The International Journal of Healthcare and Education (IJHE) maintains a transparent, rigorous, and ethical editorial process to ensure the publication of high-quality scholarly work. Our editorial team is committed to upholding the highest standards of academic integrity, peer review excellence, and fairness throughout all stages of manuscript handling.

Editorial Process

1. Initial Screening:
   All submitted manuscripts are initially reviewed by the editorial office to ensure compliance with the journal’s focus, scope, formatting, and ethical standards. Submissions that do not meet basic criteria may be returned to authors for revision or rejected without external review.

2. Peer Review Assignment:
   Manuscripts passing the initial screening are assigned to an appropriate Editor, who selects at least two independent reviewers with expertise in the subject area. IJHE uses a double-blind peer review process, where both reviewers and authors remain anonymous to each other.

3. Peer Review:
   Reviewers evaluate manuscripts based on originality, methodological rigor, significance, ethical standards, clarity, and relevance to healthcare and education. Reviewers provide detailed, constructive feedback and make recommendations (accept, revise, or reject).

4. Editorial Decision:
   The handling Editor, considering reviewer feedback, makes an initial decision. Authors may receive a decision of acceptance, minor revision, major revision, or rejection. Revised manuscripts are re-evaluated, and further rounds of review may be conducted if necessary.

5. Final Decision and Acceptance:
   The Editor-in-Chief or designated Editor makes the final acceptance decision based on reviewers' assessments and editorial evaluation.

6. Production and Publication:
   Accepted articles undergo copyediting, typesetting, proofreading, and are then published online in the upcoming issue. Articles are published under an open access model with a CC BY 4.0 license.

7. Post-Publication:
   IJHE allows post-publication comments, corrections, and retractions when necessary, in line with COPE guidelines.

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Editorial Responsibilities

• Fairness and Objectivity:
  Editors evaluate manuscripts solely on intellectual merit, originality, and relevance, without discrimination based on authors’ race, gender, nationality, institutional affiliation, or political beliefs.

• Confidentiality:
  Editors and editorial staff must maintain the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts and review communications throughout the review and editorial decision process.

• Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest:
  Editors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where such conflicts exist.

• Publication Ethics Enforcement:
  Editors are responsible for identifying, investigating, and addressing potential cases of ethical misconduct (e.g., plagiarism, data fabrication, duplicate submission) following COPE guidelines.

• Timeliness:
  Editors must ensure that the editorial and peer review process is carried out efficiently to provide timely decisions to authors.

• Quality Assurance:
  Editors are responsible for maintaining the quality and integrity of the journal’s published content, ensuring that only scientifically sound and ethically approved research is published.

• Transparency:
  Editors must ensure that all journal policies, including open access terms, fees, and peer review procedures, are clearly described and publicly accessible.