About the Journal

Sections

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Acta Medica Philippina, is an open-access, international peer-reviewed, general medical and health science journal in English language that is published monthly by the University of the Philippines Manila. It is publishing continuously since 1939. It has complete editorial independence from its publisher. The journal publishes original scientific papers in the field of basic and clinical medical or human health-related research. The journal accepts original papers, case reports, current reviews and commentaries from any author provided submission requirements are met.

The journal accepts submissions of single manuscripts or a compilation of several ones for publication together as a single issue.  

It is indexed in PubMed Central, Scopus, Google Scholar, World Health Organization Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WHO WPRIM), ASEAN Citation Index (ACI), and Herdin Plus. Acta Medica Philippina is a member of CrossRef for the Direct Object Identifier (DOI) of the articles.

The journal follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in its editorial policies

(https://www.icmje.org/journals-following-the-icmje-recommendations/)

Objectives

  1. To publish human health research as the National Health Science Journal of the Philippines in an open-access platform.
  2. To promote and disseminate scientific knowledge and updates of the academic community/healthcare professionals for medical education, research, and policy formulation addressing the health needs of the country.
  3. To develop Acta Medica Philippina as a top-ranking, national, regional, and global repository of articles on human health research that is searchable online.

Publication Frequency

Issues are published by the Journal monthly at a minimum of one issue.

Individual Submissions

Single manuscripts are submitted individually through the Journal website for publication on a first-come-first-served basis. A corresponding author needs to be designated in the case of manuscripts with more than one author. The corresponding author receives all communications from the journal needed to complete the publication process. This person is responsible for conveying to the other authors as necessary any information related to the publication workflow. 

Once submission requirements are completed (see Submission Requirements), the manuscript is sent for peer review to at least two (2) knowledge experts in the field of study of the article (see Peer Review policy). 

Any comments from reviewers are sent back through the Corresponding Author for response and consideration. Appropriate revisions incorporating comments and/or responses to comments need to be sent back to the Journal Editorial Staff through the Journal platform. The Journal reserves the right to make the final decision to accept the responses, and revisions, or to reject the submission. The corresponding author is notified in a timely manner about this decision. 

Once accepted for publication and article galleys are finalized, these are immediately uploaded to the Journal website under the Early Access tab. These are queued for inclusion in a regular issue.  Volume and Issue numbers are provided only once the article is included in a regular issue of the Journal.  In all instances, all articles made available online are provided a Direct Object Identifier (DOI) number.

The Journal charges an article processing fee for individual submissions outside of the Philippines. Processing of submissions begins once the publication fee is paid in full.

Institutional Submissions

The Journal also accepts collections of several manuscripts (minimum of 11 and maximum of 15) upon request by Institutions and/or professional groups. These are intended to be published together as a single issue at a date that an Institution may request. Requirements for each manuscript are the same as those that are individually submitted (See Submission Requirements). 

A Special Guest Editor for this issue must be designated by the Institution. The roles and responsibilities of this person are detailed in a conforme to be agreed with and signed by the Special Editor. Among the responsibilities, the Special Editor is tasked with identifying and sending out each manuscript to at least two (2) peer reviewers, sharing the comments and reviews with the Corresponding Author of each manuscript, and securing the responses and/or revisions of the manuscript. The Special Editor then makes a recommendation to the Journal regarding the publication of the article.

The Journal Editorial Staff works closely with the Special Editor, including helping with sending out communications to all relevant authors and reviewers through the portal.

The Journal also conducts training and familiarization in using the Journal platform (See OJS Platform) with the Institutional staff and Special Editor/s.

A Declaration of Relationships is required from the Special Editor. In case the Special Editor is also an author in one or more of the manuscripts being considered for publication, he/she cannot make any editorial actions and decisions related to those manuscripts. In such instances, another Special Editor must be designated by the Institution to work on manuscripts that the first Special Editor is prevented from working on.

A Memorandum of Agreement is signed by the Institution which details the arrangements between the Institution and the Journal. The Journal reserves the right to make final editorial decisions on articles to be included in the Institutional issue. The Journal also reserves the right to change the publication date in case the Institution and its affiliated authors cannot complete the publication requirements in a timely manner.

The Journal charges a fee for processing submissions to be included in an Institutional issue. Processing of submissions begins once the fee is paid in full.

Ethics

All authors must adhere to the principles of the World Medical Association’s Helsinki Declaration on Scientific Research with Humans (2013 official version). Among other principles, this document states that it is the duty of the physician to promote and safeguard the health, well-being, and rights of patients, including those who are involved in medical research. 

The latest (2013) official Declaration of Helsinki can be found here: 

https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/

Open Access Policy

All Acta Medica Philippina (AMP) materials are openly accessible and readily downloadable in PDF format without the need for a subscription. The Journal has no paywall.

Publishing License. 

The use of articles is licensed under the Creative Commons model (See Licensing Arrangements). Proper citations are required when using any portion of the published articles.

  • Articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 
    • Copyright ownership is shared between authors and Acta Medica Philippina once an article is published in the journal. Commercial use needs the permission of both the Journal and the article author(s). A fee is charged by the journal for such commercial use.
    • This license lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under identical terms.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

 

Contact Information

Office Address: PM 202, 2nd Flr., Paz Mendoza Building, College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila,
547 Pedro Gil St., Ermita, Manila 1000, Philippines
Website:  https://actamedicaphilippina.upm.edu.ph/

Editor-in-Chief:  JOVEN Q. TANCHUCO, MD, MHA
jqtanchuco1@up.edu.ph