Journal of Health Sciences and Medicine (JHSM) and MediHealth Academy adhere to the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative, which advocates for free access to research literature. Open access is defined as the free availability of academic literature on the internet, allowing users to read, record, copy, print, search, link to the full text, examine it for indexing, and use it for lawful purposes without financial, legal, or technical barriers. Information sharing is considered a public good and is essential for the advancement of science.

As such, all articles published in JHSM are made available for non-commercial use by researchers and other readers without the need to request prior permission from the author or the publisher, provided that the author and the original source are properly cited and the material is not modified, adapted, translated, transformed, or distributed in altered form. Articles in JHSM are accessible through search engines, websites, blogs, and other digital platforms.

JHSM follows the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) for all articles published. Authors who submit their papers for publication agree to have the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license applied to their work. Under this open access license, authors agree that their work may be copied and redistributed for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author and source are properly credited and the work is not modified, adapted, or distributed in altered form. The corresponding author is required to sign the Creative Commons License Agreement once the article has been accepted.

Open Access Statement:

JHSM is an open-access publication, and all content is freely available without charge to the user or their institution. For non-commercial purposes only, users may read, download, copy, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in JHSM without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, provided that appropriate credit is given and the articles are not modified, adapted, translated, transformed, or distributed in altered form.

This policy is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access. All open-access articles in JHSM are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

Licensing:

Open access articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which allows users to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes only, provided that the original source is properly cited and the material is not modified, adapted, or distributed in altered form.

Ethics committee approval must be obtained before the initiation of the research when such approval is required.

The approval must be valid for the study described in the manuscript and must include the name of the ethics committee, approval number, and approval date.

The date of ethics approval should precede the start of participant recruitment, data collection, intervention, or other research procedures requiring ethical oversight, as applicable.

Retrospective or post hoc ethics approval is generally not acceptable unless specifically permitted by applicable institutional or national regulations and supported by appropriate documentation.

If the timing, scope, or validity of an ethics approval raises concerns, JHSM may request additional documentation or clarification from the authors and, where necessary, may contact the relevant institution or ethics committee.

The manuscript must clearly report ethics approval information in the Methods section.

Price Policy and Submission/Evaluation Fees

Journal of Health Sciences and Medicine (JHSM) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published quarterly by MediHealth Academy.

To support the editorial, peer-review, production, technical, and publishing processes of the Journal, JHSM charges a manuscript submission/evaluation fee.

The submission/evaluation fee is charged for services associated with the editorial assessment and peer-review process and is independent of the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection.

Payment of a fee does not guarantee acceptance, publication, favorable peer-review reports, expedited acceptance, or publication in a particular issue.

All manuscripts are evaluated solely on the basis of their scientific quality, originality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, and relevance to the aims and scope of JHSM.

1. Preliminary Editorial Assessment

All submitted manuscripts first undergo a preliminary editorial assessment.

During this stage, the Editorial Office evaluates whether the manuscript:

• Falls within the aims and scope of JHSM;
• Meets the minimum scientific and methodological requirements;
• Complies with the Journal’s Author Guidelines;
• Includes the required ethical and submission documentation; and
• Is suitable to proceed to further editorial and peer-review evaluation.

No submission/evaluation fee is requested for manuscripts rejected during this preliminary assessment.

If the manuscript is considered eligible to proceed to the evaluation process, the corresponding author will be notified by e-mail and provided with payment instructions.

2. Submission/Evaluation Fee

The submission/evaluation fee applies to manuscripts proceeding beyond the preliminary editorial assessment.

The fee is:

• 460 USD (US Dollars); or
• 22,000 TRY (Turkish Liras).

The applicable fee must be paid only after the Editorial Office confirms that the manuscript is eligible to proceed to the evaluation process.

The fee applies to article types including, where applicable:

• Original Research Articles;
• Randomized Controlled Trials;
• Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses;
• Narrative Reviews;
• Case Reports;
• Case Series;
• Brief Reports;
• Letters to the Editor;
• Expert Opinions / Perspectives; and
• Other article types accepted by JHSM.

Invited Editorials or other specifically invited content may be exempt from fees at the discretion of the Journal.

3. Editorial Independence

Payment of the submission/evaluation fee has no influence on:

• Reviewer selection;
• Peer-review reports;
• Editorial decisions;
• Acceptance or rejection;
• Revision requirements; or
• Publication priority.

Editors and reviewers involved in the scientific assessment of manuscripts are not influenced by whether or how a fee has been paid.

The scientific and editorial evaluation process is conducted independently from the financial administration of the Journal.

4. Standard Evaluation Process

Manuscripts that successfully complete the preliminary editorial assessment proceed to the Journal’s peer-review process in accordance with the JHSM Peer Review Policy.

JHSM normally uses a double-blind peer-review process involving at least two independent reviewers.

The standard evaluation process typically takes approximately 3–5 months.

The duration may vary depending on:

• Reviewer availability;
• Number and extent of revision rounds;
• Complexity of the manuscript;
• Need for statistical or methodological review; and
• Requirement for additional expert opinions.

If additional peer review or specialist evaluation is required, the process may take longer.

5. Fast-Track Evaluation

Authors may request Fast-Track Evaluation.

The Fast-Track option is intended solely to accelerate the editorial and peer-review process. It does not increase the likelihood of acceptance and does not guarantee acceptance, publication, or publication in a specific issue.

All manuscripts are evaluated according to the same scientific, ethical, methodological, and editorial standards regardless of the evaluation option selected.

The Fast-Track fee is:

• 690 USD (US Dollars); or
• 33,000 TRY (Turkish Liras).

For manuscripts submitted under the Fast-Track option, the 40-business-day period begins only after:

1. Preliminary editorial assessment has been completed;
2. The manuscript has been deemed suitable for external peer review;
3. The applicable fee has been received; and
4. The external peer-review process has formally commenced.

JHSM aims to provide the first editorial decision within a maximum of 40 business days from the start of the external peer-review process.

Business days are Monday through Friday, excluding official holidays.

The first editorial decision may be:

• Accept;
• Minor Revision;
• Major Revision; or
• Reject.

The 40-business-day period refers to the first editorial decision and does not guarantee final acceptance or publication within that period.

Delays caused by authors, exceptional reviewer availability issues, ethical investigations, or requests for additional specialist review may extend the process.

6. Refund Policy

The submission/evaluation fee covers the editorial and peer-review services associated with a specific manuscript and is not conditional upon acceptance or publication.

Accordingly:

• If a manuscript is rejected following editorial or peer-review evaluation, the fee will not be refunded.
• If a manuscript is withdrawn by the author(s) after the peer-review process has begun, the fee will not be refunded.
• Fees are not refundable solely because the authors disagree with reviewer comments or an editorial decision.

If JHSM is unable to provide the service for which a fee has been collected because of an error or decision attributable solely to the Journal or Publisher, the case may be reviewed individually for a possible refund.

7. Withdrawal and Resubmission

Once a manuscript has been formally withdrawn, the relevant editorial and peer-review process is considered closed.

If the same manuscript, or a substantially similar version of the manuscript, is subsequently submitted to JHSM, it will be treated as a new submission.

Accordingly, the resubmitted manuscript will:

• Receive a new manuscript record;
• Undergo a new preliminary editorial assessment;
• Be subject to the Journal’s policies in effect at the time of resubmission; and
• Be subject to the applicable submission/evaluation fee.

Any fee paid for the previously withdrawn manuscript is non-refundable and non-transferable.

It cannot be carried forward, credited, transferred, or deducted from the fee payable for a subsequent submission.

Resubmission does not constitute continuation or reinstatement of the previous editorial or peer-review process.

8. Fee Waivers and Discounts

Any waiver or discount policy offered by JHSM is administered separately from the scientific and editorial evaluation of manuscripts.

Requests for waivers or discounts do not influence editorial decisions.

Where applicable, waiver or discount requests must be submitted before payment and in accordance with the instructions provided by the Editorial Office.

Eligibility for a waiver or discount does not guarantee acceptance of the manuscript.

9. Use of Fees

Fees collected by JHSM contribute to the operation and development of the Journal and may be used to support:

• Editorial administration;
• Manuscript management;
• Peer-review coordination;
• Professional editorial and secretarial services;
• Language support where applicable;
• Typesetting and layout;
• Design and production;
• Technical infrastructure;
• Website and submission systems;
• Digital archiving and preservation;
• DOI and metadata-related services;
• Indexing and database-related technical services; and
• Other legitimate costs associated with scholarly publishing.

Official invoices are issued for fees paid to the Journal in accordance with applicable financial regulations.

10. Open Access and Reader Charges

JHSM is an open-access journal.

All published content is freely accessible to readers and institutions without subscription or access charges.

The submission/evaluation fee described in this policy is an author-side editorial and evaluation fee and is not a subscription charge.

11. Payment Information

Payment should be made only after the corresponding author has received official confirmation from the JHSM Editorial Office that the manuscript has successfully completed preliminary editorial assessment and is eligible to proceed.

Payment details:

Account Holder: MediHealth Academy Yayıncılık, Tıbbi Danışmanlık ve Organizasyon Ticaret Ltd. Şti.

IBAN: TR520001000898954701565001

Payment Reference: Manuscript ID and Corresponding Author Name

Authors are advised to retain proof of payment.

12. Contact

For questions regarding fees, invoices, payments, refunds, waivers, or other financial matters:

MediHealth Academy
E-mail: mha@medihealthacademy.com

For questions regarding manuscript submission and evaluation:

JHSM Editorial Office
E-mail: jhsm@medihealthacademy.com