1) Claim of Service Independence

Our services are not required by and do not imply any connection to, any journals or publishers.

2) Testing and Training of Editors

Testing: After the CV of an applicant is received, a test paragraph is sent to him/her based on his/her specialty. The Medjaden Editors’ Management Team prepared a pool of test samples by extracting text from serviced manuscripts (with written consent from the authors) and modifying it by introducing a wide range of common writing mistakes. The CSE’s Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers and the AMA Manual of Style (10^th Edition) were referenced in designing the tests. If the applicant corrects more than 85% of the mistakes, he/she is considered to have passed the initial test.

Training: The test paragraph with “correct answers” is sent to potential new editors, together with the  Medjaden editing guidelines and commonly asked questions to further train the editors. Before editors are asked to edit a manuscript, a member of the Editors’ Management Team conducts a telephone training session with the potential editor, explaining the general rules, policies, and key points of each service, and answering any questions. Each newly recruited editor must successfully pass the quality control review performed by the  Medjaden Academic Department before becoming an official editor.

Manuscript assignment: A manuscript is assigned to an editor based on the content of the manuscript and the specialty of the editor. In principle, a manuscript is typically assigned to the editor who had evaluated it. 

3) Editing and Publication Ethics

Medjaden provides high-quality services using the CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers and AMA Manual of Style as references.

4) Quality Assurance

1. All services are provided by qualified scientific editors and language proofreaders.

2. The quality of services is ensured by a high-level academic department according to a strict quality control standards.

3. Authors are encouraged to acknowledge services received (e.g., editing, writing tutorial, translation, or illustration assistance).

4. Lectures and training courses on study design, scientific writing, and publication are provided to help researchers improve the overall quality of their scientific research and output.

5) Academic Principles and Ethics

Medjaden follows the guidance of the Position Statement on the Contributions of Medical Writers to Scientific Publications (published by the American Medical Writer Association [AMWA), http://www.amwa.org/page/position_statement), the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors [ICMJE], http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/), and the Recommendations of the Committee of Publishing Ethics (COPE) (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/) to prevent academic misconduct.

1. Authors hold full responsibility for the accuracy of an article’s scientific content; thus, the contribution of the article’s scientific content must be solely the work of the authors (as defined by international standards such as the ICMJE definitions of the roles of authors and contributors [http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/]). Further, it is the authors’responsibility to finalize and confirm the scientific content of articles before submission as well as the the scientific content of any revisions made during peer review.

2. Editors should have no conflict of interest when accepting any assignment. If there is any conflict with the author, the editor should claim it and decline the assignment. Editors should be free to express critical but responsible views about all aspects of medicine without fear of retribution, even if these views conflict with the commercial goals of a company.

3. Service providers must not falsify or fabricate research data provided by the authors, or gather data for authors; the presentation and interpretation of the research results must not change authors’ intended ideas.

4. Service providers must publicly display their ethics policies and must decline any request from authors that would breach research ethics and academic integrity, with an explanation to the authors on the potential life-long implications of the misconduct for the authors’ research and academic career.

5. Service providers must keep confidential any personal and scientific information provided by authors, as well as all communications with authors.

6. Service providers must not participate in duplicate or multiple submissions.

7. Service providers must not provide false information for potential peer reviewers, nor help authors manipulate the peer review system.

8. Service providers must not participate in any form of research article trading.

9. Service providers must not participate in any misconduct prohibited by Chinese authorities and institutions.

10. Service providers should provide regular lectures on research ethics and academic integrity to company staff and affiliated editors, ensuring that both the staff and editors understand the principles of research ethics and academic integrity, and are aware of different categories of academic misconduct and the measures designed to prevent them.

6) Complaints and Appeals Procedure

If you have any complaints or suggestions, please click the “Contact Us” link on our homepage. We will make every effort to answer all questions and address all concerns.