Fundamental Principle

GJCCPH maintains editorial independence from its publisher, sponsors, advertisers, and other commercial or institutional interests. Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, originality, relevance to scope, and the integrity of the research.

Governance

• The Editor-in-Chief has final editorial authority over acceptance, rejection, revision, publication, corrections, and retractions, subject to the journal’s published policies.
• Editorial Board members are selected for relevant academic or professional expertise and are expected to disclose competing interests at appointment and annually thereafter.
• The publisher provides operational infrastructure, financial administration, production, website support, and other publishing services but does not direct individual editorial decisions.

Ownership and Independence

GJCCPH is not owned, controlled, or funded by any pharmaceutical company, fossil fuel company, political organization, or other entity with a direct commercial or ideological interest in the journal’s scientific content. This separation is maintained to protect the objectivity of published research.

APC Firewall

The Article Processing Charge is levied only per accepted article. Authors are not required to pay any submission or peer-review fee. Financial information, waiver requests, and payment status are kept separate from academic decision-making to the extent supported by the journal’s editorial workflow. No editor or reviewer may make an editorial decision because an author can or cannot pay the APC.

Conflicts and Recusal

An editor who is an author on a submission, or who holds a material personal, professional, financial, or institutional conflict, is recused from that manuscript. The manuscript is reassigned to an independent editor with no relevant competing interest, and the conflicted editor takes no further part in the decision.

Freedom from Commercial Interference

The publisher, commercial staff, advertisers, sponsors, and other external parties do not pressure editors to accept, reject, delay, accelerate, alter, or suppress scholarly content. Advertising and sponsorship, if introduced in future, remain separate from editorial decision-making.

Accountability

Concerns about editorial interference may be submitted to editor@gjccph.com. Such concerns are assessed by the Editor-in-Chief, or by an independent person where the Editor-in-Chief is conflicted, using relevant COPE guidance and the journal’s Appeals & Complaints Policy.