ETHICS POLICIES
Authors
Any financial interests or connections, direct or indirect, or other situations that might raise the question of bias in work reported or the conclusions, implications, or opinions stated - including relevant commercial or other sources of funding for the individual author(s) or for the associated department(s) or organization(s), personal relationships, or direct academic competition - should be disclosed. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. If there are none, the disclosure should say: 'The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.' If one or a few authors have a conflict to disclose, further to that statement, there should be an additional statement for those remaining authors who do not have any, e.g. 'All remaining authors have declared no conflicts of interest.' The publisher of Edisciences Journals (Arguments of Geriatric Oncology - AGO, Journal of Cancer Rehabilitation - JCR, Supportive Palliative Cancer Care - SPCC, International Journal of Integrative Oncology - IJIO) reserves the right to reject any manuscript based on unethical behaviour in human or animal studies.
Human research
For research involving human experiments, the article must include a statement that ethical approval was obtained (or a statement that ethical approval was not needed and why), including the name of the ethics committee or institutional review committee, the approval number and information that participants gave informed consent before participating (or a statement that consent was not required and why). The authors should also indicate that the study complies with the provisions of the Helsinki Declaration (as revised in Edinburgh 2000), available here.
In line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the Helsinki Declaration, clinical trials should be recorded in perspective before participants are enrolled. Clinical trial registration numbers must be included in all clinical trial records. Photographs, video or audio recordings which can reveal the identity of patients or study participants can only be included if they (or their next of kin if participants are deceased; parents or guardians if they are underage or considered vulnerable) have provided consent to publish. Authors should be aware of any cultural sensitivities or restrictions associated with any images included in their manuscripts; information is provided by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI).
Animal research
For any experiment involving animals, the authors must indicate the nature of the ethical review authorizations, the relevant licenses (e.g. Animal [Scientific Procedures] Act 1986) and national or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals with which the research was conducted.
Where necessary, the Editorial Reserve reserves the right to request further information about the experiments presented in a manuscript.
Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement (PEMS)
The Guide for Authors and PEMS support combined efforts by the authors, members of the editorial board and scientific committee, and reviewers to produce a responsible research publication.
Responsible research publication : authors’ responsibilities The research being reported in articles must be conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and must comply with all relevant legislation.
Authors must be aware of and refrain from engaging in scientific misconduct and by breaching publishing ethics. Hereafter is a list of best ethical practices and common types of misconduct as found is COPE’s Responsible Research Publication : International Standards for Authors. Authors should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation. The authors shall guarantee the originality of their material
Authors should strive to describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others.
Authors should provide appropriate authorship and acknowledgement. Authors must refrain from deliberately misrepresenting a scientist’s relationship with published work. All authors must have significantly contributed to the research. Contributors who have made less substantial contributions to the research or to the publication can be acknowledged, but should not be identified as authors.
Authors must tell the Journal when they have a direct or indirect conflict of interest with editors or members of the Editorial board or International scientific committee.
All authors must submit a list of references and financial support if so requested by the editorial board. All sources of research funding, including direct and indirect financial support, should be disclosed.
No significant part of the article shall have been previously published either as an article or as a chapter, or be under consideration for publication elsewhere.
If the authors intend to reproduce their article in other publications or for any other purpose and by any means, they must obtain the written authorization of the editorial board.
Authors are obliged, for all materials submitted, to participate in a peer review process and to follow publication conventions.
Responsible research publication : editors’ responsibilities Publication decision
This journal employs a double-blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor. The editor is solely and independently responsible for selecting, processing, and deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal meet the editorial goals and could thus be published. Each paper considered suitable is sent to two independent peer reviewers who are experts in their field and able to assess the specific qualities of the work. The editor is responsible for the final decision regarding whether or not the paper is accepted or rejected.
The decision to publish a paper will always be measured in accordance to its importance to researchers, practitioners, and potential readers. Editors should make unbiased decisions independent from commercial considerations.
The editor’s decisions and actions are constrained by ethical and legal requirements such as its own PEMS and the law governong copyright infringement and plagiarism.
Editors who make final decisions about manuscripts should withdraw from editorial decisions if they have conflicts of interest or relationships that pose potential problems concerning articles under consideration. The responsibility of the final decision regarding publication will be attributed to an editor who does not have any conflicts of interest.
Identifying and preventing misconduct In no case shall a journal and members of the editorial board and international scientific committee encourage misconduct of any kind or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.
Members of the editorial board and international scientific committee shall try to prevent misconduct by informing authors and reviewers about the ethical conduct required of them.
Members of the editorial board, scientific committee, and reviewers are asked to be aware of all types of misconduct in order to identify papers where research misconduct of any kind has or seems to have occurred and deal with the allegations accordingly.
For further information please consult COPE’s guidelines : Responsible Research Publication : International Standards for Authors: https://publicationethics.org/files/International %20standards_authors_for %20website_11_Nov_2011.pdf