Regeneration, Reconstruction & Restoration (Triple R) Journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethical conduct, scientific integrity, and responsible publication. The journal takes allegations of scientific misconduct seriously, including plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of data, duplicate or redundant publication, and other practices that may compromise the integrity of the scientific record. All suspected cases of misconduct are handled in accordance with the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Further information regarding COPE principles and procedures is available through www.publicationethics.org.uk.
Authors are responsible for addressing all relevant ethical considerations in the Materials and Methods section of their manuscripts. Depending on the nature of the research, these considerations may include informed consent, the ethical conduct of research involving humans or animals, approval by an appropriate ethics committee, protection of participant confidentiality, and compliance with applicable regulations and reporting standards.
Research Involving Human Participants
1. Informed Consent
Authors must confirm that appropriate informed consent was obtained from all adult participants before their involvement in the research. For participants who are minors, consent must be obtained from a parent or legally authorized representative, as applicable. When research involves vulnerable individuals or populations, authors must implement additional safeguards to protect their rights, dignity, safety, and welfare. The consent procedure should be appropriate to the characteristics and circumstances of the population under study.
2. Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board Approval
Manuscripts reporting research involving human participants must identify the institutional review board (IRB), research ethics committee, or other appropriate ethics body that reviewed and approved the study. Ethical approval should comply with applicable national and international requirements, including the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
Authors should provide the ethics committee's name and approval/reference number in the manuscript. An appropriate statement may be worded as follows:
"This study was reviewed and approved by the [name of ethics committee/institutional review board; approval code], and all procedures were conducted in accordance with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki."
3. Clinical Trial Registration
All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) should be prospectively registered in an appropriate, publicly accessible clinical trial registry before enrollment of participants. The registration number must be reported in both the abstract and the Materials and Methods section.
Authors of RCTs are also expected to follow the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials)recommendations when preparing and reporting their manuscripts.
Recognized clinical trial registries include, but are not limited to:
4. Confidentiality and Identifiable Patient Information
Authors must protect the privacy and confidentiality of research participants. If a manuscript contains information, photographs, clinical images, or other material through which an individual could reasonably be identified, specific consent for publication must be obtained in addition to any consent required for participation in the research.
Where applicable, authors should include a statement such as:
"Additional informed consent was obtained from all patients whose identifying information or identifiable material is included in this article."
Every reasonable effort should be made to remove unnecessary identifying information while preserving the scientific value of the report.
5. Patient Images and ICMJE Recommendations
Authors must follow the relevant recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) concerning patient privacy and the publication of identifiable information. Patients should not be identifiable unless identification is scientifically necessary and appropriate consent for publication has been obtained.
Whenever possible, identifying details should be removed or adequately anonymized. Authors should recognize that simply masking the eyes or removing a name may not be sufficient to ensure anonymity.
Further information is available in the ICMJE.
Research Involving Animals
1. Ethical Care and Use of Animals
Research involving animals must be conducted in accordance with applicable national legislation, institutional policies, and internationally recognized standards for the humane care and use of laboratory animals. Authors must obtain approval from the relevant animal ethics or animal care and use committee before commencing the research, where required.
The manuscript should identify the approving committee and provide the relevant approval or protocol number. An appropriate statement may be:
"All procedures involving animals were conducted in accordance with applicable institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals and were approved by the [name of committee; approval/protocol number]."
Authors must ensure that unnecessary pain, suffering, distress, or harm to animals has been minimized and that appropriate welfare measures have been implemented.
2. ARRIVE Guidelines
Authors reporting in vivo animal experiments are encouraged to follow the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) guidelines. These recommendations promote complete, transparent, and reproducible reporting of animal research.
Further information is available from the ARRIVE Guidelines.
Studies Not Involving Human or Animal Participants
For manuscripts that do not involve research conducted on human participants or animals, authors may include the following statement to make the ethical status of the research explicit:
"This article does not report any studies involving human participants or animals conducted by any of the authors."
Note: Regeneration, Reconstruction & Restoration (Triple R) Journal retains the right to reject any manuscript based on unethical conduct of either human or animal studies.