Research Ethics Policy

SOUTH ARAL SEA MEDICAL JOURNAL is committed to maintaining the highest standards of research integrity, publication ethics, transparency, and protection of human and animal research participants.

The journal requires all research submitted for publication to comply with applicable institutional, national, and international ethical standards. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research has been conducted ethically and that all required approvals, permissions, and informed consents have been obtained before submission.

1. Conflict of Interest Policy

A conflict of interest may exist when an author’s, reviewer’s, editor’s, or Editorial Board member’s financial, professional, academic, institutional, personal, or other relationships could influence, or could reasonably be perceived to influence, their judgment regarding a manuscript.

All participants in the publication process must disclose relevant conflicts of interest.

Authors

All authors must disclose any relationships, activities, or interests that may be relevant to the submitted work.

Potential conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to:

  • employment or consultancy relationships;

  • research grants and other financial support;

  • honoraria;

  • speaker fees;

  • advisory board membership;

  • patents or patent applications;

  • ownership of stocks or shares;

  • paid expert testimony;

  • commercial relationships;

  • institutional relationships;

  • personal or professional relationships;

  • academic competition;

  • other financial or non-financial interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation.

Authors must include a Conflict of Interest Statement in the manuscript.

If no conflicts of interest exist, authors should state:

“The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.”

Disclosure of a conflict of interest does not automatically prevent publication. The purpose of disclosure is to ensure transparency and allow editors, reviewers, and readers to assess any potential influence appropriately.

Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest may constitute a breach of publication ethics.

2. Funding Disclosure

Authors must disclose all sources of financial and material support related to the research.

The funding statement should identify, where applicable:

  • the funding organization;

  • grant number;

  • recipient of the funding;

  • role of the funder in study design;

  • data collection;

  • data analysis and interpretation;

  • preparation of the manuscript;

  • decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

If the funder had no role in these activities, this should be stated.

If the study received no specific funding, authors may state:

“This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.”

3. Conflicts of Interest of Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any relationships or interests that could interfere with their ability to provide an objective and impartial assessment.

Reviewers should decline to review a manuscript if they:

  • have a close personal or professional relationship with an author;

  • have recently collaborated with an author;

  • work at the same institution as an author where this could compromise independence;

  • have a direct academic or commercial competition with the authors;

  • have financial interests related to the subject of the manuscript;

  • participated substantially in the research under review;

  • have any other relationship that may reasonably affect their impartiality.

The editorial office may replace a reviewer if a relevant conflict of interest is identified.

4. Conflicts of Interest of Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors and Editorial Board members must not participate in the editorial evaluation of manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest.

When an Editor-in-Chief, editor, Editorial Board member, or member of journal staff submits a manuscript to the journal, that manuscript must be handled by another qualified editor who has no relevant conflict of interest.

The submitting editor or Editorial Board member must not participate in:

  • selection of reviewers;

  • communication with reviewers concerning the editorial decision;

  • assessment of reviewer reports;

  • editorial discussion;

  • the final decision regarding publication.

The same scientific, ethical, and peer-review standards apply to manuscripts submitted by members of the journal’s editorial team as to all other submissions.

5. Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants, identifiable human data, human biological materials, or medical records must be conducted in accordance with internationally recognized ethical principles and applicable institutional and national regulations.

Authors must confirm that the research protocol was reviewed and approved by an appropriate Institutional Review Board, Research Ethics Committee, or equivalent independent ethics body before the study commenced whenever such approval was required.

The manuscript must include an ethics statement identifying:

  • the name of the approving ethics committee or institutional review board;

  • the institution responsible for the approval;

  • the approval, protocol, or reference number, where available;

  • confirmation that the research was conducted according to applicable ethical standards.

The journal expects research involving human participants to be consistent with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and other applicable international and national standards.

6. Studies Exempt from Formal Ethics Approval

If formal ethics committee approval was not required for a particular study under applicable institutional or national regulations, authors must clearly state this in the manuscript.

Where applicable, authors should provide:

  • the name of the institution or ethics body that determined the study was exempt;

  • the reason for exemption;

  • an exemption or reference number, if available.

Authors must not simply state that “ethical approval was not required” without an appropriate explanation when the research would normally involve ethical oversight.

The journal reserves the right to request documentation confirming an exemption.

7. Informed Consent to Participate

For research involving human participants, authors must obtain freely given and appropriately documented informed consent from participants before participation whenever required by applicable ethical standards and regulations.

The manuscript must include an Informed Consent Statement.

An appropriate statement may read:

“Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before their inclusion in the study.”

For participants who cannot legally provide consent, informed consent must be obtained from an authorized parent, guardian, or legally authorized representative, as applicable.

When appropriate, assent should also be obtained from children or other participants who are capable of providing it.

Participation in research must be voluntary. Participants must not be subjected to inappropriate pressure or coercion.

8. Waiver of Informed Consent

In certain circumstances, an ethics committee or institutional review board may formally waive the requirement for informed consent.

If informed consent was waived, the manuscript must state:

  • that the requirement for informed consent was waived;

  • the name of the ethics committee or institutional review board granting the waiver;

  • the reason for the waiver;

  • the relevant approval or reference number, where applicable.

Authors may be required to provide documentary evidence of the waiver upon request by the journal.

9. Patient Privacy and Consent for Publication

Patients have a right to privacy and confidentiality.

Authors must not publish identifiable personal information, including names, initials, hospital identification numbers, photographs, pedigrees, or other identifying details, unless the information is essential to the scientific report and appropriate consent for publication has been obtained.

When a manuscript contains information or images from which an individual could reasonably be identified, the authors must obtain explicit consent for publication from that individual or, where appropriate, their legally authorized representative.

Consent to participate in research and consent to publish identifiable information are not necessarily the same. Authors must ensure that appropriate consent for publication has been obtained where required.

Removing a patient’s name alone may not provide adequate anonymization if other information could enable identification.

10. Case Reports and Case Series

Case reports and case series that include identifiable or potentially identifiable patient information require appropriate consent for publication.

Authors should include a statement such as:

“Written informed consent for publication of this case report and any accompanying images was obtained from the patient.”

Where consent is provided by a parent, guardian, or legally authorized representative, this should be stated.

The journal may request evidence that appropriate consent for publication was obtained.

11. Research Involving Vulnerable Populations

Research involving vulnerable participants requires particular ethical consideration.

Such populations may include:

  • children and adolescents;

  • individuals with impaired decision-making capacity;

  • institutionalized individuals;

  • economically or socially disadvantaged populations;

  • patients in dependent relationships;

  • other populations who may have limited ability to provide fully voluntary consent.

Authors must demonstrate that appropriate safeguards were used to protect the rights, safety, dignity, and welfare of vulnerable participants.

The reason for including a vulnerable population should be scientifically and ethically justified.

12. Confidentiality of Health and Personal Data

Authors are responsible for protecting confidential and personally identifiable information.

Research involving patient records, electronic health records, registries, databases, biological samples, or other sensitive information must comply with applicable data protection, confidentiality, institutional, and ethical requirements.

Personal data should be anonymized, de-identified, or otherwise appropriately protected whenever possible.

Authors must not submit confidential information to the journal when publication of that information is not ethically or legally permitted.

13. Research Involving Human Biological Materials

Research involving human tissues, cells, blood, genetic material, biobank samples, or other human biological materials must comply with appropriate ethical and regulatory requirements.

Where required, authors must provide:

  • ethics committee approval;

  • appropriate informed consent;

  • information concerning the source of biological materials;

  • relevant permissions for use of archived or biobanked materials.

For secondary use of previously collected samples or data, authors must state whether ethics approval and informed consent were required, obtained, or formally waived.

14. Research Involving Animals

Research involving animals must be conducted according to applicable institutional, national, and internationally accepted standards for animal welfare and ethical research.

Animal experiments must receive approval from an appropriate institutional animal ethics committee, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, or equivalent body before the research begins whenever such approval is required.

The manuscript must state:

  • the name of the approving animal ethics committee or equivalent body;

  • the relevant institution;

  • approval, protocol, or licence number, where applicable;

  • the standards or regulations under which the research was conducted.

The journal supports the principles of the 3Rs:

  • Replacement — use alternatives to animals whenever scientifically appropriate;

  • Reduction — use the minimum number of animals necessary to achieve scientifically valid results;

  • Refinement — minimize pain, suffering, distress, and lasting harm.

15. Animal Welfare

Authors must demonstrate appropriate consideration of animal welfare throughout the study.

Manuscripts should provide sufficient information regarding, where relevant:

  • animal species, strain, sex, age, and source;

  • housing and husbandry conditions;

  • experimental procedures;

  • anesthesia and analgesia;

  • methods used to reduce pain and distress;

  • humane endpoints;

  • monitoring of adverse events;

  • method of euthanasia.

Studies involving unnecessary or unjustified animal suffering will not be considered for publication.

16. ARRIVE Guidelines

Manuscripts reporting in vivo animal experiments should follow the ARRIVE Guidelines 2.0 for transparent and complete reporting of animal research.

Authors should provide sufficient information to allow editors, reviewers, and readers to assess the methodological rigor, reproducibility, and ethical conduct of the animal study.

The journal may request completion of an ARRIVE checklist where appropriate.

17. Ethical Approval Documentation

The journal reserves the right to request supporting documentation concerning:

  • ethics committee approval;

  • institutional review board approval;

  • animal ethics approval;

  • informed consent;

  • consent for publication;

  • waiver of consent;

  • clinical trial registration;

  • relevant research permits or licences.

Failure to provide requested ethical documentation may result in rejection of the manuscript.

For published articles, serious concerns regarding ethical approval or consent may lead to investigation, correction, expression of concern, or retraction, as appropriate.

18. Ethical Concerns Identified During Review

Editors and reviewers should notify the editorial office if they identify concerns relating to:

  • participant safety;

  • lack of appropriate ethics approval;

  • absence of required informed consent;

  • inadequate animal welfare;

  • improper use of human biological materials;

  • inappropriate disclosure of confidential information;

  • undeclared conflicts of interest;

  • other potential violations of research ethics.

The editorial process may be suspended while such concerns are investigated.

19. Author Responsibility

Authors bear primary responsibility for ensuring that their research complies with all applicable ethical, institutional, legal, and regulatory requirements.

Approval of a manuscript for publication by SOUTH ARAL SEA MEDICAL JOURNAL does not transfer this responsibility from the authors to the journal, editors, reviewers, publisher, or sponsoring institution.

Submitting false, misleading, incomplete, or fabricated information concerning ethical approval, informed consent, conflicts of interest, or animal welfare constitutes a serious violation of publication ethics.

20. Compliance with International Standards

SOUTH ARAL SEA MEDICAL JOURNAL develops its policies with reference to internationally recognized standards and recommendations for biomedical publishing and research ethics, including relevant guidance from:

  • the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE);

  • the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE);

  • the Declaration of Helsinki;

  • the ARRIVE Guidelines for animal research;

  • applicable institutional, national, and international ethical and regulatory standards.

The journal may revise these policies periodically to reflect developments in research ethics, medical publishing, and international best practices.