Editorial Policies
The Journal follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and endorses the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. Submission of a manuscript to the journal implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content and that the manuscript conforms to the journal’s policies.
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The journal does not accept adverts from third parties.Affiliations
Authors must list all relevant institutional affiliations where the research was conducted, approved, or supported. For non-research articles, authors should list their current institutional affiliation. If an author has changed institutions since completing the work, they should list the affiliation where the work was done. The current affiliation and contact details may be included in the acknowledgments section. A change in affiliation alone does not justify removing an author who otherwise meets authorship criteria.Appeals and complaints
Concerns related to authorship, peer review, or any aspect of the editorial process—including those raised post-publication—should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief. All complaints will be reviewed fairly and in alignment with ethical publishing standards outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE: https://publicationethics.org/). The Editor-in-Chief will consult all involved parties and recommend an appropriate course of action. If the Editor-in-Chief is the subject of the complaint, the most senior member of the Editorial Board will lead the review and resolution process.Acknowledgment
Individuals who contributed to the article but do not meet the criteria for authorship (e.g., provided technical assistance, funding acquisition, data collection, scholarly input, or writing support) should be named in the Acknowledgments section, along with their affiliations. Authors must obtain permission from those they wish to acknowledge and share the manuscript with them to confirm the context of their contribution.Groups whose contributions are significant but do not merit authorship may be acknowledged collectively (e.g., as "clinical investigators" or "participating investigators"), with a brief description of their role (e.g., collected data," "served as scientific advisors," or "reviewed the proposal"). Written permission is required from all individuals named.
Any use of AI tools for content generation, including large language models, must be transparently disclosed in the article. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and ethical integrity of all submitted content, and are expected to use such tools in accordance with the journal’s authorship and publishing policies.
Authorship Criteria
All listed authors must meet the following criteria, as recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE):
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
- 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, ensuring its accuracy and integrity.
All four criteria must be met. Individuals who do not meet these criteria should be acknowledged, but not listed as authors.
Author Contributions A detailed statement of each author’s contributions must be provided at the time of submission. This should reflect the specific roles played by each contributor (e.g., conceptualization, data collection, writing, supervision). The journal encourages transparency and use of the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) model where applicable.
Changes to Authorship Requests to add, remove, or change the order of authors after submission must be accompanied by a written explanation signed by all authors, including the individual being added or removed. Changes will only be considered if justified and approved by the Editor-in-Chief. No changes can be made after the article has been accepted without the full agreement of all authors.
Group Authorship When a large group or consortium is listed as an author, one or more individuals must be identified as guarantors who take responsibility for the integrity of the work. The names of individual contributors and their specific roles should be provided, either in the byline or in a footnote.
Accountability All authors share responsibility for the content of the published article. Authors should be prepared to respond to questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work, even those in which they were not personally involved.
Citations and References
All research and non-research articles must include accurate, timely, and relevant references to support the claims made, with peer-reviewed sources cited where appropriate. Authors should avoid excessive self-citation or coordinated citation practices among affiliated groups, as these may constitute citation manipulation—a form of misconduct addressed in the COPE guidelines.For non-research submissions (e.g., Perspectives or Letters to the Editor), references should reflect a fair and balanced overview of the topic, without undue emphasis on a single author, research group, institution, or journal.
If you are uncertain about the appropriateness of citing a particular source, please consult the journal’s editorial office for guidance.
Conflicts of Interest / Competing Interests
All authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest related to the content of the manuscript. This includes financial or personal relationships with institutions, products, or organizations mentioned in the article, or those that may be affected by its findings. Conflicts involving competing products should also be disclosed. Transparency in these matters is essential to maintaining research integrity.Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions
Corrections to published articles may be issued at the discretion of the Editor. Minor corrections will be made directly within the original article. For major corrections, a separate corrected version will be published and linked to the original, which will remain unchanged. An accompanying statement will explain the reason for the correction. Retractions will be handled in accordance with COPE retraction guidelines and will include a clear rationale.Consent for Publication
Manuscripts that include identifiable personal information, or images must be accompanied by written informed consent from the individual (or from a parent or legal guardian in the case of minors). For deceased individuals, consent must be obtained from the next of kin. Consent must cover publication under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits open internet access. Authors may use the journal’s consent form or an equivalent institutional version. The form must clearly state that the content may be publicly accessible online. Consent documentation must be available upon request and will be handled confidentially.Confidentiality
All submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential. They are shared only with individuals directly involved in the editorial process—such as editors, reviewers, and journal staff. In cases of suspected misconduct, the manuscript may be shared with ethics committees or relevant institutional bodies to support investigation and resolution, following COPE-recommended procedures and flowcharts.Copyright and Licensing
Open Access policy Articles published in the Journal of Academic Ophthalmology are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Author Rights Authors will assign the copyright to Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology beside publishing and distribution rights. Authors have the right to reuse, distribute, and share their published work freely, including posting the final version on institutional repositories, personal websites, or scholarly sharing platforms, as long as proper attribution is given to the journal and publisher.
Third-Party Material If an article includes images, tables, or other material from third-party sources, it is the author’s responsibility to obtain all necessary permissions prior to submission. Any reused content must be properly credited, and documentation of permissions must be provided upon request.
Publisher Rights By submitting to the journal, authors grant the publisher a non-exclusive license to publish, distribute, and promote the work. The publisher retains the right to archive the content and make it available in all formats and media.
Data Falsification/Fabrication
Deliberate manipulation or fabrication of data is a serious form of academic misconduct that undermines the integrity of the scholarly record and can have lasting, harmful consequences. Authors submitting to JAO are responsible for ensuring that all data presented in their manuscript accurately reflects their work and has not been altered to mislead. Authors are expected to retain the original raw data for all results reported and must be prepared to provide this data upon request during the review or post-publication process. Failure to produce original data may result in rejection or retraction of the manuscript.Data Sharing Policy
JAO supports transparent and responsible research data sharing. Authors are encouraged to share their data openly and as early as possible, using established repositories and providing clear data availability statements to promote transparency and reproducibility. We aim to standardize data-sharing guidelines to help authors understand how and where to store their data, ensuring it can be accessed, cited, and reused appropriately.We support proper data citation practices to ensure that authors receive recognition for their shared datasets and encourage the publication of research data as standalone, peer-reviewed outputs. The journal also works with the broader research community to develop tools, workflows, and best practices that make data management more efficient and aligned with institutional, funder, and industry standards. Through these efforts, we aim to facilitate the discovery, validation, and reuse of research data while supporting researchers in meeting evolving data-sharing requirements.
Desk Rejection Policy
Manuscripts submitted to JAO may be rejected without external peer review if they fall outside the journal’s scope or fail to meet basic editorial standards. Common reasons for desk rejection include: lack of relevance to the JAO’s subject areas, ethical concerns such as plagiarism (defined as a similarity index over 30%), or non-compliance with international publishing standards. Submissions may also be rejected if they lack sufficient scientific impact or do not offer a meaningful contribution to the field. Additional grounds for rejection include unclear research objectives, flawed study design, poor organization or missing components, significant issues with language or grammar, or failure to follow the journal’s submission guidelines.Funding
Authors must declare all the sources of funding including in their manuscript, as well as a description of the role of the sponsor(s) at each stage of the manuscript, from study design to submission for publication. They should also state if the sponsor(s) had no such involvement. Please ensure that this information is accurate and in accordance with the funder’s requirements.Misconduct
JAO is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity in scholarly publishing. All forms of research or publication misconduct are taken seriously and will be addressed in accordance with COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines to protect the scholarly record.Examples of misconduct include, but are not limited to:
- Misrepresentation of institutional affiliations
- Copyright infringement or use of third-party material without permission
- Citation manipulation
- Duplicate submission or redundant publication
- Fabrication or falsification of data or images
- Peer review manipulation
- Plagiarism or self-plagiarism
- Undisclosed conflicts of interest
- Conducting or reporting unethical research
When concerns arise, the journal will investigate, request necessary documentation (including raw data or original images), and may halt the review or publication process. Sanctions may include rejection, retraction, and notification to relevant institutions or funders.
Duplicate Submission and Redundant Publication Manuscripts submitted to JAO must be original and not under consideration elsewhere. Submission of the same or substantially similar work to multiple journals concurrently is considered duplicate submission and will result in rejection or retraction. This includes work previously published in another language unless appropriate permissions have been obtained, and the translation is disclosed clearly to the editor and readers, with full citation of the original.
Redundant publication—the division of study outcomes across multiple papers without justification—is also considered misconduct. If previous work is referenced in a new submission, authors must clearly explain how the current manuscript adds novel insight.
Citation Manipulation Manuscripts that include citations for the primary purpose of artificially increasing citations for specific authors, groups, or journals will be flagged for citation manipulation. Citations must be relevant, evidence-based, and support the content of the article without bias.
Data Fabrication and Falsification Authors must ensure that all data presented are accurate and truthful representations of their research. Fabrication (inventing data) or falsification (manipulating data or images to mislead) is considered serious misconduct. All raw data must be retained and made available upon request. Failure to provide original data may result in manuscript rejection or article retraction.
Image Manipulation Images submitted must be an honest representation of the original data. Alterations that obscure, enhance, remove, or introduce elements are not allowed unless clearly explained. Acceptable adjustments (e.g., brightness or contrast) must not distort or misrepresent the underlying data. Combining images (such as gels or microscopy fields) must be transparently labeled in figures or captions. Original, unedited image files must be available upon request. Inability to provide them may result in rejection or retraction. Only images that are essential to the research should be included; purely decorative or illustrative content is discouraged.
Improper Author Contribution or Attribution All listed authors must have made a meaningful scientific contribution to the work, approved the final manuscript, and agree to be accountable for its content. Anyone who made a significant contribution—including students or technicians—should be credited. Conversely, individuals who do not meet authorship criteria must not be included as authors. Please see Authorship Criteria section above for more information.
Third-Party Copyright Material Authors must obtain and provide written permission for all third-party content included in their manuscript (e.g., images, tables, data, audio, or video). This includes material under copyright, regardless of format. By signing the journal’s Author Publishing Agreement, authors affirm they hold the necessary rights or permissions for all included content.
Publication Ethics The journal and its editorial board fully adhere to and comply with the policies and principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)).
Editor Responsibilities The JAO editorial team holds the final responsibility for publication decisions, guided by reviewer recommendations and legal considerations such as libel, copyright, and plagiarism, ensuring impartiality regardless of authors' nationality, race, ethnicity, political views, or religious beliefs. Editors must maintain confidentiality of submitted manuscripts, disclosing content only to involved reviewers, advisors, or relevant personnel, and must not use unpublished materials for their own research without explicit author consent. They are also responsible for transparency regarding funding sources and the role of funders. Committed to a fair, timely, and unbiased peer review process, editors implement policies to manage submissions from editorial board members to prevent conflicts of interest and clearly outline authorship and ethical expectations. They encourage reviewers to identify ethical issues like misconduct, plagiarism, or redundant publication, and share reviewer comments with authors unless offensive or defamatory. The journal values reviewer contributions and discontinues engagement with discourteous, low quality, or consistently late reviewers. Additionally, editors uphold the quality and integrity of published content by ensuring ethical approval of research, monitoring for intellectual property breaches, and promptly correcting errors or misleading information to maintain transparency.
Reviewer Responsibilities Reviewers play a vital role in editorial decision-making by providing objective, constructive, and well-supported feedback to guide both editors and authors, while refraining from personal attacks or biased language; if they feel unqualified to review a manuscript or are unable to meet deadlines, they must promptly notify the editor and decline the review, especially if a conflict of interest exists due to personal, professional, or financial relationships with the authors or affiliated institutions. Manuscripts under review must be treated as confidential, with any privileged information or ideas obtained during the process kept secure and not used for personal gain or shared with others. Reviewers are also responsible for identifying relevant work not cited by the authors, ensuring proper attribution of others' ideas, and alerting the editor to any significant similarities between the submitted manuscript and previously published work.
Author Responsibilities Authors are required to present their research accurately and objectively, including a proper discussion of its significance, with honest representation of data, and should be prepared to provide access to raw data upon request while retaining it for a reasonable period after publication; any fabrication, falsification, or knowingly inaccurate reporting is considered unethical and will not be tolerated. For additional guidance, please refer to the author guidelines, authorship criteria, proper citation practices, and conflict of interest policies outlined above.
Peer Review Process
All manuscripts submitted to JAO undergo a rigorous single-blind peer review process to uphold the journal’s standards of academic excellence and ethical integrity. Each submission approved by the editor is evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with relevant subject expertise. Reviewer identities remain confidential to the authors, and reviewers are expected to adhere to COPE’s ethical guidelines, including maintaining confidentiality, declaring conflicts of interest, and providing objective, constructive feedback.Final decisions regarding acceptance or rejection are made by the editorial board, based on reviewer recommendations and independent editorial judgement. In cases involving serious ethical, security, biosecurity, or societal concerns, the Research Integrity team may consult additional experts or editors and take appropriate measures, including seeking specialised reviewers or declining further consideration.
The journal is committed to transparency and fairness in its editorial practices and complies with the peer review standards outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
Plagiarism
Plagiarism includes the use of data, images, words, or ideas from any source—published or unpublished, in print or electronic form—without proper attribution. This encompasses abstracts, presentations, theses, proposals, software, online content, grey literature, and manuscripts. All borrowed material must be acknowledged with appropriate citation. JAO screens all submissions using plagiarism detection software and follows COPE guidelines in addressing violations. Manuscripts containing plagiarized material will not be considered for publication.Preprints Policy
Authors may share preprints at any time and in any location. If the work is later accepted by JAO, authors are encouraged to link the preprint to the formal publication via its Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Preprints may be updated with the accepted manuscript on platforms such as arXiv or RePEc.Protection of Patients’ Rights to Privacy
Identifying information in text, images, or other materials should not be published unless essential for scientific purposes and accompanied by informed consent from the patient (or guardian). Names must be removed from figures unless explicit consent has been obtained. Authors are responsible for securing and archiving consent forms prior to submission; these forms should not be sent to the journal or publisher. When patient anonymity cannot be maintained, the manuscript must include a statement confirming that informed consent for publication has been obtained, in accordance with ICMJE guidelines.Research Ethics and Consent
Studies in Humans, and Animals All original research involving humans, animals, plants, biological material, or protected datasets/sites must include an Ethics Approval statement specifying:
- The name of the approving ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s)
- The approval number or ID
- Confirmation that informed consent was obtained from human participants
Human Studies Research involving humans must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki and the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. Manuscripts should aim for inclusion of representative populations (sex, age, ethnicity), use the terms “sex” and “gender” accurately, and confirm that privacy rights were respected.
Animal Studies Animal research must follow the ARRIVE Guidelines and comply with applicable regulations (e.g., U.K. Animals [Scientific Procedures] Act, 1986; EU Directive 2010/63/EU; or the National Research Council’s Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals). The manuscript should specify the species, justify their use, describe housing and care, outline steps taken to minimize suffering, and state the anesthesia and euthanasia methods used. The sex of animals and any sex-based effects on results must also be reported. Studies failing to meet ethical and welfare standards will be rejected.
Informed Consent Patients’ privacy must not be violated without written informed consent. Identifiable information (e.g., names, initials, images, hospital numbers) should only be published when essential for scientific purposes, and patients (or guardians) must review the manuscript before publication. Authors must inform participants if identifying material may be available online as well as in print. Consent forms should be archived according to local regulations but not submitted with the manuscript. Nonessential identifiers should be omitted, and alterations to protect anonymity must not distort scientific meaning. When informed consent has been obtained, this should be clearly stated in the published article.
Special Issues
Overview Special Issues are curated collections of articles on a specific theme determined by the JAO editorial team and may be released annually in addition to the journal’s regular issues. All submissions, including those for Special Issues, follow the same author guidelines, submission process, and peer review standards as regular issues.
Appointment of Guest Editors Guest Editors are selected for their expertise, academic reputation, and prior editorial experience. Nominations may come from the editorial board, current editors, or through self-nomination. The editorial board reviews nominations, with final approval by the Editor-in-Chief. Guest Editors define the scope of the Special Issue, draft the call for papers, manage submissions, oversee peer review, ensure quality and originality, and make acceptance recommendations in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief.
Proposal and Setup To initiate a Special Issue, a detailed proposal must outline the theme, objectives, target audience, potential Guest Editors, and a timeline. Proposals are reviewed and approved by the editorial board and the Editor-in-Chief. Once approved, a call for papers is issued and promoted. Clear timelines are set for submission, review, and publication to align with the journal’s schedule.
Editorial and Review Process Manuscripts are submitted through the journal’s online system and screened by Guest Editors for scope and basic quality before undergoing single-blind peer review by subject experts. Authors revise manuscripts in response to reviewer feedback, and Guest Editors recommend final decisions to the Editor-in-Chief. Final decisions rest with the Editor-in-Chief to ensure editorial independence. Manuscripts submitted by Guest Editors themselves are subject to an independent review process and must not exceed 25% of the issue’s content, in line with DOAJ’s endogeny criteria. Accepted articles are formatted, proofread, and published according to journal standards.
All Special Issues are clearly labelled, promoted through journal channels, and monitored post-publication for impact and compliance. The journal affirms its commitment to COPE’s Core Practices and DOAJ’s transparency standards, including conflict of interest disclosures, editorial independence, and ethical publishing practices.
Publication Timing JAO is published three times per year. If a Special Issue is released, it serves as a replacement for one of the regular issues. Submissions are considered for publication once ready, regardless of submission date. All Special Issues are promoted through the journal’s distribution channels, and post-publication metrics are reviewed to guide future initiatives.
Standards of Reporting
Research should be presented with sufficient detail to allow verification and reproducibility. Authors are encouraged to clearly describe their study rationale, protocol, methodology, and analysis to ensure transparency and facilitate replication.Use of Third-Party Material
Authors must secure permission to reuse any third-party material—such as text, illustrations, photographs, tables, data, audio, video, film stills, screenshots, or musical notation—unless its use qualifies under fair use or similar provisions for purposes such as criticism or review. Any material not covered by such exceptions requires written permission from the copyright holder prior to submission.Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in Writing
This policy applies only to the writing process and not to the use of AI tools for data analysis or research insights. AI and AI-assisted technologies may be used to improve readability and language but must not replace essential author tasks such as generating scientific insights, drawing conclusions, or making clinical recommendations. All AI use must occur under human oversight, with authors carefully reviewing and editing the output to correct potential errors, omissions, or biases.Authors must disclose any use of AI or AI-assisted technologies in their manuscripts; a corresponding statement will be included in the published work. AI cannot be credited as an author, as authorship requires responsibilities—such as approving the final version, ensuring accuracy, and addressing post-publication queries—that only humans can fulfill. Authors remain fully accountable for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of the work and for ensuring it does not infringe upon third-party rights.
