Publication ethics
Publication and compilation
- The references in the article must be included in numbers in order of reference within the text in Vancouver style. The number of references should not preferably be more than 40 for the research articles and more than 60 for review articles. In systematic review articles, the number of references may even reach 150.
- In the articles with more than six authors, the name of the first author should only be included with et al. for the rest of the authors.
- If the authors have been sponsored by an organization or institution, the sponsor must be mentioned.
- The authors are not allowed to use the text of previously published articles word for word or the article drafts submitted elsewhere.
- The authors must sign the declaration form, which shows the article is original, has not been published elsewhere, and is not simultaneously under review for publication in another journal because an article must not be published in more than one journal.
Issues related to publication ethics
- This journal follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and will act according to its regulations in case of violation.
- According to Declaration of Helsinki, the participants in the study must be aware of participation in the study and have full consent. In addition, they must be aware of the purpose of the study and the side effects associated with the intervention. They must confirm the informed consent form. If needed, the journal has the right to ask for the related documents in this regard.
- The authors must observe the other ethical principles in using materials from other published articles and avoid plagiarism. Publishing any writing in the journal is subject to approved adherence to the ethical principles.
- The information related to the participants’ identity must not be included in any writing, pictures, and family tree unless it is essential for scientific purposes and the patient’s (or his/her guardian’s) informed consent is obtained.
- Observing privacy of the participants is highly important to the editorial board.
- For receiving the Ethics General Guidelines in the medical sciences research studies with human subjects in the Islamic Republic of Iran, click here.
Author’s responsibilities
In terms of authorship criteria, those who have been introduced as authors of an article must at least have one of the following conditions:
1) Considerable contribution to developing the general idea or design of the study, collecting data, or data analysis and interpretation;
2) Planning the study or critical review of the article for finding the importance of its intellectual content;
3) Revising and examining the final draft of the article;
4) Accepting the responsibility for all issues related to the article and the correctness and accuracy the information within.
The author(s) is/are responsible for the accuracy and validity of all the published information including that related to the ethical guidelines.
Conflict of interests
If there is any conflict of interests in the article, the authors must inform the journal in this regard. Also, it is essential to mention the name of the group or institution in which the study has been carried out or the one sponsoring the study.
Copyright
If an article contains previously published image or text, the author(s) is/are responsible for obtaining permission from the copyright holders. The author must receive and send the main written permissions for all the copyrighted information used in their writing.
Review
- The reviewers must have no conflict of interests in relation to the study, authors or investors in the study.
- The reviewers must notify the author(s) about published articles referred to in the article.
- The reviewers should provide suggestions to the editors, but the final decision about the article is made by the chief editors.
- The reviewers must provide constructive comments for improving the article.
- In most of the cases, the exact review report is sent to the author.
- Interpretation of the review report is rarely sent to the author.
- In most of the cases, before sending the article to the reviewer, s/he is not contacted. 4
- In most of the cases, the revised article is sent to the already specified reviewers.
- The final decision maker for rejection or acceptance of an article based on the reviewers’ evaluation and the quality of the article is the editorial board.
Editorial responsibilities
- The managing director and editor in chief have full power and responsibility for rejecting or accepting an article.
- The managing director and editor in chief must have no conflict of interests concerning the articles they accept or reject.
- When there are mistakes in a manuscript, the managing director and editor in chief will correct them.
- The authors must provide reference for all the reports and previous submissions with regard to the submitted article so that the innovative aspects of the article or its republication and publishing a very similar content are specified. Clearly, if no reference is provided and the overlapping content is identified, the article will no longer have priority for publication.
- In the article submitted to the journal, the method of implementation of the study must already have been confirmed by the ethics committee of the institution of interest in which the study has been carried out (mentioning the code of the research project and the code of ethics).
- The identity of the reviewer(s) is not revealed to the authors and vice versa; the articles are reviewed by double blind peer review.
* We are sorry to reject articles with no code of ethics.
Plagiarism
It is forbidden to use word-for-word text without confirmation. The content of all articles must be produced originally by the authors and not plagiarized.
Data falsification
Data falsification means making up data and results, and their false registration and reporting. In data fabrication, all the reported results are unreal. Data manipulation also refers to manipulating the materials, instruments, and the procedure or changing or eliminating the data and the results so that the reported results are different from the real ones. In data manipulation, a part of the reported results is unreal. Both these behaviors are unethical and considered as deception. The authors must avoid using falsified or fabricated data.
Finding the similarities
- After receiving the articles, their similarity to the previously published studies using plagiarism checking software.
- Plagiarism is checked using search engines and software.
