SISTEMA SALUTE, following the movement for a New Public Health developed by the World Health Organization on the basis of the undisputed principles of the Ottawa Charter, aims to provide researchers and professionals with a tool for disseminating the most advanced scientific knowledge and the ideas of the most qualified experts regarding theories, concepts, models, studies and practices of health education and promotion at a national and international level.

SISTEMA SALUTE, through the document PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT (PEMS), makes clear and public its commitment and its responsibility towards all the actors involved in the processes of publishing new knowledge in the field of health promotion: readers who are recipients of the contents of the published works, authors, funders, members of the Editorial Committee, Editors, Peer Reviewers, Institutions, Scientific Community, Population. In this direction, SISTEMA SALUTE gives the utmost importance to the principle of Editorial Independence from being compromised through competing interests, fear, or any other corporate, business, financial or political influence.

It is in the interest of SISTEMA SALUTE to allow the most agile and wide access to this document through all media. First of all, the PEMS can be acquired through the website of the publisher CULTURA E SALUTE EDITORE (https://www.edizioniculturasalute.com      in the dedicated section

https://www.edizioniculturasalute.com/en/pubblication-etchis-malpractice-statement/

We are aware that the contents of the PEMS evolve over time and therefore need to be periodically updated. The most striking example of this process is represented by the development and growing use of Artificial Intelligence in its various modalities. For this reason, the Journal and the Publisher undertake to periodically update the PEMS and to make such updates public, within reasonable times, through the same channels.

SISTEMA SALUTE endorses and follows the principles and standards set out in the Declaration of Helsinki regarding research involving human beings as well as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) which aims to support publishers and editors in achieving high standards in editorial ethics. In addition, we also adhere to the standards and guidelines of best practices established by other relevant industry

SISTEMA SALUTE is an inter and trans disciplinary scientific Journal and it is mainly, but not exclusively, focused on the following topics:

• Promotion of individual and community health
• Health education
• Social determinants of health
• Health behaviours
• Environmental health
• Occupational health
• Global health
• Health inequalities
• Health policies
• Health system organization

SISTEMA SALUTE makes its mission of development and dissemination of knowledge concrete through separate sections:

• Research Articles,
• Descriptions of Experiences of health promotion in the field
• Commentaries and qualified opinions of experts
• Editorials
• Book Reviews
• Bibliographic Cards
• Newsletter (selected news from the world of national and international Health Promotion)

Only the Research Articles and the Descriptions of Experiences are subjected to the process of Review and Editorial Decision in pre-publication.

2.1 Safeguarding the Quality, Transparency, Integrity of research

The principles that inspire us are: “Reliability in ensuring the quality of research: reflected in the design, methodology, analysis and use of resources; Honesty in developing, conducting, reviewing, reporting and communicating research in a transparent, fair, complete and objective manner; Respect for colleagues, research participants, society, ecosystems, cultural heritage and the environment; Responsibility for research from the initial idea to publication, for its management and organization, for training, supervision and mentoring, and finally for its broader impacts”.

SISTEMA SALUTE pays the utmost attention to countering competitive and corporate, financial and political interests that could call into question the editorial independence of SISTEMA SALUTE. It is in the utmost interest of the Publisher CULTURA E SALUTE EDITORE and the Editorial Management of SISTEMA SALUTE to ensure scholars, academics and non-academics, maximum transparency of the publishing process in all phases, and to those who consider our Journal worthy of hosting their works the widest inclusiveness, rejecting any discrimination and enhancing and promoting differences. To those who will read the contents hosted in the Journal, we intend to offer editorial products that, in compliance with the most up-to-date scientific evidence, express the creativity and effervescence that characterize the scientific and cultural of the health promotion ecosystem at anational and international level.

SISTEMA SALUTE is committed to safeguarding the highest level of integrity of research and adopts and follows the standards of the highest level international and national academic institutions. For integrity in research we adhere to the definition of the Italian National Research Council according to which it is: “the set of ethical principles and values, deontological duties and professional standards on which responsible and correct conduct is based on those who carry out, finance or evaluate scientific research, as well as on the part of the institutions that promote and implement it“.

SISTEMA SALUTE recognizes the usefulness of social media and email communication for the dissemination of knowledge and believes that the principle of safeguarding the integrity of research and the products that make it available must also be applied to the use of these tools.

SISTEMA SALUTE is committed to detecting and avoiding conflicts of interest, asking its authors to report them and protecting the independence of research.

We invite anyone who believes that these principles are not observed in whole or in part to communicate all of this to the following address rivistecespes@gmail.com.

SISTEMA SALUTE is committed to found every segment of the editorial process on the following principles:

• independence of all those involved in the editorial process from competing interests of any nature: commercial, financial or political;
• non-discrimination towards all those who participate from within and outside the editorial process;
• valorizing diversity by removing barriers to inclusion and equity and by actively encouraging contributions from scholars of different cultures and backgrounds, including nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion and disability.

3.1 Initial Checks

All manuscripts received will be checked by the Managing Editor (editorial secretariat) to determine hether they have been properly prepared as indicated in the Editorial Guidelines (Guidelines for Authors). Manuscripts that do not meet the standards of the journal will be rejected before Editorial Review. Manuscripts that have not been properly prepared will be returned to the authors for review and resubmission.

After these checks, the Managing Editor will send the manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal to determine whether the manuscript falls within the scope of the journal’s topics of interest (Editorial Review). At this stage, no judgment will be expressed on the potential impact of the work. Rejection decisions at this stage will be verified by the Editor-in-Chief.

3.2 Peer Review and Editorial Decision

“Peer review in all its forms plays an important role in ensuring the integrity of the scholarly record. The process depends to a large extent on trust, and requires that everyone involved behaves responsibly and ethically” 13.

SISTEMA SALUTE considers Peer Review a moment of fundamental importance to ensure the highest standard of quality in publications.

All manuscripts belonging to the categories: Research Articles and Experiences receive at least two independent peer reviews that respect the double blind principle.

It is SISTEMA SALUTE’s interest and commitment to collaborate with peer reviewers of high qualification in their respective disciplinary fields. The list of Reviewers may also include members of the journal’s editorial board. Reviewers must not have published with any of the co-authors in the last five years and must not currently work or collaborate with any of the institutions of the co-authors of the submitted manuscript.

SISTEMA SALUTE expects reviewers to be familiar with and adapt their work to the relevant best practice guidelines on peer review. We encourage reference to the Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers of COPE 14;

The Reviewer will communicate the decision to the academic editor, which will be one of the following:

• Accept after minor revisions: In principle, the article is accepted after review based on the reviewer’s comments. Authors are given five days for minor revisions.
• Reconsider after major revisions: Acceptance of the manuscript will be dependent on the revisions. The author must provide a point-by-point response or provide a rebuttal if some of the reviewer’s comments cannot be revised. Usually, only one round of major revisions is allowed. Authors will be asked to resubmit the revised article within an appropriate timeframe, and the revised version will be returned to the reviewer for further comments.
• Reject and encourage resubmission: If further data analysis is needed to support the conclusions, the manuscript will be rejected and authors will be encouraged to resubmit the article once the results have been updated.
• Reject: The article has serious flaws and/or makes no significant original contribution. No offer of resubmission to the journal is made.

SISTEMA SALUTE explicitly declares that offensive behavior towards those involved in any capacity in the editorial process will not be tolerated. At the same time, if any of the collaborators adopt such behavior, the SISTEMA SALUTE Management reserves the right to take the necessary measures in compliance with the COPE Guidelines and the provisions of current legislation.

3.3 Co-reviewing

SISTEMA SALUTE aims to encourage the dissemination of health promotion among young researchers. In this regard, it promotes a co-reviewing policy at the main graduate and doctoral schools in the scientific areas relevant to the themes of the journal.

SITEMA SALUTE includes in its review process the possibility for an invited reviewer to work with a younger colleague to review a manuscript in order to allow the co-reviewer to gain experience with the review process and become a valid reviewer for the journal.

An invited reviewer is required to inform the journal editorial board, which must approve the co-review proposal. The co-reviewer must also declare any conflicting interests.

The co-reviewer must be specifically identified during the completion of the review and specified in the reviewer report form. In this way, the co-reviewer may be accredited for the review and added to the SISTEMA SALUTE reviewer pool.

SISTEMA SALUTE recognizes and intends to enhance the trans-interdisciplinary nature of health promotion according to the principles established in the Ottawa Charter 1986 and the International Conferences that followed. For this reason, we encourage contributions from different disciplinary and scientific areas, not only health-related, at national and international level.

In this perspective, we are aware that different disciplines can adopt different writing styles and editorial approaches with regard to who is listed as author or co-author. SISTEMA SALUTE is open to accepting specific indications from authors, however in general we recommend applying the following principles of authorship and co-authorship.

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data for the work; and/or
• Drafting of the work or critical revision for important intellectual content; and/or
• Final approval of the version to be published; and
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions regarding the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

For each article, research articles, experiences, commentaries, a corresponding author must be indicated whose specific responsibilities include:

• Proofreading and editing the manuscript. Managing revisions and resubmission of revised manuscripts until manuscripts are accepted.
• Accepting and signing the Author Publication Agreement on behalf of applicable co-authors and/or arranging for the signature of any third-party copyright holders;
• Acting on behalf of all co-authors in answering questions from all sources after publication, including questions regarding editorial ethics, reuse of content, or availability of data, materials, resources, etc.

To acknowledge the contributions of anyone who has provided research or writing assistance, we encourage authors to list anyone who does not meet the authorship criteria in an Acknowledgements section.

The COPE Guidelines also provide extensive resources on authorship and authorship disputes, and we encourage anyone involved in editorial decisions to familiarize themselves with these resources. We integrate with established and emerging industry standards to increase transparency on authorship (e.g., ORCID).

4.1 Affiliations

All affiliations for manuscripts submitted as “Research Articles” and “Experiences” must represent the institution(s) where the submitted Research/Experience was approved and/or supported and/or conducted. For “Commentaries” affiliations must represent the institution(s) to which each author is currently affiliated.

4.2 Pre print

In order for a manuscript to be considered for submission and possibly publication, it must not have been previously submitted or published in other journals. SISTEMA SALUTE requires the Corresponding Author to make an explicit declaration to this effect. However, SISTEMA SALUTE considers it is acceptable for a pre-print version to be deposited by the author(s) on their website, in an academic repository, in a pre-print archive.

Authors are encouraged to follow the Preprint policy at Cambridge University Press regarding preprint archives and maintenance of the reference version.

4.3 Policy for Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI and AI technologies have now fully entered the knowledge production processes and SITEMA SALUTE recognizes their usefulness in various steps of scientific production. However, the same cannot be said for the use of AI in the management of the editorial process and in particular as a tool for reviewing manuscripts for which SISTEMA SALUTE recognizes and supports the advantage and priority of the human factor first and foremost in defense of the integrity of the scientific ecosystem and the confidentiality of the manuscript.

SISTEMA SALUTE adopts the indications of Elsevier’s Generative AI policies for journals – The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the journal editorial process according to which: “authors are allowed to use AI in text processing to improve readability and correct use of language. SISTEMA SALUTE requires the obligation to declare the use of AI and related technologies both in the cover letters to the editors and in the Methods section or before the bibliography. For more details, see the COPE position statement on Authorship and AI .

4.4 Intellectual Property and Copyright

in order to correctly determine the Authorship of each article published in the Journal and in all phases of the publication process, SISTEMA SALUTE acts in compliance with the regulations that guarantee Intellectual Property as established by Italian Law.

SISTEMA SALUTE adheres to the definition of Plagiarism contained in the CODE OF ETHICS AND CONDUCT of the University of Perugia UNIVERSITAS STUDIORUM where: “Plagiarism is the partial or total attribution to oneself of projects, ideas, research results, inventions belonging to other people, as well as the omission and falsification in the citation of sources”

SISTEMA SALUTE rejects plagiarism in all its declinations and activates every available resource to discover situations attributable to the following cases:

• using someone else’s work, word for word
• using a significant part of the work already published without any modification
• only the keywords and specific sections are modified to hide the fact that the entire content has been copied from someone else’s work
• reformulating key sentences using multiple sources to make the work appear original
• a perfect combination of cited sections and copied sections without citations or credits
• copying from more than a source
• Providing citations from sources that do not exist
• when the research paper lacks original work, but contains proper citation of sources
• contains proper citation, but the main body of the paper follows the writing style of the source.

If an article is suspected of plagiarism during the evaluation phase, it will be rejected; if this is verified after publication, the procedures described in the section Retractions, corrections and expressions of concern will be followed.

According to COPE, SISTEMA SALUTE recognizes Duplicate or Redundant Publication or Self-plagiarism: “when two or more papers, without full cross reference, share the same hypothesis, data, discussion points, or conclusions”. But:

• Previous publication of an abstract during the proceedings of meetings does not preclude subsequent submission for publication, but full disclosure should be made at the time of submission;
• Re-publication of a paper in another language is acceptable, provided that there is full and prominent disclosure of its original source at the time of submission;
• At the time of submission, authors should disclose details of related papers, even if in a different language, and similar papers in press.

SISTEMA SALUTE encourages Readers and Reviewers to contact the Editorial Management in all cases of evident or suspected Duplicate or Redundant Publication.

When reporting research involving human subjects, human material, human tissue, or human data, authors must state that the investigations were conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Declaration of Helsinki 13. According to Section 23 of this Declaration, approval from an ethics committee should be obtained before undertaking the research. At a minimum, a statement that includes the project identifier, date of approval, and name of the ethics committee or institutional review board should be cited in the Methods section of the article. Data on individual participants should be described in detail, but it is not necessary to include private information that identifies participants, unless the identifiable materials are relevant to the research (e.g., photographs of the faces of participants exhibiting a particular symptom). The editors reserve the right to reject any manuscript that does not meet these requirements.

SISTEMA SALUTE requires that you include a statement indicating that you adhere to the standards of the Declaration of Helsinki, for example: “All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before participating in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of XXX (project identifier)”.

Written informed consent for publication must be obtained from participants who can be identified (including the patients themselves). Patients’ initials or other personal identifiers must not appear in any images. For manuscripts that include case details, personal information and/or images of patients, authors must obtain signed informed consent from patients (or their relatives/guardians) before submitting them to SISTEMA SALUTE. Patient details should be anonymized as much as possible, for example, do not mention specific age, ethnicity or occupation if they are not relevant to the conclusions.

Alternatively, you can provide a detailed justification as to why informed consent is not required. For publication in SISTEMA SALUTE, a consent, authorization, or release form must include unrestricted permission to publish in all formats (including print, electronic, and online), in sublicensed and reprinted versions (including translations and derivative works), and in other open access licensed works and products. To respect the privacy of patients and any other individuals, signed forms should not be included with the manuscript submitted for publication. The Journal reserves the right to ask authors to provide signed forms if necessary.

7.1 Guidelines for the use of animals in research

Editors will require that the potential benefits of any research that causes harm to animals are significant in relation to any costs to the animals and that the procedures followed are unlikely to offend the majority of readers. Authors should in particular ensure that their research complies with the commonly accepted “3Rs”: REPLACING animals with alternatives where possible; REDUCING the number of animals used; and REFINING experimental conditions and procedures to minimise harm to animals.

Any experimental work must also have been carried out in accordance with relevant national legislation on the use of animals for research. Manuscripts containing original descriptions of research involving experimental animals must contain details of approval by an appropriately constituted research ethics committee. The project identifier, date of approval and name of the ethics committee or institutional review board should be cited in the Methods section.

Sistema Salute adheres to the ARRIVE 14 guidelines for reporting experiments involving live animals. Authors and Reviewers are encouraged to use the ARRIVE guidelines.

According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, “Authors should avoid entering into agreements with study sponsors, whether for-profit or not, that interfere with the authors’ access to all study data or that interfere with their ability to analyze and interpret the data and to prepare and publish manuscripts independently when and where they choose.”

All authors must disclose all relationships or interests that could influence or inappropriately influence their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to financial interests (such as memberships, employment, consultancies, stock/share ownership, honoraria, grants or other funding, paid expert testimony, and patent licensing agreements) and non-financial interests (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, personal beliefs).

Authors are required to disclose potential conflicts of interest via the submission system during the submission process. The corresponding author should include a summary statement in the manuscript in a separate “Conflicts of Interest” section immediately preceding the list of references. The statement should reflect all potential expressions of conflicts of interest in the work. See below for examples of disclosures:

• Conflicts of Interest: Author A has received research grants from Company A. Author B has received speaker fees from Company X and owns stock in Company Y. Author C has been involved as a consultant and expert witness for Company Z. Author D is the inventor on Patent X.
• If no conflicts exist: Authors should state: “Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.”

With regard to Retraction, SISTEMA SALUTE adopts the COPE Guidelines that define Retraction as: “a mechanism for correcting the literature and alerting readers to articles that contain content or data so seriously flawed or erroneous that their findings and conclusions cannot be relied upon”.

If an Author is found to have made an error, the journal will publish a corrigendum in the issue as quickly as possible. If the Journal is found to have made an error, it will publish an erratum.

Retractions are usually reserved for articles that are so seriously flawed that their findings or conclusions should not be relied upon, or that contain substantial plagiarism or life-threatening content.

Retractions are not usually appropriate if:

• Authorship is disputed but there is no reason to doubt the validity of the results
• The main results of the work are still reliable and the correction could sufficiently address errors or concerns
• An editor has inconclusive evidence to support the retraction or is awaiting additional information

such as from an institutional investigation (for information on expressions of concern see https://cope.onl/forum-concern

• Author conflicts of interest have been reported to the journal after publication, but in the editor’s view they are unlikely to have influenced interpretations or recommendations or the conclusions of the article.

In the management of misconduct, SISTEMA SALUTE adopts the COPE Guidelines that provide for the differentiation between Serious Misconduct and Less Serious Misconduct, attributing the latter definition to: redundant publications, deception over authority, lack of declaration of conflict of interest

According to COPE, misconduct is attributed not only to the act itself but must take into account that the deception may be due to intentionality, inadequate consideration of the consequences or negligence.

10.1 Manipulation of citations

COPE defines MANIPULATION OF CITATIONS when excessive use of self-citations is made, when excessive use of citations from the journal that hosts the publication is made and a coordinated use of citations between different journals.

10.2 Data falsification

It is defined when data is artificially and intentionally manipulated with the aim of altering research results by inducing false conclusions. This definition applies to texts, images, and technological devices and processes.

SISTEMA SALUTE pays the utmost attention to safeguarding the integrity of research against any fraudulent manipulation. If incorrect behavior is found at any stage of the publication process (receipt of the manuscript, peer reviewing, publication), SISTEMA SALUTE will take the necessary measures in accordance with current legal regulations. Indications are contained in the section …. SISTEMA SALUTE reserves the right to communicate such information to the institutions to which the author/s belong and through social media.

In any case, SISTEMA SALUTE undertakes to carry out the broadest possible action to raise awareness and develop awareness among all actors potentially involved in the publication process.

In particular, SISTEMA SALUTE is committed to involving the subjects involved in the review of the manuscripts so that they develop awareness and autonomy in the evaluation of the incorrect conducts and asks them to be active in the research of the cases both towards the authors of the manuscripts submitted for peer review and, within the limits of the legal norms relating to confidentiality, towards the Editorial Direction.

10.3 Appeals and Complaints

An author has the right to appeal against the editorial decisions, contacting the publisher and providing any information that he deems useful to support his position with as much detail as possible. SISTEMA SALUTE is committed to responding to each appeal in the shortest time possible. Each complaint will be taken into serious consideration, SISTEMA SALUTE adopts what is indicated in COPE.

SISTEMA SALUTE supports the highest level of transparency and adheres to the COPE guidelines.

SISTEMA SALUTE encourages authors to make available the evidence data, codes and systems used in their research. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the journal, we are aware that the forms and methods through which data are collected and exposed may vary, however, as a rule, the description of the data must be part of the manuscript in a clear and evident form. Alternatively, authors may deposit the data, codes and systems used or additional data that the authors consider useful to improve the understanding of their research in publicly accessible Supporting files or Repositories.

Authors are required to provide at the time of submission of the manuscript the necessary and sufficient information to allow access to data not present in the manuscript.

SISTEMA SALUTE operates in full compliance with the rights of authors and intellectual property as established by Italian law. Within this boundaries, SISTEMA SALUTE acts for the widest dissemination of the knowledge conveyed by the published contributions. To this end, SISTEMA SALUTE makes available through the publisher’s website CULTURA E SALUTE https://www.edizioniculturasalute.com/

all the products submitted as: Editorials, Commentaries, Book and Article Reviews.

As regards the Research Articles and Experiences, following acceptance of the manuscript for publication, the Publisher will make the post publication copy in pdf format available free of charge to the author/authors and a post publication copy in paper format to the corresponding author.

Upon request of the author/authors, a copy of the post publication article or experience will be made available in Open Access on the publisher’s website https://www.edizioniculturasalute.com/