​AJB maintains a transparent, ethical, and inclusive publishing environment. Below are summaries of our key policies. Full policies are downloadable via the Resources page.
 

Open Access Policy

AJB is a diamond open access journal. There are no fees for submission, review, or publication. All content is freely accessible online.

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Licensing

All AJB publications are under a Creative Commons license (CC BY or CC BY-NC). Authors retain copyright.

 

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently by the Editorial Team without interference from institutional or financial supporters.

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Conflict of Interest

All authors, reviewers, and editors must complete the AJB Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form. Any real or perceived conflict is managed in line with COPE guidelines.

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Plagiarism and AI Checks

All submissions are checked using Crossref Similarity Check. All submissions are screened for plagiarism using Crossref Similarity Check and undergo editorial verification prior to acceptance. Submissions with unacknowledged overlap are returned to authors or rejected.

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Peer Review Model

AJB uses a double-blind peer review system. Reviewer identities are confidential. We maintain review statistics to promote transparency.

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Data and Reproducibility

Authors must include a data availability statement. Where applicable, AJB encourages open data and access to analytical code.

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Corrections and Retractions

AJB publishes corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions as necessary in line with international publishing ethics.

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Ethics Oversight

All research involving human participants must have prior ethics approval. Authors must state this clearly in submissions, including consent procedures.

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Misconduct Handling

Allegations of publication or research misconduct (e.g., plagiarism, duplicate publication, data falsification) are investigated promptly, and sanctions applied if warranted.

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Archiving & Repository Policy

AJB content is preserved via the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) through our Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform. Content is also disseminated via The Global Health Network (TGHN).

 

Endogeny Statement

To maintain editorial independence, no more than 25% of research articles per issue include authors who are members of the AJB editorial team. All such submissions undergo independent double-blind peer review.

 

Machine-Readable Licensing

Ensure that the CC BY / CC BY-NC license appears on every article PDF and within metadata. Please also include this clearly on the website and in all future published manuscripts.