"International Maritime Health"  (IMH) is an open access, international scientific journal dedicated predominantly to research and practice in the field of maritime medicine. However, Journal Editors will also consider for publication submissions from related fields such as:  occupational medicine, tropical medicine, telemedicine, hyperbaric and diving medicine, travel medicine, military and navy medicine, fishermen health problems, maritime and occupational psychology, maritime toxicology, hygienic problems on ship, harbour sanitary problems and health promotion at sea, during travel and in tropical environment. IMH publishes original papers, reviews, case reports but also letters to editors, book reviews and editorial materials. 

Journal follows editorial recommendations of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (available at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/).

Via Medica strongly recommends journal editors to adhere to the principles of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), particularly to deal with acts of ethical misconduct. For more information Authors, Readers and Editors may visit the COPE website: http://publicationethics.org/.

All papers will be double blind peer-reviewed. The comments made by the referees will be sent to authors, and their criticism and proposed amendments should be taken into consideration by authors submitting revised texts.

Review articles on specific topics, exposures, preventive interventions, and on the national maritime health services will also be considered for publication. Their length will be from 1000 to 4000 words, including tables, figures and references.

Reviewers’ criteria for manuscripts qualification (* refers selectively to original papers)

• Title reflects the subject undertaken
• Assumptions are proper
• Work of practical nature
• Work of educational nature
• Aims are clearly defined
• Appropriate methodology*
• Ethical criteria fulfilled*
• Research-based work*
• Results are adequately presented*
• Statistical analysis is reliable*
• Discussion refers to results*
• Conclusions based on study findings*
• Conclusions refer to aims*
• Suitably chosen, proper number and up to date references
• Proper length
• All figures and tables are required
• Standard of written English acceptable  

The statement is based upon the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers and Editors (available at www. publicationethics.org).

The Editor is responsible for everything published in the journal. The Editor takes all reasonable steps to ensure the quality of the material published. The Editor’s decision to accept or reject a paper for publication is based only on the paper’s importance, originality, clarity and the study’s relevance to the remit of the journal. The description of peer review process is published and clarified and the Editor is able and ready to justify any important deviation from the described process. The authors and peer reviewers’ identities are protected. The Editor provides guidance to authors and reviewers on everything that is expected of them. The Editor does not reverse a decision to accept a submission unless serious problems are identified.

The relationship of the Editor to the publisher and owner is based firmly on the principle of editorial independence. The Editor makes decisions on which articles to publish based on quality and suitability for the journal and without interference from the journal owner/publisher.

The Editor can ensure that research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines. The Editor is able to protect the confidentiality of individual information.

The Editor has a duty to act if they suspect misconduct. The duty extends to both published and unpublished papers. The Editor should seek a response from those accused. If not satisfied with the response, the Editor should ask the relevant employers or some appropriate body to investigate.

Editors should have systems for managing their own conflicts of interest as well as those of their staff, authors, reviewers and Editorial board members.

Authors are forbidden to publish the same research in more than one journal.

The statement is based upon the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers and Editors (available at www. publicationethics.org).

The Editor is responsible for everything published in the journal. The Editor takes all reasonable steps to ensure the quality of the material published. The Editor’s decision to accept or reject a paper for publication is based only on the paper’s importance, originality, clarity and the study’s relevance to the remit of the journal. The description of peer review process is published and clarified and the Editor is able and ready to justify any important deviation from the described process. The authors and peer reviewers’ identities are protected. The Editor provides guidance to authors and reviewers on everything that is expected of them. The Editor does not reverse a decision to accept a submission unless serious problems are identified.

The relationship of the Editor to the publisher and owner is based firmly on the principle of editorial independence. The Editor makes decisions on which articles to publish based on quality and suitability for the journal and without interference from the journal owner/publisher.

The Editor can ensure that research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines. The Editor is able to protect the confidentiality of individual information.

The Editor has a duty to act if they suspect misconduct. The duty extends to both published and unpublished papers. The Editor should seek a response from those accused. If not satisfied with the response, the Editor should ask the relevant employers or some appropriate body to investigate.

Editors should have systems for managing their own conflicts of interest as well as those of their staff, authors, reviewers and Editorial board members.

Authors are forbidden to publish the same research in more than one journal.

Articles published on-line are open access and available under Creative Common Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) allowing to download articles and share them with others as long as they credit the authors and the publisher, but without permission to change them in any way or use them commercially.

Via Medica (Publisher) self-archiving policy establishes that authors can archive only accepted manuscripts including final PDF version and/or  'ahead of print' in any repository. In details, the author may only post their version provided acknowledgment is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Via Medica (Publisher) website. Apart from the link mentioned above, the acknowledgment should be provided with the full bibliographic record with DOI number.

International Maritime Health (IMH) will accept advertising for services and products that are of value to readers in their professions. Distinction between advertising and editorial content should be easy. IMH does not allow advertising to influence editorial decisions. Online advertising or sponsorship should not impede users’ access to editorial content. Journal accepts advertising from competitors. Advertisements or sponsorship related to tobacco products will not be accepted.

Advertisements and sponsorship must be legal, trusthworthy and comply with the relevant industry codes, laws and regulations.

This policy applies to complaints on policies, procedures and actions of CD’s editorial staff and as a rule is regarded as an opportunity for improvement. Complaints will be dealt with by members of the editorial staff, escalating (if required) to editor-in-chief, whose decision is regarded as final. Complaints should be directly emailed to a person indicated as a support contact at the Journal’s contact panel.  All complaints will be acknowledged within three working days and, if possible, a full response will be made within three weeks. If this is not possible an interim response will be given within this timeframe. Further responses will be provided until the issue is resolved.

If authors are convinced that the article they submitted was rejected wrongly, they should send rebuttal letter via IMH’s support contact rather than submitting a revised article at this stage. If the editors agree to such appeal, authors may be asked to submit a revised version of the article in question which will enter again into IMH’s review process. The rebuttal letter should be detailed and include responses to comments from external reviewers and from Journal’s editors. Only one appeal per article will be considered. An invitation for resubmission after appealing is by itself not a guarantee of acceptance.

To secure release from the responsibilities to the third parties, corresponding author is required to return to the Publisher a singed copy of the ‘Authors' statement together with the manuscript. The Authors' statement is available at https://journals.viamedica.pl/international_maritime_health. All authors must agree to the conditions of publication, however the final responsibility for this information lays on the author submitting the manuscript.

This publication is intended for doctors, students of medicine and allied health care professionals. Every effort has been made to provide actual information, especially on medicine dosage, however, it is advisable that doctors make final decisions on their usage. This publication is not meant to replace a proper medical diagnosis or therapy. Responsibility taken by authors is suitable for this kind of publication and is not tantamount to responsibility for an individual medical advice.

The publisher has made every effort concerning reliability of the publication and the included information on the assortment, medicines and their prices. Yet the only legal information valid in the Republic of Poland are legal acts and in terms of trade – price offers of drugstores. As far as the information on medicines is concerned, the only lawful information is an updated characteristic of a medicinal substance and its producer’s leaflet.

The authors, consultants and publishers of this publication do not take any responsibility for possible mistakes or harms resulted from the information usage. Any cases of legal claims connected with medicines and chemical substances being under clinical examination are not going to be taken into consideration.