up to 2 tables or figures, up to 5 references

Reports on factual information to update on key events

Impact paper

150 words, unstructured

Up to 1500 words, up to 2 tables or figures, up to 15 references

Discussion on developments with major 2 tables or figures, up to impact on health policy or practices

Field Report

250 words, unstructured

Up to 2000 words, up to 5 tables and figures, up to 10 references

Reports of field visits and activities

Images in Traditional Medicine

-

Up to 250 words, unstructured, up to 3 references

Participant's consent if photos of patients

The manuscripts must adhere to the relevant international standard reporting guidelines.

The minimum number of reviewer reports required for making editorial decisions are two for all types of manuscripts.

10. EDITORIAL DECISION STAGES

The editorial decision on a manuscript will be based on the reviews and suggested decision types from the reviewers and the editorial board members. The decisions may be communicated through documented channels or may be made at an editorial board meeting. The final editorial decision shall be given by the Editor-in-Chief.

After the manuscript is received, an editorial board member will make a decision on whether to initiate peer review process. Peer reviewers will be provided with Bhutan Sorig Journal reviewer guideline after they accept to review invitation. All reviews will be rated on a five-point scale on the timeliness and usefulness of the review. If a manuscript contains contents with fundamental errors, they may be rejected by the Editor-in-Chief if recommended by an editorial board member.

In the first round of review, Peer Reviewers must recommend an editorial decision for “Accept, Minor revisions, Major revisions or Reject”. The editorial board or the Editor-in-Chief may be guided by these recommendations but are allowed to make independent final editorial decision.

If a manuscript is re-submitted after being recommended “Major revisions (re-submit for review)”, it must undergo a second round of peer review before a final editorial decision is made. If a manuscript is re-submitted after being recommended “Minor revisions (revisions required)”, an editorial board member may recommend an editorial decision.

If a manuscript has publishable contents and format, it may be given “Acceptable for publication” decision.

If a manuscript does not meet the scope and standards of the journal, it may be given “Reject” decision or transferred to Bhutan Health Journal, subject to conditions of peer review at the recipient journal. Bhutan Health Journal is a sister journal publication of the Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan.

11. AUTHORSHIP CRITERIA

Authorship of a manuscript is based on the following criteria:

  1. Substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data for the work; AND
  2. Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  4. 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 investigate and resolved.

One of the authors should be identified as the corresponding author. All authors should declare their conflicts of interest. Any manuscript authored by members of the editorial board of this journal must declare their conflict of interest AND will be blinded from all processes of peer review. 

If authors request for any change in the author list after submission or publication, such a request must be accompanied with a signed agreement of all authors listed and all authors added or removed.

Those who have helped in the project or writing the manuscript but does not meet the authorship criteria should be mentioned in the acknowledgment section.

The use of artificial intelligence-assisted technology in writing scientific manuscripts will not be listed as authors because they cannot be responsible for the accuracy, integrity and originality of the work.

The corresponding is responsible to furnish a signed Authorship Declaration form upon the acceptance of the manuscript for publication.

12. AUTHOR CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Authors must declare financial and non-financial relationships, activities and conflicts of interest defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Authors must declare conflicts of interest as a part of commitment towards ensuring transparency in scientific process.

For any manuscript, where any one of the editorial board members are listed as author, he/she/they will be blinded in the entire online review process.

The conflict of interest form can be downloaded from here.

13. PROTECTION OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS AND RIGHTS TO PRIVACY

When reporting studies on humans, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution’s or a national research council’s guide for or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals were followed. Evidence of approval by a local Ethics Committee (for both human as well as animal studies) must be submitted by the authors. Animal experimental procedures should be as humane as possible and the details of anaesthetics and analgesics used should be clearly stated. The ethical standards of experiments must be in accordance with international guidelines and best practices. The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable. A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the method section.

Case Report: Do not use patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in the illustrative material in the article. Authors must submit the Case Report Consent Form signed by the patient or the legal guardian.

14. RESEARCH ETHICS POLICY

Upholding all the principles of research ethics is the responsibility of the authors/investigators. Bhutan Sorig Journal publishes researches that have been approved by the local ethics committees AND research method that meets the global best practices in research ethics. If there is any concern about ethical practices involved in the research, Bhutan Sorig Journal will not publish such manuscripts. If readers suspect any misconduct or breach of ethical principles in articles published in our journal, please report to the journal office or the Editor in Chief. The journal reserves the right to withdraw or retract articles if serious ethical misconduct is reported.

For human or animal research conducted in Bhutan, authors must submit the ethics approval letter from the Research Ethics Board of Health, Ministry of Health or the Institutional Review Board, Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan.

15. STANDARD REPORTING GUIDELINES

Bhutan Sorig Journal encourages and endorses the use of an appropriate reporting guideline available at the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR) in writing your manuscript. The checklists given at the EQUATOR Network helps not only conform to standards but also in improving the quality of your manuscript. The appropriate guidelines are:

16. CONFIDENTIALITY

The editor and any editorial staff will not disclose any information about the submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisors, and the publisher before its publication.

17. COPYRIGHT AND AUTHOR AGREEMENT FORM

Upon acceptance of the manuscript, authors will hand over the rights of publication to the publisher through a written document. The published material will always have its authors’ names attached to it.

The author may have the right to the following:

  1. They may use their own work in teaching activities.
  2. They may publish the manuscript, or permit its publication, as part of any book the Author(s) may write.
  3. They may include the manuscript in their personal or departmental (not institutional) database or on-line site.

18. WITHDRAWAL AND RETRACTION POLICY

The authors may withdraw the manuscript at any time before the final editorial decision. After the Editor-in-Chief has given the final decision to accept the manuscript, it cannot be withdrawn.

If the author is to discover any significant error or inaccuracy within the contents of his or her published document, the author is obligated to notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

The journal has the right to withdraw the manuscript or the article if there is sufficient evidence of scientific misconduct, gross data manipulation, ethical misconduct, plagiarism or fraudulent use of data without the consent of its owner. An article may be removed from online database when subjected to legal limitations with publisher, copyright holder or author. Recognition of inaccurate data representation, violating legal rights, scientific data tampering and risk of harm to others may lead to removal of the article from the journal.

An article may be withdrawn or retracted if there are any legal disputes or any copyright infringements involving the particle manuscript or article. The original article will be removed from the online archive and the PDF or HTML link will display as “retracted”.

19. OPEN ACCESS POLICY

Bhutan Sorig Journal is an open access journal and its contents are freely available to its readers.

20. ARCHIVING POLICY

The digital version of the published material will be archived in the Bhutan Sorig Journal website maintained by the Faculty of Traditional Medicine, Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan. A number of printed copies shall be archived at the National Library of Bhutan and the central library of the Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan.

21. LICENCING

Bhutan Sorig Journal allows readers to download, copy, distribute, print, search the link to the full texts of its articles and allow readers to use them for any other lawful purpose. The author(s) are allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions.

The articles published by the Bhutan Sorig Journal are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

22. COMPLAINT POLICY

If a reader notices any concern for the scientific validity or veracity of information presented in a published article or any complaints on scientific or ethical misconduct, please contact the journal editorial office and the Editor-in-Chief. The journal office must take action on every complaint and take appropriate action. A summary of such complaint and the actions taken must be announced in the journal’s website. If an errata needs to be published, it will be included in the subsequent issue.

23. JOURNAL ADVERSTISING POLICY

All submitted Advertising Content is subject to approval by the editorial team and must comply with the national regulatory guideline. Judgment on the suitability of all Advertising Content is based on the editorial integrity, profile, and reputation of the journal. All claims contained in Advertising Content must be justified by relevant supporting references and documents. Generic name and prescribing information of drugs must be provided within the Advertising Content. Advertising Content for tobacco, alcohol, recreational drugs or any illegal products will not be accepted. All Advertising Content are subject to payment of fees.