Aerzteverlag medinfo AG policies

General principles

The aim of medical journals owned by Aertzteverlag medinfo AG is to publish original and review articles for both general practitioners and spezialised physicians in a practice and hospital environnement, respecting highest publishing and ethical standards, as defined by the Principles of Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publishing (COPE, ref) and the International Committee of Medical journal Editors (ICME, ref). For each journal produced by medinfo a separate and dedicated editoral board supported by a specialized advisory board garantees the quality and the ethical quality of the published articles. Aertzteverlag medinfo garantees total editorial independence according to the principles formulated by the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME, ref).

Publication Misconduct

Both medinfo as publisher as the editorial boards of the medinfo journals take systematic steps to identify and prevent publications of papers where research or publication misconduct has occurred, including plagiarism, citation manipulation and data falsification or fabrication. If the publisher or one of the editorial boards is suspecting or getting aware that misconduct in relation to one of the submitted articles is present, the editorial board will follow the COPE guidelines in dealing with allegations.

Peer review process

All submitted articles are reviewed by the the editorial board members. Selected articles are submitted to a double-blind peer-reviewing process, either by decision of the editorial board or on request of the authors. Peer reviewers are academic, spezialized and recognized opinion leaders in the specific fields, they are not members of editorial or advisory boards and are required to declare any conflict of interests in relation to the author or the content of a reviewed article. The decision to correct or to reject an article is ultimately always taken by the editorial board. Aertzteverlag medinfo adheres to the ICME guidelines on “Responsibilities in the Submission and Peer-Review Process”.
Peer-Review-Formular: PDF

Aerzteverlag medinfo journals unconditionally adhere to following principles of publication ethics:

Authorship

Based on the ICME recommendations Medinfo applies following criteria for the definition of authorship:

  • 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
  • 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.
Handling of complaints and appeals

The editorial boards of each Medinfo journal are clearly identified and contact data visible. The editorial boards will take any complaint or  appeal seriously and ensure post-publication correction or, if necessary, published article retraction. In case of complaints involving the editorial board or a member of the board,  Medinfo Verlag will analyse the complaint and react directly.

Conflicts of interest

For every article in one of the Aerzteverlag medinfo AG Journal each author is requested to fill a standardized form declaring potential conflicts of interest arising with their participation in the specific publication. The editorial board controls credibility and consistency of the filled forms, and is enabled to research for non declared conflicts of interest on its own. Medinfo publications adhere to the guidelines of the Swiss Academy of medical Sciences (Richtlinien der Schweizerischen Akademie der Medizinischen Wissenschaften – Zusammenarbeit Aerzteschaft-Industrie, Version 13, 29.11.2012) and of the International Committee of Medical journal Editors (ICME, Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities, and Conflicts of Interest)

Data sharing

Aerzteverlag medinfo AG publishes almost exclusively review articles, overview articles on guidelines and case reports and has therefore no primary data to share. All published articles can be downloaded from the medinfo Homepage by physicians and medical persons having a subscription for at least one of the medinfo publication.

Ethical oversight

The editorial boards of the medinfo journals oversee and guarantee the ethical quality of the published data and statements according to the WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for medical Research Involving Human Subjects (2018).
When publishing case reports, medinfo makes sure that rights to privacy and confidentiality as well as anonymity of patients data are protected.

Post-publication critiques/discussions

The editorial boards of all Aerzteverlag medinfo AG publications accept letters to the editors, including critical comments on published material. All letters to the editors are edited by the editorial board, sent for possible comments to the authors of a commented article and subsequently published.