Ethics

The Journal of Medical Science (JMS) applies the ethical principles and procedures recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), contained in the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, Peer Reviewers and Authors available from the COPE website: https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines

 

1. AUTHORSHIP AND CONTRIBUTORSHIP

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, investigation, or interpretation of the of the submitted paper. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Reference:

The COPE Report 2003, How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers

https://publicationethics.org/files/2003pdf12_0.pdf

For more information, please see Author Guidelines

 

2. STUDIES INVOLVING HUMAN OR ANIMAL SUBJECTS

Reporting of research involving humans or animals

Authors should follow the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association (www.wma.net). The manuscript should contain a statement that the work has been approved by the relevant institutional review boards or ethics committees and that all human participants gave informed consent to the work. This statement should appear in the Material and Methods section. Identifying information, including patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, illustrations, and pedigrees. Studies involving experiments with animals must be conducted with approval by the local animal care committee and state that their care was in accordance with institutional and international guidelines.

 

Policies regarding vulnerable populations

Vulnerable populations require special protection during research.

Researchers need to consider additional ethics concerns or issues arising from working with potentially vulnerable persons. Vulnerability may arise as a result of being in an abusive relationship, vulnerability due to age, potential marginalization, disability, and due to disadvantageous power relationships within personal and professional roles.

In cases where research involves potentially vulnerable groups, for example children, older persons or adults with learning disabilities, every effort should be made to secure freely given informed consent that participants or their legal representatives have actively provided.

References:

  1. Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/
  2. The Belemont Report https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/read-the-belmont-report/index.html
  3. UK Research and Innovation https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/index.html
  4. Sawicka-Gutaj, N., Gruszczyński, D., Guzik, P., Mostowska, A., & Walkowiak, J. (2022). Publication ethics of human studies in the light of the Declaration of Helsinki – a mini-review. Journal of Medical Science, 91(2), e700. https://doi.org/10.20883/medical.e700

 

3. ORIGINALITY AND PLAGIARISM

As a general rule, an author 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 behaviour and is unacceptable.

Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works. Authors must not use the words, figures, or ideas of others without attribution. All sources must be cited at the point they are used, and reuse of wording must be limited and be attributed or quoted in the text.

JMS uses Crossref Similarity Check (iThenticate) and its own software to detect submissions that overlap with published and submitted manuscripts.

Manuscripts that are found to have been plagiarized from a manuscript by other authors, whether published or unpublished, will be rejected and the authors may incur sanctions. Any published articles may need to be corrected or retracted.

For more information, please see Plagiarism policy

For more information, please see Author Guidelines

 

4. DISCLOSURE AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

The editorial office is obliged not to use the unpublished information from the manuscript which was submitted to JMS. No materials provided by authors will be used for any personal gain and will be kept strictly confidential. JMS editors will not process manuscripts in which there is a risk of any conflict of interest, e.g. competitive activity, links with any of the authors or institutions.

For more information, please see Author Guidelines

 

5. POST-PUBLICATION DISCUSSIONS AND CORRECTIONS

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Post-publication discussion may start with a reader’s critique of an article or any part of it that the journal has published. When a formal critique is received, the journal may invite the original authors of the critiqued article to write a reply. The critique and response may be peer reviewed.

Reference:

COPE: Handling of post-publication critiques https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/handling-post-publication-critiques

 

6. COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS

While handling complaints or appeals, the Journal of Medical Science follows the guidelines published by the Committee on Publication Ethics https://publicationethics.org/core-practices.

A complaint should in first instance be handled by the Editor-in-Chief of JMS or the Editor who handled the paper. The Editor-in-Chief or handling Editor decides on a course of action and provides feedback to the complainant.

If the complainant remains dissatisfied with the handling of their complaint, he or she can submit the complaint to the Committee on Publication Ethics https://publicationethics.org/appeals.