IMAGE INTEGRITY POLICY

Data Retention & Image Quality

Authors are responsible for retaining the original, unprocessed image files and relevant metadata associated with all figures submitted to the Journal of Medical and Multidisciplinary Healthcare Research (JMMHR). Original files may be requested by editors or reviewers to verify image authenticity, acquisition conditions, processing history, or underlying findings.

Authors should preserve sufficient original image data for the duration of the editorial process and for a reasonable period after publication in accordance with applicable institutional and research-data requirements. Failure to provide requested original files without an adequate explanation may result in additional editorial investigation or delay in publication.

Color Images Recommended minimum resolution: 300 dpi.
Grayscale Images Recommended minimum resolution: 600 dpi.
Line Art Recommended minimum resolution: 1200 dpi.

Image Processing & Manipulation Standards

JMMHR recognizes that legitimate image processing may be required for visualization, measurement, annotation, or publication-quality presentation. Any processing that could affect the interpretation of scientific findings must be transparently described in the manuscript.

Authors should report the software, relevant tools, acquisition systems, processing procedures, and substantive adjustments applied to images. Processing should be applied consistently and should not selectively enhance, suppress, remove, or introduce information in a manner that could misrepresent the underlying data.

Permitted Processing
Reasonable adjustments to brightness, contrast, color balance, cropping, or image size may be acceptable when they do not obscure, remove, or selectively emphasize relevant scientific information. Adjustments should normally be applied to the entire image and should be disclosed where they may affect interpretation.
Prohibited Manipulation
Fabrication, falsification, selective alteration, inappropriate cloning, object removal, duplication of features, selective enhancement, splicing without disclosure, or any manipulation that changes or misrepresents the underlying scientific evidence is prohibited.

Clinical, Microscopy, Histopathology & Diagnostic Images

Clinical, microscopic, histopathological, radiological, diagnostic, and other healthcare-related images should accurately represent the observations described in the manuscript. Authors should avoid selecting or combining images in a manner that could create a misleading representation of the research or clinical findings.

  • • Representative images should be selected using scientifically or clinically justified criteria.
  • • Multiple fields, views, or images should be provided where necessary to demonstrate reproducibility or adequately represent an observed finding.
  • • Scale bars, magnification information, staining procedures, imaging conditions, or relevant diagnostic parameters should be provided where applicable.
  • • Composite panels should be clearly labeled, and boundaries between separately acquired images should be identifiable when scientifically relevant.
  • • Clinical photographs and identifiable healthcare images must be appropriately anonymized and comply with applicable informed-consent and patient-privacy requirements.

Image Documentation & Figure Legends

The Methods section and relevant figure legends should provide sufficient information to understand how images were acquired, processed, and presented. Depending on the type of study, authors should report the imaging platform, acquisition settings, software, staining or preparation methods, magnification, scale bars, diagnostic parameters, and substantive image-processing procedures.

Original Files: Editors may request original, unprocessed images, raw image sequences, metadata, acquisition records, or other supporting files at any stage of peer review or after publication. Authors are expected to cooperate with reasonable requests intended to verify the integrity of published images.

Composite Figures, Splicing & Image Assembly

Composite figures may be used to present related research or healthcare findings, provided that their construction does not misrepresent the data. Images originating from different fields, experiments, time points, patients, participants, or acquisition sessions must be clearly distinguished where such information is scientifically relevant.

Any non-obvious splicing, joining, or assembly of image components should be clearly indicated in the figure or figure legend. Authors must not use image assembly to conceal discontinuities, selectively exclude unfavorable observations, or create the appearance of a single continuous experiment when the images originate from separate sources.

Handling Suspected Image Manipulation

Concerns regarding image integrity may be raised by editors, reviewers, readers, authors, institutions, or other credible sources. When a concern is identified, JMMHR may request the corresponding author to provide an explanation, original image files, acquisition data, processing history, laboratory or clinical records, or other relevant documentation.

The journal will assess the available evidence and may seek additional expert advice where appropriate. Minor, honest, and correctable presentation errors may be addressed through replacement figures or a correction, provided that the underlying data remain reliable and the integrity of the scientific record is not compromised.

Serious Misconduct: Where deliberate or substantial image manipulation, fabrication, or falsification is established, JMMHR may reject the manuscript, suspend publication, issue a correction or expression of concern, retract the published article, and/or notify the appropriate institution or responsible authority in accordance with applicable publication-ethics procedures.

Authors' Responsibility

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all submitted images accurately represent the underlying observations and that no image has been manipulated in a manner that could mislead readers. Authors should maintain appropriate records of image acquisition and processing and should ensure that all co-authors are aware of and approve the final figures.

By submitting a manuscript to the Journal of Medical and Multidisciplinary Healthcare Research (JMMHR), authors confirm that the submitted figures and images have been prepared in accordance with responsible research and publication practices and that supporting original files can be provided when reasonably requested by the Editorial Office.