The journal "Chinese Journal of Public Health" adheres to the philosophy of publishing ethics and has always fulfilled this promise. Here are a few important publishing ethics and guidelines for authors’ reference. For more details, please refer to the official website of the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics,https://publicationethics.org/oversight) ,International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the European Association of Scientific Editors (EASE) and other institutions which develop ethical standards.

I. Author's publishing ethics

Authorsare obliged to indicate that the manuscript is the original research work (except for reviews) and does not contain any content that is forged, deceiving, or plagiarized. This manuscript does not involve state secrets and does not involve any infringement issues related to intellectual property. There is no duplicate publication, and its content has not been published in any other language or any other journal. It is guaranteed that it will not be submitted to other journals until the editor's notice of rejection is received. Authors should respect the revision comments of reviewers and editors. After publishingisconfirmed, the copyright of the manuscript will be transferred to the editorial office of Chinese Journal of Public Health.

Authors must avoidthe following academic misconductbehavior:

1. Multiple submissions: Authors is obliged to ensure the originality of the submitted manuscript and confirm that they have never been published. Deliberately publishing a published paper is a serious violation of publishing ethics.

2. Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the most common violation of publishing ethical behavior. It means that authors have deliberately used the work of others without the consent of the original author and without citing the literature or acknowledging him. The form of plagiarism involves direct reposting and rewriting other people's work, including data, words, sentences, paragraphs, ideas and concepts. The journal will never allow any form of plagiarism.

3. Authorship: The identity of authors is to ensure that the person contributing to the study is recognized and is responsible. Deliberately distorting the relationship between the researcher and the research is an improper act that compromises the credibility of the research results. Authors of the submission must obtain authorization and consent of the co-authors before submitting the manuscript.Those who are named as authors should directly participate in the research and writing work. They should be responsible for the manuscript. “Gift author” is strictly prohibited. The signature, order of authors, institutes and the corresponding authors shall be collectively determined before submission and shall not be changed thereafter. The authors should specify their contribution in Proofreading and Authors Contribution and submit it along with the manuscript.

4. Originality: Authors should not resubmit published data as original material, unless the sources are quoted properly.

5. Research fraud: Research fraud means that the data or conclusions are not obtained by experiment or research, or the data is tempered. In any case, the researcher should not make up false information.

6. Medical Ethics: The ethical issue of the study must comply with common principles of medical ethics. When research participants are humans, the author should explain whether its procedure complied with the ethical standards formulated by relevant committee (institutional, regional or national) responsible for human trials. The approval document of the committee should be submitted (the approval number should be included in the article). Consent letter from research participants or their relatives must be obtained but not submitted to the editorial office. When reporting animal experiments, the study should comply with guidelines published by relevant committee on animal rights, and the approval document should be submitted.Clinical trials must include the Universal Trial Number (UTN) obtained from one of the Primary Registries in the WHO Registry Network. The UTN shall be included in the abstract or the main body of the full text.

7. Conflicts of Interest: All authors must disclose all potential conflicts of interest, i.e., when the financing/ personal status/ affiliation of the authors (or the authors' organization/ employer) may affect the authors' decision, work or manuscript. When a product is involved, the author should also disclose whether there is a conflict of interest against competitive products. Authors should also submit the Statement of Competing Interests along with the manuscript.

II. Peer reviewers' publishing ethics

Reviewers should ensure scientific and accurate review of manuscripts and make objective and fair evaluations. The content of the review is strictly confidential. Reviewers should avoid conflict of interests with authors.

1. Reviewers should use their own professional knowledge and ability to review the innovation, scientificity, and practicality of the manuscript; make a fair evaluation of whether the research method is appropriate, whether the scientific research design is reasonable, whether the results, conclusions are accurate, and whether there is confidential breach.Reviewers should also help editorsonthe choice of manuscripts; propose detailed revisions and to help authors improve the quality of the manuscript.

2. The manuscripts reviewed are only evaluated academically. Personal evaluation or personal attacks are not allowed. Manuscript selection is not affected by authors’ race, gender, religion, belief, status, qualifications, and authority. The viewpoints must be clearly stated with sufficient arguments and facts.

3. Reviewers should fill in the review comments on time and feed back to the editorial office within the specified time. If reviewers cannot complete the reviewing process on time, the situation should be stated and the manuscript should be returned.

4. The manuscripts of the review shall be kept strictly confidential, and shall not be discussed with others. The data, opinions and conclusions of the manuscripts reviewed shall not be used or published. If they are to be used, authors' consent shall be obtained.

5. The reports and arguments explicitly cited in the manuscript should have clear source. Reviewers need to identify un-published works that are not cited by authors; explain to authors the similarity or repeatability between the submitted papers and the published papers and data in accordance with their own knowledge and cognitive categories.

6. All review comments and information must be kept confidential and not for personal use. Reviewers are not allowed to review manuscripts that have conflicts of interest arising from competition and cooperation with authors, organizations, and companies.

III. Editors’ ethics

The publisher (Editorial office of Chinese Journal of Public Health) should strictly implement relevant national laws and regulations and abide by academic publishing ethics and norms. The publisher should handle all manuscripts in a timely and impartial manner, respect authors’ research results, and respect reviewers' opinions, and keep the information of authors and reviewers confidential.

1. Editors of the journal should be responsible for all the editorial aspects of the journal, including the continuous promotion of journal development, ensuring that the quality of the edited manuscript is published on time. Editors should abide by the relevant policies set by the journal editorial board and follow the relevant legal norms concerning defamation, infringement and plagiarism when selecting articles.

2. The editor should maintain the authenticity of the review records, and have the obligation to keep record and keep the materials confidential for reviewing and modifying at each step. The editors and editorial staff shall not disclose any information about the submitted manuscript to others, except for exchanging necessary information amongauthors, reviewers, and editorial board members.

3. Editors should select manuscripts fairly, accept or reject manuscripts only based on originality, importance, clarity, and conformity to the journal's aim and scope.

4. When an edited article needs major revision, it is necessary to communicate with authors in time and obtain authors’ consent.

5. Editors should eliminate all business needs and interests that are detrimental to academic ethics.

6. Editors have an obligation to investigate academic misconduct. Once a report on academic ethics isreceived, editors must makereasonablejudgments. If necessary, corrections, clarifications, withdrawals or apologies shall be published. The editor is obliged to hold authors and reviewer accountable for misconduct.

7. Editors shall ensure that the information submitted by authors is not used for editing personal research or for research by others, and to ensure that the identity of reviewers and other relevant personnel in the editorial office are protected during the blind review process.

8. Editors should encourage academic discussion and be obliged to respond to authors’ different views on reviewers' opinions.

9. Editors should ensure that the review of the paper is fair and reasonable. In the event of a conflict of interest arising from competition or cooperation with authors or corresponding institution/company, editors must propose to change the reviewer. Editor-in-Chief or other editorial board member shall be responsible for the review of the manuscript.

10. The journal does not publish any commercial advertisement on paper or on website.