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The Revista Médica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (Revista Médica del IMSS) recognizes open science as an essential component of research integrity, quality, transparency, reproducibility, and social responsibility. Accordingly, the journal promotes making knowledge, methods, data, materials, and other research outputs as open as possible, while at all times observing the ethical, legal, and confidentiality restrictions that may be necessary, particularly in health-related research and studies involving personal data.

This policy adopts the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science (2021) and the principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) as its principal frameworks of reference. Within these frameworks, the journal regards science as a global public good and promotes a scholarly communication system characterized by openness, collaboration, equity, diversity, inclusion, transparency, and responsible research assessment.

The journal's open science policy encompasses not only free access to scientific articles but also, whenever ethically, legally, and technically feasible, access to research data, metadata, protocols, materials, methods, code, software, and other research outputs required to understand, verify, reproduce, and reuse published findings.

 

Guiding principles

 

1. Science as a global public good.
   The journal recognizes that scientific knowledge serves an essential social function and that its dissemination should contribute to collective well-being, the strengthening of health systems, professional education, informed decision-making, and scientific and technological development. In accordance with UNESCO principles, the journal will promote the accessibility and reuse of research outputs by the scientific community, health professionals, policymakers, and society at large.
2. Immediate and non-commercial open access.
   Scientific content published by the journal will be made immediately available through open access, without embargo periods or financial barriers to consultation. The Revista Médica del IMSS supports an academic, non-commercial open access model intended to ensure that opportunities to publish and access scientific knowledge do not depend on the financial capacity of authors or readers.
3. Responsible licensing and reuse.
   Published content will be subject to the Creative Commons license established in the journal's current editorial policy. Conditions for reuse must be explicitly and clearly stated in each publication. For datasets, code, software, and other research outputs, the journal will encourage, where appropriate, the use of specific open licenses that facilitate consultation, reuse, verification, and proper attribution, while respecting applicable ethical, legal, and intellectual property restrictions.
4. Transparency, scrutiny, and reproducibility.
   The journal will promote editorial practices that allow readers and reviewers to adequately understand and assess how the scientific evidence presented was generated. Manuscripts must describe their methods, analytical procedures, inclusion and exclusion criteria, instruments, interventions, statistical techniques, and other relevant methodological elements with sufficient precision to enable scholarly scrutiny and, where appropriate, reproduction or replication of the findings.
5. Research integrity.
   The openness of research processes and outputs should contribute to strengthening research integrity. The journal will promote information traceability, transparent disclosure of conflicts of interest, funding sources, authorship contributions, data and material availability, protocol registration, and other information required for the responsible assessment of published research.

 

Open data, materials, and reproducibility

 

The Revista Médica del IMSS recognizes that the data and other research outputs supporting the results of a study form part of the scientific knowledge generated. The journal therefore encourages their preservation, documentation, and availability in accordance with the characteristics of each study and with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

1. Availability of research data.
   Authors must indicate, through a data availability statement, whether the data supporting the results of the article are available, where they may be accessed, and under what conditions they may be used. When data cannot be made publicly available, the reason justifying such restriction must be stated with sufficient clarity.
2. FAIR Principles.
   Whenever the characteristics of the research permit, the journal will promote the management of data and metadata in accordance with the FAIR Principles, so that they are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, through the use of trusted repositories, appropriate metadata standards, and persistent identifiers.
3. CARE Principles and responsible data governance.
   When research involves data concerning communities, specific population groups, or collective knowledge, the journal will encourage, where applicable, the complementary use of the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance, including collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility, and ethics.
4. Protocols, code, and research materials.
   When necessary to verify or reproduce research findings, authors are encouraged to deposit protocols, instruments, data dictionaries, statistical code, algorithms, software, and other relevant materials in appropriate repositories and, whenever possible, link them to the publication through persistent identifiers.
5. Protection of sensitive data.
   Data openness must never compromise the privacy, confidentiality, dignity, or rights of research participants. Personal, clinical, or potentially identifiable data may only be shared when an appropriate ethical and legal basis exists. Where unrestricted open access is not possible, anonymization, pseudonymization, controlled access, or availability upon justified request may be implemented, as appropriate.
6. Proportionate and justified openness.
   Restrictions on access must be proportionate to potential risks and adequately justified. The inability to make certain data publicly available will not, in itself, constitute a barrier to publication when legitimate reasons exist relating to confidentiality, protection of personal data, participants' rights, intellectual property, legal requirements, or ethical considerations.

 

Responsible research assessment and DORA principles

 

The Revista Médica del IMSS takes the principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) as a framework of reference and recognizes that the quality of research should be assessed on the basis of its content, methodological rigor, originality, transparency, relevance, and contribution to knowledge, rather than on the prestige or bibliometric indicators of the journal in which it is published.

1. Journal Impact Factor must not be used as a surrogate measure of scientific quality.
   The journal does not regard the Journal Impact Factor, h-index, journal quartile, position in bibliometric rankings, or other journal-level indicators as substitute measures of the quality of an individual article, research project, or author's scholarly contribution.
2. Assessment of scientific content on its own merits.
   Editorial decisions will be based primarily on the manuscript's relevance to the journal's scope, scientific and methodological rigor, validity of the analysis, strength of the evidence presented, research integrity, originality, and relevance of its contribution to medicine and the health sciences.
3. Diversity of research outputs.
   The journal recognizes that scholarly production extends beyond published articles. Datasets, protocols, software, code, research materials, educational resources, methodological developments, and other scholarly contributions constitute legitimate research outputs and should receive appropriate recognition when they have made a substantive contribution to knowledge.
4. Multiple and contextualized indicators.
   When indicators relating to the use, visibility, or influence of published articles are reported, they should be interpreted within their proper context. No single indicator will be presented as a definitive measure of scientific quality. Whenever feasible, the journal will favor article-level indicators and qualitative evidence of scientific, clinical, educational, health-related, or social impact.
5. Transparency in authorship contributions.
   The journal will promote the precise identification of each author's contributions. Where appropriate, the CRediT taxonomy (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) or other standardized mechanisms may be used to distinguish the different roles performed throughout the research process.
6. Responsible citation practices.
   Bibliographic references are expected to reflect scientific relevance and appropriate recognition of original sources. The journal discourages citation practices designed solely to artificially increase the bibliometric indicators of authors, institutions, or journals and will promote, where appropriate, the consultation and citation of primary literature.
7. Recognition of disciplinary and professional diversity.
   Assessment criteria should take into account differences among disciplines, types of research, methodologies, and career stages. The journal will seek to avoid criteria that may create unjustified disadvantages for early-career researchers or researchers affiliated with institutions or regions with fewer available resources.

 

Open, transparent, and rigorous editorial assessment

 

Transparency in scholarly assessment is a fundamental component of trustworthy scientific communication. The journal will publicly describe its editorial assessment and peer-review procedures, the general criteria used in decision-making, and the responsibilities of authors, reviewers, and editors.

Scientific openness does not necessarily require unrestricted disclosure of the identities of reviewers, authors, or other participants in the editorial process. Confidentiality may be preserved when it forms part of the peer-review model adopted by the journal or when necessary to protect the independence, impartiality, and integrity of the assessment process.

 

Equity, diversity, inclusion, and multilingualism

 

In accordance with the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, the journal recognizes that openness of knowledge must be accompanied by effective conditions of equity. Open science should not reproduce or exacerbate inequalities related to geographical location, resource availability, gender, language, discipline, institutional affiliation, career stage, or other circumstances that influence participation in the scientific system.

1. Bibliodiversity.
   The journal recognizes the legitimacy of diverse forms of knowledge production and scholarly communication and seeks to prevent research assessment from depending exclusively on commercial indexing systems, bibliometric indicators, or dominant publishing models.
2. Multilingualism.
   The journal recognizes the importance of Spanish as a language of scholarly communication and knowledge transfer in the Ibero-American context, while also supporting mechanisms that enhance international visibility and facilitate scientific dialogue among different linguistic communities.
3. Equity in scientific participation.
   Editorial policies will seek to foster equitable conditions of participation for researchers regardless of their institution, geographical region, availability of resources, or career stage, while applying the same standards of scientific quality, integrity, and rigor.
4. Respect for diverse knowledge systems.
   When relevant to a particular research context, the journal will recognize the diversity of knowledge systems and communities' rights over their knowledge, avoiding practices involving appropriation, extraction, or use of information without appropriate recognition, participation, or equitable benefit.

 

Open infrastructure, interoperability, and preservation

 

The journal will promote the use of academic, open, interoperable, and sustainable infrastructures for the identification, publication, preservation, and retrieval of scientific outputs. Whenever possible, persistent identifiers and international standards will be used to facilitate interoperability among publications, authors, institutions, datasets, and other digital research objects.

Digital preservation is an essential responsibility of scholarly communication. Accordingly, the journal will seek to ensure the long-term availability of its content through appropriate preservation systems, repositories, and infrastructures that reduce dependence on commercial platforms and support the sovereignty and continuity of the scientific record.

 

Societal engagement and knowledge transfer

 

Open science also encompasses communication and engagement between scientific knowledge and society. The Revista Médica del IMSS will promote, where relevant, mechanisms that facilitate the understanding, dissemination, and transfer of research findings to health professionals, patients, policymakers, educational institutions, and other social stakeholders, with the aim of enabling scientific evidence to contribute effectively to medical practice and public health.

 

Commitment to a non-commercial and sustainable publishing model

 

Consistent with the principles of equity promoted by UNESCO, the journal supports academic and non-commercial models of scholarly communication and recognizes the value of Diamond Open Access as a means of reducing financial barriers for both authors and readers. The sustainability of open science should be built upon academic infrastructure, institutional cooperation, long-term preservation, and public investment directed toward the common good.

The absence of article processing charges or publication fees will not result in differences in editorial assessment procedures or acceptance criteria. All editorial decisions must be based exclusively on scientific, methodological, ethical, and editorial considerations.

 

Authors' responsibilities

 

As part of this policy, authors are expected to adopt open science practices whenever compatible with the design of their research and with applicable ethical and legal obligations. These practices include:

• describing research methods transparently and in sufficient detail to support reproducibility;
• disclosing individual authorship contributions;
• reporting funding sources and conflicts of interest;
• providing a data availability statement when applicable;
• depositing data, materials, protocols, or code in appropriate repositories when openness is feasible;
• protecting the rights, privacy, and confidentiality of research participants;
• using persistent identifiers for authors and research outputs whenever available;
• respecting licenses, conditions of reuse, and attribution standards governing the scientific outputs employed;
• avoiding practices intended to artificially manipulate citations, metrics, or impact indicators.

 

Scope and exceptions

 

The implementation of open science principles must be compatible with applicable legislation, the institutional provisions of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, research ethics principles, personal data protection requirements, confidentiality of clinical information, intellectual property rights, and legitimate commitments established with research participants, institutions, or other parties involved in the research.

Accordingly, the Revista Médica del IMSS adopts the principle that scientific knowledge should be as open as possible, while any restriction must be based on legitimate, proportionate, and sufficiently justified grounds.

 

Framework of reference

 

This policy takes the following international frameworks as its principal references:

• UNESCO. Recommendation on Open Science, adopted by the UNESCO General Conference on 23 November 2021.
• San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, 2012.
• FAIR Principles for the management and reuse of scientific data.
• CARE Principles for responsible data governance, where applicable.
• International principles concerning open access, research integrity, transparency, and responsible research assessment applicable to biomedical scholarly communication.

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