Disagreement is part of scholarship, not a defect in the record. A published article may be questioned, qualified, or contradicted by other surgeons, and SJS treats that exchange as a normal part of its work. This page explains how to raise a scholarly comment on an article the journal has published, and how the journal handles it.
Which route applies
Post-publication discussion is not the route for errors or for integrity concerns. Mixing them makes legitimate debate look like an accusation, and delays matters that need a different procedure.
| If | Use | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| You disagree with the interpretation, methods, or conclusions | Post-publication discussion | This page. The article stands; your comment is assessed and, where substantive, published with the authors’ reply. |
| You have found a factual error — a wrong number, figure, citation, or missing statement | Corrections, Retractions and Article Updates | A dated correction is linked to the article; the change is never made silently. |
| You suspect fabrication, plagiarism, image manipulation, or another breach of integrity | Research Misconduct | Assessed confidentially under the COPE flowchart, with the authors given the opportunity to respond before any finding. |
| You are dissatisfied with how the journal handled a submission or a concern | Complaints and Appeals | Handled by an editor not involved in the disputed matter. |
If you are unsure which applies, write to the editorial office and say so; the editor will route it and tell you where it went.
How to submit a comment
Send the comment to sriwijayajournalsurgery@gmail.com. There is no fee, and you do not need to be an author in the journal. A comment should:
- identify the article by title and DOI, and the specific passage, table, figure, or claim it addresses;
- state the point plainly and support it with evidence or published references, rather than asserting it;
- carry the name and affiliation of everyone signing it — SJS does not publish anonymous or pseudonymous comment;
- declare any competing interest, including work on a rival technique, device, or implant, or a commercial relationship with a manufacturer whose product is discussed; see Conflict of Interest;
- be concise — ordinarily under 800 words with up to ten references;
- contain no detail that could identify a patient. A comment that discusses a case must observe the same consent and privacy requirements as the article itself; see Publication Ethics.
How the journal handles it
- Acknowledgement. The editorial office acknowledges receipt and records the comment against the article.
- Editorial assessment. An editor assesses whether the comment raises a substantive scholarly point. A comment may be sent for review where specialist judgement is needed.
- Right of reply. Where the comment is to be published, the authors of the original article are invited to reply and given a reasonable period to do so. The comment and the reply are ordinarily published together, so that a reader meets both at once.
- Publication. A published comment is linked to the article, dated, and free to read. Where it is issued as a citable item it carries its own DOI and is deposited to Crossref so that the exchange is discoverable.
- If the authors do not reply, the comment may still be published, and the notice records that a reply was invited and not received.
Where the comment turns out to identify a genuine error, the matter moves to Corrections, Retractions and Article Updates and the correction is issued there; the discussion does not substitute for correcting the record.
What the journal does not publish
- Personal attacks on authors, editors, or reviewers, and comment on the people rather than the work.
- Unsubstantiated allegations of misconduct — these belong in Research Misconduct, where they are assessed confidentially rather than aired.
- Material that identifies a patient, or that reproduces clinical images without the consent required.
- Repetitive submissions restating a point already published, and promotional material for a product, service, or practice.
- Comment whose sole purpose is to advance the commenter’s own publications or commercial interest.
A decision not to publish a comment is explained to the person who submitted it, and may be appealed under Complaints and Appeals.
Current channels
SJS receives post-publication comment by email to the editorial office. The journal does not at present host a comment thread beneath articles on its website, and no on-site commenting facility should be assumed from this page. Published comment and replies appear as correspondence linked to the article concerned.
Permanence of the exchange
A published comment and its reply are part of the permanent record: they are not removed if the discussion becomes uncomfortable, and the original article is not altered in response to a comment except through a formal correction. Preservation arrangements are set out in Preservation and Self-Archiving.
Record
The comment, the editorial assessment, the invitation to reply, and the outcome are retained in the article file and are available, under Editor credentials, to accreditation assessors and to any properly constituted investigation.
Read together with Publication Ethics, Corrections, Retractions and Article Updates, Research Misconduct and Complaints and Appeals. This policy is reviewed at least once a year.