Publication Ethics

Annals of Medical Research follows the principles outlined by various leading organizations, including the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, WAME), and the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. These guidelines are essential in ensuring transparency, integrity, and best practices in academic publishing.

Medical research involving human participants must be conducted in accordance with the WMA Declaration of Helsinki (2013), ensuring informed consent, the protection of privacy, and the safety of participants. Additionally, the journal adheres to the WAME’s Recommendations on Publication Ethics for Medical Journals, which address issues such as conflicts of interest, research misconduct, and the peer review process, all aimed at maintaining the highest standards of integrity and transparency.

Ethics Committee Approval and Informed Consent

Ethical standards are upheld in both human and animal experiments. Authors must provide evidence of approval from a local Ethics Committee when required. Animal research should be conducted humanely, with clear reporting of anesthetics and analgesics used. Ethical standards must align with the WMA’s Code of Ethics (Declaration of Helsinki) for human studies and EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal research. A statement of ethics committee approval must be included in the ‘Materials and Methods’ section, in accordance with the ICMJE Recommendations. The journal will not consider any manuscript deemed ethically unacceptable.

If a manuscript is submitted to Annals of Medical Research without ethics committee approval, the journal will review it according to COPE's Research, Audit, and Service Evaluations guideline. This guideline helps the journal assess the risks and ethical concerns of publishing research lacking ethics committee approval, ensuring that the manuscript meets ethical standards despite the absence of formal approval.

Authors are required to provide comprehensive details on the ethical treatment of animals in their research, including specific actions taken to minimize pain and suffering. The ARRIVE checklist is recommended to help authors present this information in a clear and thorough manner.

For studies involving human participants, a statement must be included confirming that written and/or verbal informed consent was obtained from all participants. These consent forms should be stored for future reference.

When research involves minors under the age of 18, consent must be obtained from a parent or guardian, as children may not fully comprehend the risks and benefits of participating in the study.

In cases involving surveys or interviews, authors must confirm that informed consent was granted by participants, including consent for recording personal information, if applicable. Any identifiable quotations or statements should be anonymized unless explicit consent for attribution is obtained.

The Methods section should provide detailed information on the informed consent process, along with other pertinent research procedures. Authors must ensure the anonymity and privacy of participants, especially with regards to photographs that may reveal their identities. Signed consent forms for photographs should be obtained, and approval for their publication must be clearly documented in the Methods section.

Plagiarism and Ethical Misconduct

All submissions undergo thorough screening during the peer review and/or production processes, which includes the use of similarity detection software. Authors must ensure that all previous works are properly cited when referenced. Copying text, tables, or illustrations from any source (including journal articles, books, theses, electronic media, etc.) and presenting them as original work constitutes plagiarism, regardless of whether a reference is included. Listing a source in the References section does not excuse authors from responsibility for plagiarism.

Authors are strongly encouraged to avoid any form of plagiarism or ethical misconduct, which includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Citation Manipulation: This involves artificially inflating citation counts through practices like self-citation, excessive citation of the same journal, or citation stacking, all of which misrepresent academic recognition.

  • Self-Plagiarism (Text Recycling): This refers to reusing portions or sentences from an author's own previous work without proper citation, which is considered a form of plagiarism.

  • Salami Slicing: This unethical practice involves publishing multiple papers based on the same data set, hypotheses, and methods from a single study, creating redundant publications.

  • Data Fabrication: The creation of false data not supported by actual research or experiments, considered a serious breach of research integrity.

  • Data Manipulation/Falsification: Involves altering data, such as modifying images or removing outliers, to mislead or misrepresent findings.

In cases of suspected misconduct (e.g., plagiarism, citation manipulation, or data falsification), the Editorial Board will follow COPE guidelines to ensure fair, transparent, and consistent handling of allegations.