ASF Institutional Policy Manual · Aligned with PHIG, September 2026
Part of the ASF policy framework, aligned with the equivalent PHIG policy. To raise a concern: see the ASF Complaints and Reporting Channel.
ASF publishes the Georgian Medical Journal (GMJ) but does not direct its editorial decisions; the editors decide on scholarly merit alone. Owner: GMJ Editor-in-Chief, with the Standards & Accreditation Committee as independent contact.
Commitments
- No interference: ASF’s management, Board, funders and advertisers have no role in accepting, rejecting or changing any manuscript.
- Peer review: research articles undergo double-anonymised review by at least two independent reviewers, as set out in GMJ’s published policies.
- Editor conflicts: manuscripts by the Editor-in-Chief, editors or ASF staff are handled by an independent editor with no involvement of the author in the decision, and the arrangement is stated on publication.
- Industry separation: sponsorship or advertising is never linked to editorial content; sponsored material is clearly labelled.
- Standards: GMJ follows the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the ICMJE recommendations, including corrections, retractions and expressions of concern.
- Open access: content is published under CC BY 4.0 with persistent DOIs.
Complaints and appeals
Authors may appeal an editorial decision in writing to the editorial office. Complaints about the conduct of an editor go to the Ethics and Compliance Officer and, for the Editor-in-Chief, to the Chair of the Board.