•  
•  

Publishing Ethics

Peer Review Policy

Submissions to the HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine are reviewed using a double-blind method. Both authors and reviewers should make every attempt at hiding their identities to assure there are no biases involved in the review process. Each research, review, and case article will receive at least 2 peer reviews. The journal’s goal is to give a decision on each submission within 30 days of submission. The Editor-in-Chief and the Clinical Co-Editors will make the final decision on the publication of each submission. See the Review Guidelines for more information.

Appeals Policy

Appeals of editorial decisions must be requested in writing and are considered by the Editor-in-Chief and the Clinical Co-Editors, or a proxy should there be any conflict of interest requiring one or more of the leadership to recuse themselves. The appeal letter should explain why the article should be reconsidered or allowed to be resubmitted. Upon receipt, the Editor-in-Chief and the Clinical Co-Editors will review the letter and render a decision within 4 weeks. Decisions made by the journal leadership are final.

Retraction Policy

Retractions from the HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine are considered by the editors when an article is found to have dubious data or findings, ethical issues in the research, plagiarism or publication in another journal, and/or other legal reasons. The editors may consider publishing an expression of concern if an article is under consideration for retraction. A retracted article will be replaced on the website by a retraction notice that explains why the article was pulled from publication along with a link to the original PDF marked as “Retracted”.

Corrections Policy

The journal will publish a correction in some cases rather than retracting the article. An erratum will be issued if a small part of the article proves misleading, especially when not done in malice, or if the author list is incorrect. The decision to issue a correction or retract the article is at the discretion of the editors. See the appeals policy above in cases of dispute over the correction or retraction process.

Expressions of Concern

The journal will issue an expression of concern when there isn’t sufficient evidence to be certain of author misconduct, there is evidence of unreliable findings but the authors’ institution will not investigate or the authors will not submit a correction, there is concern that alleged author misconduct cannot be investigated in a fair and impartial manner, or that the judgment on alleged author misconduct will not be forthcoming in a timely manner.

Advertising Policy

The costs of maintaining the HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine are underwritten by HCA Healthcare without advertising. The journal will not solicit or accept any advertisements for any products or services in published issues or on the journal’s website. The journal will not directly or indirectly endorse any products or services within the published articles or on the journal’s website. Editorial decisions on content to be published by the journal or on the journal’s website will not be influenced by any outside commercial or financial interest.