ETHICS POLICY

This statement is based on the COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

The journal is committed to ethics, good practices, and the quality of its publications. Ethical standards of behavior are expected from all parties involved in the process: author, editor, reviewers, librarian, legal advisor, journalist, layout designer, IT staff, D.P.O., and editor-in-chief.

Research Ethics

Research involving human subjects
Research involving human beings, human material, human tissues, or human data must declare that investigations were conducted in accordance with the rules of the Declaration of Helsinki (1975). At a minimum, a statement including the project identification code, approval date of the Research Ethics Committee, and the name of the ethics committee or institutional review board must be included in the manuscript. (https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/)

For non-interventional studies—such as surveys, questionnaires, and social media research—all participants must be fully informed if anonymity is guaranteed, why the research is being conducted, how their data will be used, and whether there are any associated risks. As with all research involving human subjects, prior ethical approval from an appropriate ethics committee must be obtained before the study is conducted.

Written informed consent for publication must be obtained from participating patients. Data regarding individual participants should be described, but private identifying information does not need to be included unless identifiable materials are relevant to the research (for example, facial photographs showing a specific symptom). Patient initials or other personal identifiers must not appear in any image. For manuscripts including case details, personal information, and/or images, authors must obtain signed informed consent prior to submission. Patient details must be anonymized as much as possible (e.g., avoid mentioning specific age, ethnicity, or occupation when not relevant to conclusions). Editors reserve the right to reject any submission not meeting these requirements.

If the study reports research involving vulnerable groups, additional verification may be carried out. The submitted manuscript will be reviewed by the editorial office, and documentary evidence must be provided upon request. Additionally, when studies describe groups by race, ethnicity, gender, disability, or disease, the reason for this categorization must be clearly stated in the article.

Editors’ Responsibilities

  • Publication Decision: The journal editor is responsible for deciding which submitted articles are sent for double-blind review and, if approved, for publication. The editor is guided by the policies of the editorial board and by legal requirements concerning defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editor may consult the editorial board or reviewers when making decisions.

  • Fair Play: Manuscripts are evaluated solely on intellectual content, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.

  • Confidentiality: The editor and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Unpublished information disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in the editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author. The editor must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions related to the papers.

Reviewers’ Responsibilities

  • Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communication with the author, may also help the author improve the paper.

  • Promptness: Any selected reviewer who feels unqualified to review the manuscript or knows that prompt review will be impossible must notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.

  • Confidentiality: All manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others.

  • Standards of Objectivity: Reviews must be conducted objectively, and referees must express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

  • Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers must identify relevant published work not cited by the authors and notify the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts where they have conflicts of interest due to competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the papers.

Authors’ Responsibilities

  • Reporting Standards: Authors of original research must present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

  • Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if they have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

  • Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication: Authors should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior.

  • Acknowledgment of Sources: Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors must cite publications that have influenced the nature of the work reported. Privately obtained information (e.g., conversations, correspondence) must not be used without explicit written permission from the source.

  • Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All significant contributors should be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission.

  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: All authors must disclose any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support must be disclosed.

  • Fundamental Errors in Published Works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.