Ethical Publishing Practice

We follow the ICMJE and COPE guidelines where applicable.

Plagiarism

• All submission will be screened twice using Crosscheck to verify originality, once after submission and again prior to publication.

• Each paper should be original, with a similarity index of < 5% against any single paper and with a total similarity index of < 20% against all papers in the database.

• Similarity between new submitted manuscript and the papers previously published by the same research team or author should be no more than 50%.

• No retracted articles should be cited.

• For dishonorable events anonymously or non-anonymously reported, editors will contact the corresponding author of the paper with the issue and provide the results to the person who reported the event.

• For dishonorable events including redundant (duplicate) publication,

suspected plagiarism, and undisclosed conflicts of interest, the journal will abide by the regulations suggested by COPE guidelines (http://publicationethics.org/resources)

Correction

• Errors in the content of an article that impact meaning

• Errors that affect indexing (eg. author names)

• Abstracts containing errors or missing text

• Errors in CME articles or tests

Retraction

• Unreliable findings (accident or misconduct)

• Findings previously published elsewhere without attribution

• Plagiariam

• Unethical research

Expression of Concern

• Investigation underway; Investigation results unreliable; Evidence of misconduct, but no investigation

Research Ethics:

• According to the ICMJE recommendations, the authors should follow all ethical principles for medical research involving humans and experimental animals. A statement with the name of ethics and the approval number where appropriate, must be included in the manuscript.

- Research involving human participants, human material, or human data

Ethics Approval: Research involving human participants, human material, or human data, must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee. If a study has been granted an exemption from requiring ethics approval, this should also be detailed in the manuscript.

Consent to participate: For all research involving human participants, informed consent to participate in the study should be obtained from participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children <16) and a statement should be provided in the manuscript. For manuscripts reporting studies involving vulnerable groups (for example, unconscious patients) where there is the potential for coercion (for example prisoners) or where consent may not have been fully informed, manuscripts will be considered at the editor’s discretion and may be referred to an internal editorial oversight group for further scrutiny. Consent must be obtained for all forms of personally identifiable data including biomedical, clinical, and biometric data. In the case of articles describing human transplantation studies, authors must include a statement declaring that no organs/tissues were obtained from prisoners and must also name the institution(s)/clinic(s)/department(s) via which organs/tissues were obtained. Documentary evidence of consent must be supplied if requested.

Clinical Trial Registration: Prospective and interventional clinical trials should be registered in advance at a clinical trial registry approved by the WHO Registry Network. The date of registration and registration number should be indicated in the submission. Purely observational studies do not require registration.

- Research involving animals

Experimental research on animals must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines, and where available should have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee.

The process for handling cases regarding corrections, retractions, and editorial expression of concern:

The Journal publishes corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern as appropriate, and as quickly as possible.

• Correction: A notice of correctionwill be issued by the Journal to correct substantial errors that appear in published articles when these errors significantly affect the content or understanding of the work (e.g., error in data presentation or analysis) or when the error affects the publication's metadata (e.g.,misspelling of an author's name). In these cases, the Journal will publish a correction that will be linked to the original article. In very rare cases, we may choose to correct the article itself and repost it online. If that course is taken, a correction notice will also be created to document the changes to the original article.

• Author-Initiated Retractions: TheJournal will retract an article at the authors' request at any timeunless it is under review for a possible violation of Responsible Conduct Regarding Scientific Communications. At the authors' option, theretraction notice may simply state that the article has been retracted at theauthors’ request. Alternatively, the authors may provide a brief explanation ofthe error(s) prompting the retraction. However, statements of retraction maynot assign blame to specific authors or laboratories.

• Retractions: The editors reserve the right to retract an article at any time after publicationwithout the consent of the authors if an investigation by an appropriateauthority reveals a violation of the Journal's Ethics Policy.

To request a correction/retraction,please contact the editorial office directly.

Advertising policy

1. All advertisements are subject to approval of the Publisher, or Editor. However, the Publisher or the Editor shall not unreasonably withhold such approval.

2. Advertising is separate from content. Advertisers and sponsors have no advance knowledge of our editorial content, nor do the editors shape content toaccommodate advertising. Publisher will not sell advertising for a specificproduct on the condition that it appear in the same location, and at the same time, as a specific article mentioning that product, unless clearly labeled asan exclusive sponsor. Advertisers do not influence any of our editorial decisions or advertising policies.   

3. The appearance of advertising on our journal is neither a guarantee nor anendorsement by the publisher, society or editorial partner of the product,service, or company and claims made in such advertising.   
4. Advertising that appears at Publisher’s journal will be clearly distinguishable from editorial content.   
5. Publisher’s advertising sales representatives have neither control over, nor prior knowledge of, specific editorial content before it is published.   
6. Advertisers have no control or influence over the results of searches a usermay conduct on the Publisher’s journal. Search results are based solely on thefunctionality available through our search software (e.g., keywords or naturallanguage) and user-defined criteria (e.g., displaying most recent or mostrelevant items first).   
7. All advertisements are accepted and published by Publisher on the warrantyof the agency and advertiser that both are authorized to publish the entirecontents and subject matter of the advertisement.   
8. In consideration of publication of an advertisement, the advertiser and theagency, jointly and severally, agree to indemnify and hold harmless Publisher,its officers, agents and employees against expenses (including legal fees) andlosses resulting from the publication of the contents of the advertisement,including, without limitation, claims or suits for libel, violation of privacy, copyright infringement orplagiarism.   
9. All advertisements must clearly and prominently identify the advertiser bytrademark or signature.   
10. Any reference to Publisher or it products or services in advertisements,promotional material, or merchandising by the advertiser or the agency issubject to the Publisher’s prior writtenapproval for each such use.   
11. Publisher is not responsible for any damages, including but not limited toactual, direct, incidental or consequential damages, for errors in displayingan ad.   
12. Publisher will not be bound by any condition, printed or otherwise,appearing on any insertion order or copy instructions when such conditionsconflict with the conditions set forth in this policy statement.   
13. In the event of nonpayment, Publisher reserves the right to hold advertiserand/or its advertising agency liable for such monies as are due and payable to Publisher.   
14. Any use of Publication trademarks or copyrighted material for links to andfrom the website must be approved, inadvance, by the Publisher.   Any such unauthorized linking is prohibited.   
15. Recruitment ads: All advertisements for employment must benondiscriminatory and comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Ads thatdiscriminate against applicants based on sex, age, race, religion, maritalstatus, or physical handicap will not be accepted. Non-US recruitment advertisers are required to confirm in writing that they are equal opportunity employers.   
16. Advertised products must be compliant with the regulations in the country where the advertisement will be seen.   
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