Author's Rights and Obligations

Your Obligations as an Author

Conduct Ethical Research

Before you even think about submitting to us, your research needs to have been conducted ethically. For studies involving human participants, this means obtaining approval from an appropriate ethics committee and securing informed consent. For animal studies, it means following established welfare guidelines.

This isn't bureaucratic box-ticking. In HIV/AIDS research, where our work directly affects patient safety, treatment decisions, and often involves vulnerable populations, ethical conduct is paramount. We publish your work partly because we trust that it was done right.

Submit Original, Unpublished Work

What you send us should be your own work, and it shouldn't have been published elsewhere. We also expect that you're not simultaneously shopping the same manuscript to other journals. One submission, one journal at a time.

If parts of your work have appeared in conference proceedings, preprints, or theses, let us know upfront. We can usually work with prior dissemination if it's disclosed — it's the concealment that creates problems.

Prepare Your Manuscript Properly

A well-prepared manuscript helps everyone. Follow our formatting guidelines. Structure your paper logically. Make sure figures and tables are clear. Run a spell-check.

Think of it this way: reviewers volunteer their time. Respecting that time by submitting clean, well-organized work is both courteous and strategic — it lets them focus on the science rather than wrestling with presentation problems.

Disclose Conflicts of Interest

If you have financial interests, consulting relationships, or other connections that could be seen as influencing your research, declare them. Readers deserve to evaluate your work knowing about potential conflicts. See our separate Conflict of Interest Policy for details.

Respond Promptly

If we ask you to revise and resubmit, we'll give you a deadline. Please meet it. If you can't, let us know—we're reasonable about extensions when there's good reason.

The same goes for copyedited manuscripts and proofs. When we send these to you for review, turnaround matters. Delays at your end translate into delays for readers who might benefit from your research.

Settle Article Processing Charges

The International Journal of HIV and AIDS Sciences charges article processing fees to cover the costs of peer review, editing, production, and archiving. These are communicated upfront. If you accept our offer to publish, you're agreeing to pay the applicable fees. Waivers are available for those who genuinely cannot afford them — apply at the time of submission.

Your Rights as an Author

Acknowledgment of Submission

When you submit a manuscript, you should receive confirmation that we've got it. If you don't hear from us within a few days, something went wrong — please follow up.

Timely Editorial Decisions

We know waiting is hard. We aim to make decisions as quickly as we reasonably can while still doing justice to the review process. You should expect a first decision within 2-4 weeks for most submissions.

You're welcome to inquire about the status of your manuscript at any time, though we'd suggest waiting at least three weeks after submission before asking.

Withdrawal at Any Time

Changed your mind? Found a critical error? Decided to submit elsewhere? You can withdraw your manuscript from consideration at any time before acceptance. Just let us know. We won't ask for explanations (though we're curious if you're willing to share).

Right to Appeal

If your manuscript is rejected and you believe the decision was wrong—perhaps the reviewers misunderstood something, or you have additional data that addresses their concerns—you can appeal. Write to the Editor-in-Chief explaining your case.

We'll consider your appeal carefully. Sometimes we'll seek an additional review; sometimes we'll uphold the original decision. Appeals should be reserved for cases where you genuinely believe an error was made, not simply where you're disappointed.

Archiving and Sharing Your Published Work

Once your paper is published, you're free to share it. You can deposit the published version in institutional repositories, post it on academic networking sites, and share it with colleagues. This is part of what open access means.

Standards We Follow

This policy is developed in accordance with guidance from the Council of Science Editors (CSE) and their recommendations on the roles and responsibilities of authors and editors in the publication process.

Questions?

If anything here is unclear, or if you have a situation that doesn't seem to fit neatly into these categories, reach out. We're at hiv.publish@gmail.com.