Policies

Who Can Submit?

Anyone may submit an original article to be considered for publication in Journal of Acute Care for Occupational Therapy (JACOT) provided he or she owns the copyright to the work being submitted or is authorized by the copyright owner or owners to submit the article. Authors are the initial owners of the copyrights to their works (an exception in the non-academic world to this might exist if the authors have, as a condition of employment, agreed to transfer copyright to their employer).

Open Access

Journal of Acute Care for Occupational Therapy (JACOT) is an open-access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or user’s institution. JACOT is committed to providing open-access information for the public to benefit from the knowledge shared by author(s) who publish in JACOT. Users can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of all articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author(s).

Copyright & Permissions

All articles published at JACOT are distributed under the Creative Commons – Attribution NonCommercial No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY NC-ND 4.0) . Authors retain all copyrights without restrictions and agree to the CC BY-NC-ND 4.00 license for their work as a condition of publication. End users’ rights under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license are outlined here. For all other purposes, permission must be obtained from the author.

Authors must, however, provide copyright permission to JACOT for any copyrighted tables, figures, illustrations, appendices or lengthy quotations that are used in the manuscript. Please read and complete the Copyright Agreement section within the Journal of Acute Care Occupational Therapy (JACOT) Submission Verification Google Form. All authors listed on the manuscript need to sign this form and email to journalofacutecareOT@gmail.com

JACOT Google Form

Artificial Intelligence

JACOT supports the use of responsible artificial intelligence (AI). Authors are responsible for the originality, validity, and integrity of manuscript submissions. When using AI technology in any aspect of the research process there should always be a high degree of human oversight and transparency. If AI is used to support any aspect of the research process and procedures as well as manuscript dissemination efforts, authors are required to disclose this information. Explicit information on how and where as well as the AI tool name and reason should be stated in the methodology and on the Artificial Intelligence Use Section within the Journal of Acute Care Occupational Therapy (JACOT) Submission Verification Google Form.

JACOT supports AI for the following uses:

Idea Exploration
Language improvement
Literature classification

JACOT does not support AI use in ways that replace core researcher or author responsibilities such as:

Use of AI to generate or substitute data
Use of AI to generate content for supplemental materials, abstracts or essential manuscript sections without extensive review or revision by authors and explicit declaration in the manuscript methods
Use of AI in creation or manipulation of images, or figures (e.g., codes, charts, pictures, data tables, medical imagery).

Authors need to be aware of the potential risks of using AI in their research process and dissemination:

Bias – statistical algorithms may amplify or mis-represent or provide inaccuracies with information (e.g., hallucinations)
Lack of Rigor or Transparency – concerns with verifying the source or origin of the information
Data MisUse – data used outside of its intended purposes
Protection of Human Subjects – concerns with protection of personal or private information.

JACOT editors and associate peer reviewers are the gatekeepers of quality and relevance of the evidence associated with manuscript submissions. Reviewers will keep manuscripts confidential throughout the review process. Reviewers are responsible for the integrity and accuracy of their reviews.

JACOT editors will continue to update our editorial guides as the research ethics and guidelines evolve.

JACOT Google Form

Charges and Fees

Journal of Acute Care for Occupational Therapy (JACOT) levies no submission charges, or charges for fees for publication of accepted articles.

Peer Review Process

Each manuscript submitted to JACOT will be reviewed by the Editor-In-Chief and Senior Editor to determine if it aligns with the mission, aim, and scope of the journal. Those manuscripts approved for further consideration will undergo an anonymous, double-blinded review, by two to three reviewers who are experts in occupational therapy education, practice, and/or research relevant to acute care and the associated manuscript type (methodology) of the submission.

Authors can expect the review to be completed within 10-16 weeks. Authors will receive a review along with an email from the editor stating the decision from the review: accepted, accepted with minor changes, major changes required or rejected. Rejected articles are not eligible for resubmission to JACOT. When the decision is to revise, authors should make recommended changes and resubmit the manuscript within 14-30 days to continue to move forward with publication. The Editor-in-Chief, Senior Editor, and Editorial Board make the final decision regarding the publication of papers and reserve the right to refuse manuscripts for publication.

Ethics & Integrity

Journal of Acute Care for Occupational Therapy takes instances of plagiarism, copyright infringement, and other ethical breaches related to publication seriously. The journal may use systems and software to check for submission originality.

Conditions of Use

If any term of the submission agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect.