Reviewer Guidelines

P-ISSN: 3117-8065 | E-ISSN: 3117-8073

Peer Reviewer Guidelines & Ethical Responsibilities

The ICME Journal of Laboratory Medicine recognizes independent peer review as a fundamental component of scholarly publishing, scientific quality assessment, and editorial decision-making. ICME Journal of Laboratory Medicine relies on the subject expertise, professional judgment, and impartiality of qualified reviewers to evaluate submitted manuscripts fairly, constructively, and confidentially.

Through a structured double-blind peer-review process, reviewers assess the scientific validity, methodological rigor, originality, ethical integrity, and relevance of submitted laboratory medicine research. Reviewer conduct is informed by the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers, the ICMJE Recommendations, and the transparency principles reflected in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) criteria.

Core Responsibilities of Reviewers

Evaluate manuscripts objectively, independently, and without personal, professional, financial, or commercial bias.

Assess originality, methodological appropriateness, scientific significance, and potential diagnostic or clinical relevance.

Assess the appropriateness of analytical methods, sample-size justification, confidence intervals, and data presentation.

Verify accuracy and completeness of references and citations.

Provide constructive, respectful, specific, and evidence-based comments that support editorial assessment and help authors improve their work.

Review Confidentiality

All manuscripts received for peer review must be treated as confidential and privileged documents. Reviewers must not disclose, reproduce, quote, distribute, or discuss manuscript content with unauthorized persons. Unpublished information, data, methods, or ideas must not be used for personal, academic, financial, professional, or commercial advantage before or after publication.

Competing Interest Disclosure & Recusal

Before accepting a review invitation, reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived competing interest that could affect, or reasonably appear to affect, their objectivity. Circumstances that may require disclosure and recusal include:

Recent coauthorship, close personal relationships, or professional associations with an author.

Current institutional, supervisory, research, or organizational collaboration.

Relevant financial interests, grants, patents, consultancy roles, or commercial relationships.

Reviewers who identify a competing interest or lack sufficient expertise to evaluate the manuscript should decline the invitation promptly so that another qualified reviewer can be appointed.

Key Manuscript Evaluation Criteria

1. Originality & Contribution Assess whether the study presents a meaningful research question, original findings, or a relevant contribution to laboratory medicine or clinical practice.

2. Relevance & Scope Alignment Assess whether the manuscript aligns with ICME Journal of Laboratory Medicine's aims and scope and is relevant to laboratory, biomedical, or clinical diagnostic audiences.

3. Literature Review & Reference Verification Assess whether the background is relevant, current, appropriately balanced, and accurately referenced.

4. Reporting Guideline Compliance Assess adherence to the relevant reporting guideline, including CONSORT, STARD, PRISMA, CARE, or ARRIVE, where applicable.

5. Data Integrity & Research Ethics Assess the appropriateness of the analysis, consistency of the reported data, informed consent provisions, and applicable IRB or IEC approval.

6. Presentation & Formatting Assess clarity, organization, consistency, figure and table quality, and compliance with the journal's manuscript-formatting requirements.

Reviewer Recommendations & Timelines

Accept Minor Revisions Major Revisions Reject with Invitation to Resubmit Reject

Reviewers are generally requested to submit their reports within 14 to 21 days of accepting the invitation. When additional time is required, reviewers should contact the editorial office promptly. Reports should distinguish confidential comments intended for the editor from constructive comments intended for the authors.

Generative AI Restrictions for Reviewers

To protect confidentiality, author rights, unpublished research, and data security, reviewers must not upload manuscripts, abstracts, figures, tables, supplementary files, unpublished data, or draft review reports to public or unauthorized generative artificial intelligence tools or other third-party systems. Any permitted technological assistance must comply with the journal's confidentiality, data-protection, and disclosure requirements.

Reporting Suspected Misconduct & Ethical Concerns

Reviewers should promptly and confidentially notify the Editor-in-Chief or handling editor if they identify suspected plagiarism, duplicate submission or publication, data fabrication or falsification, inappropriate image manipulation, undisclosed competing interests, serious citation concerns, or possible breaches of human or animal research ethics. Reviewers should report their concerns without independently contacting the authors or conducting an unauthorized investigation.

Editorial Acknowledgment: The Editorial Board of ICME Journal of Laboratory Medicine sincerely thanks its international community of peer reviewers for contributing their time, scholarly judgment, and professional expertise to the evaluation of manuscripts and the integrity of medical publishing.