Publication Ethics & Publication Malpractice Statement

PUBLICATION ETHICS AND PUBLICATION MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

AUTHORSHIP DISPUTES

Acknowledgments

This journal encourages acknowledgment of contributions to research work where authorship is not justified. The ICMJE guidelines state: ‘All others who contributed to the work who are not authors should be named in the Acknowledgments, and what they did should be described’. All those whose contribution is acknowledged should be aware of it. Acknowledgment should include technical help, data collection, and assistance in writing and departmental head that only provided general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.

Number and order of authors

The number of authors is not restricted, but it should not be disproportionally more than the work done. The order of authors should be based on the contribution to the work. Number and order should be mutually agreed by all authors.

Principal and corresponding authors

The one with most contribution should be principal/ first author. Principal author may himself be the corresponding author or he may designate another author for it with mutual consensus of all the authors.

Informed consent & maintaining the confidentiality of research participants

1. The authors must obtain appropriate consents, permissions and releases when they wish to include case details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in their work to take care of the Data Protection and Privacy Laws of the concerned country/region.

2. Each individual, or the individual's legal guardian or another person with legal authority to act on the individual's behalf who appears in any video, recording, photograph, image, illustration or case report (or in any other identifiable form) is made aware in advance of the fact that such photographs are being taken or such video, recording, photograph, image, illustration or report is being made, and of all the purposes for which they might be used, including disclosure in any work or product. That individual, legal guardian or person with legal authority must give his/her explicit written consent. If such consent is made subject to any conditions (for example, adopting measures to prevent personal identification of the person concerned), the journal must be made aware in writing of all such conditions. Written consents must be retained by the author and copies of the consents or evidence that such consents have been obtained must be provided to this journal on request.

3. The form of written consent must comply with each requirement of all applicable Data Protection and Privacy Laws. Particular care should be taken with obtaining consent where children are concerned (in particular where a child has special needs or learning disabilities), where an individual's head or face appears, or where reference is made to an individual's name or other personal details.

4. In the case of a child, if parents or guardians disagree on the use of the images of that child, then consent should be deemed not to have been given and those images should not be used. It is also important to ensure that only images of children in suitable dress are used to reduce the risk of images being used inappropriately.

5. Even if consent has been obtained, care must be taken to ensure that the portrayal and captioning of the individual concerned are respectful and could not be seen as denigrating that individual.
6. Authors have to satisfy the editors that “informed consent to participate” was sought from all adult subjects or from parents/guardians of the subjects less than 16 years age.

7. Patients’ and research subjects’ names, initials, hospital or social security numbers, date of birth or other personal or identifying information should not be used.

8. Images of patients or research subjects should not be used unless it is essential for scientific purposes and that the patient (or parent/ guardian) has given written, informed consent for publication. Even where consent has been given, identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. Editors may ask to provide the written consent.

9. Informed consent is necessary when there is any doubt regarding anonymity.

10. When masking the subjects, the authors should ensure the editors that scientific meaning is not distorted.

11. Formal consents are not required for the use of entirely anonymized images from which the individual cannot be identified, e.g. X-rays, ultrasound images, pathology slides, or laparoscopic images, provided that these do not contain any identifying marks and are not accompanied by text that might identify the individual concerned.

12. If consent has not been obtained, it is generally not sufficient to anonymize a photograph simply by using eye bars or blurring the face of the individual concerned.

13. Authors should follow the CARE guidelines for case reports.

Conflicts of interest/ Grant support and financial disclosure

1. All the authors have to disclose any conflict of interest and financial and personal relationships with other people, companies or organizations that may inappropriately influence (bias) their work.

2. Financial conflicts include, but not limited to employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patents or patent applications, and travel grants; all within three years of beginning the submitted work.

3. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state that.

4. Authors of study having some grant from some organization must sign a statement that they had full access to all the data in the study and take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data collected and the accuracy of the data analysis. This statement should be submitted along with the manuscript.

5. The reviewers are also bound to declare any conflicts with the work they are requested to review.

6. This journal publishes conflicts of interest/ grant support and financial disclosure along with all published items.