Publication Ethics

Human subjects research

• Requires appropriate ethics approval (e.g., Institutional Review Board / Ethics Committee) before data collection.
• Informed consent must be obtained where required.
• Privacy and confidentiality must be protected, including appropriate data anonymization where necessary.

Animal research

• Must follow institutional animal welfare standards and applicable regulations.
• Authors must provide evidence of ethical approval and humane procedures where relevant.

Conflicts of interest

• All authors must disclose financial and non-financial conflicts of interest that could influence the work.
• Funding sources must be stated clearly, including the role of the funder (if any).

Plagiarism and fabrication

• Zero tolerance for plagiarism, fabrication, or falsification of data.
• Manuscripts may be screened using similarity checks.
• Evidence of misconduct may result in immediate rejection and further action.

Proper attribution

• Accurate citation and proper attribution are required for all reused ideas, data, figures, and text.
• Permission must be obtained for any copyrighted third-party material (figures, images, tables).

Duplicate submission and redundant publication

• Duplicate submission (submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals at the same time) is prohibited.
• Redundant publication or “salami slicing” (unjustified segmentation of results) is not allowed.
• Prior publication (including preprints) must be disclosed according to the selected journal’s policy.

Image and data integrity

• Inappropriate image manipulation or data manipulation is prohibited.
• Any adjustments to images must be minimal, disclosed, and must not misrepresent results.
• Editors may request raw data or original images for verification

Authorship criteria

• All listed authors must have made substantial contributions to the research and manuscript.
• All authors must approve the final version and agree to be accountable for their contributions.
• Contributions should be reported transparently (e.g., author contribution statement where requested).

Corresponding author responsibilities

• The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and ensuring all authors approve submission and revisions.
• The corresponding author must ensure all authors agree to the final manuscript.
• The corresponding author must ensure all authors provide accurate affiliation and contact information and disclose conflicts of interest and funding.

Changes to authorship

• Requests to add/remove/reorder authors after submission require written agreement from all authors.
• Requests to add/remove/reorder authors after submission require clear justification.
• Requests to add/remove/reorder authors after submission require editorial approval.

Confidentiality

• Submitted manuscripts are confidential and must not be shared or used for personal advantage.

Objectivity and bias

• Reviews and editorial decisions must be based on scholarly merit, not personal attributes or affiliations.

Conflicts of interest

• Reviewers and editors must declare any conflicts of interest and decline involvement where appropriate.

Possible actions

• Rejection before publication.
• Publication of a correction (erratum/corrigendum).
• Retraction in severe cases (e.g., fabricated data, plagiarism).
• Notification to institutions or funders when appropriate (depending on severity and evidence).

COPE alignment