Publishing Ethics

Launched in 2012, Canadian Health Policy Institute Inc. (CHPI) is a private-sector research enterprise and the publisher of Canadian Health Policy Journal (CHPJ).

CHPJ features the work of CHPI affiliated researchers and external independent authors. The Journal is focused on health economics and policy issues affecting patient access to innovative medical goods and services and the cost related issues of sustainability and value for money for taxpayers.

The Institute and the Journal are funded by sales of articles and subscriptions to readers. We set articles free (or at reduced prices) if the research and publishing costs are recovered through sponsorship. CHPJ also accepts paid advertising that does not conflict with our mission or editorial standards.

CHPJ is committed to the highest standards for publishing ethics and editorial practises. CHPJ endeavours to abide by the same principles and practises as are the standard for universities and academic journals. CHPJ principles include honesty, transparency, respect, and an unwavering commitment to scientific excellence.

CHPJ is committed to editorial independence free from political, ideological, government, business or any other undue influence or conflict of interest. CHPJ will consider for publication any article submitted that is related to our topical mission and will assess all submissions solely on the basis of the merit of the work. CHPJ content is guided by an Editorial Advisory Board consisting of the members listed here: Canadian Health Policy Institute People. The Editor-in-Chief of CHPJ can be contacted here: Contact Canadian Health Policy Institute (CHPI).

CHPJ will consider article submissions from external authors representing diverse perspectives and sources of expertise including (active or retired): academics, actuaries, analysts, consultants, economists, epidemiologists, government officials, grad students, health professionals, hospitals, industry, journalists, lawyers, patient groups, public servants, and think-tanks.

CHPJ requires the corresponding author submitting an article to confirm that all co-authors have agreed that the corresponding author may act on their behalf.

All research requires funding. CHPJ requires all authors and contributors to declare the source of funding for the research. CHPJ holds no editorial bias regarding the potential influence of funding sources whether research is funded through publicly funded institutions, publicly funded employers, government sponsorship, private sector employers, business sponsorship, non-profit employers, or non-profit sponsors.

CHPJ will not publish libellous, defamatory or obviously false statements.

Authors have an ethical obligation to submit original work. Authors may only submit work that has not been published elsewhere. CHPJ will take all reasonable measures and actions to ensure the originality of published articles, up to and including the use of online text similarly checkers. Plagiarism and authorship misattribution will be treated as fraud. If an article is suspected of being plagiarized, CHPJ editors will contact the author who submitted the article and seek an explanation. If the editor is satisfied that the plagiarism error was not egregious and occurred inadvertently, then the author will be given the opportunity to correct and re-submit the article for consideration. Readers who suspect that an article published by CHPJ has been plagiarized should contact the editor directly. CHPJ editors will investigate the suspected article, and if plagiarism is substantiated, then the article will be withdrawn and CHPJ will publish the error and an apology in its place.

Articles submitted to CHPJ are subject to formal review and critique by CHPJ editorial staff, CHPI affiliated researchers and independent external experts in health economics and health policy, representing diverse perspectives. CHPJ review is a double-blind process whenever possible, meaning that it is preferred that the author(s) not be identified to the reviewers, nor that the reviewers be identified to the author(s). CHPJ editorial staff manage the review process as neutral referees. Published research is ultimately open to intellectual debate, scholarly scrutiny, critical examination, empirical verification and methodological replication to assess and confirm its accuracy and validity.

If a published article is found to be in error, the author is obligated to make the corrections, then CHPJ will edit the article, and post an updated version with a note disclosing the changes.

External authors may submit unformatted, fully referenced (using MS Word automated footnotes/endnotes, and APA style text references/bibliography) article drafts for consideration by email at: managing.editor@canadianhealthpolicy.com. Enclose author(s): full name, contact info, education credentials, professional titles, occupational affiliations and funding disclosures. Tables and charts should be MS Word or Excel and placed at the end of the paper after references.

CHPJ supports transparency and open access to data whenever possible. Authors should retain data for review if they are not prohibited from doing so by contract obligation to the data provider or any other legal prohibition.

Canadian Health Policy Institute Inc. (CHPI) RESERVES ALL COPYRIGHTS TO THE CONTENT PUBLISHED AT WWW.CANADIANHEALTHPOLICY.COM. Articles that pass review and are accepted for publication are subject to CHPI’s copyrights upon acceptance. Published articles are the property of CHPI and cannot be withdrawn by authors.

CHPJ is a paid access journal, therefore authors should be aware before submitting an article, that it will be published behind a pay wall. CHPJ makes some articles available free of charge to the public, if an open access sponsorship is received to recover the associated organizational costs. The source of all open access sponsorships will be disclosed in the article or on the landing pages associated with the article.

CHPJ does not permit or require authors to pay for open access. Open access can be sponsored by foundations, institutions, universities, associations, societies, industry, businesses, government, non-governmental organizations, and individual patrons.