Journal Ethics and Permissions

Medical Journal of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (MJ) adheres to the "ethical standards for publication" to ensure research ethics upon the "high-quality scientific publications", which grants the public trust for the scientific findings as the proof-of-concept and the proof-of-transformative technology. Authors should declare that they have already obtained informed patient consent for any clinical research. It follows Helsinki Declarations.

Ethics and consent

Ethics approval

The journals published by TUOMS PRESS follow the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and adhere to its Best Practice Guidelines.

Every submission reporting a research must include a statement to verify that ethics approval was sought for the study (or a statement that it was not required and why), including the name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s), the reference number/ID of the approval(s), and a statement that participants gave informed consent before participating. Even when a study has been approved by a research ethics committee or institutional review board, editors may ask authors for more detailed information about the ethics of the work. Also, research involving human subjects, human tissue, or human data must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee. Submissions may be declined if the journals' editors come to conclusion that a research has not been carried out within an appropriate ethical framework. The editors may also contact the institutions' ethics committee for further information in certain cases.

Allegations of publication misconduct, both before and after publication will be carefully inspected and we reserve the right to contact authors' institutions, funders, or regulatory bodies if necessary. If a conclusive evidence of misconduct is noticed, proper steps will be taken to correct the scientific record, which may include supplying a correction or retraction.

Authors are assumed that they are aware of publication ethics, specifically with regard to authorship, dual submission, plagiarism, figure manipulation, competing interests and compliance with standards of research ethics. In cases of suspected misconduct, COPE standards and practices will be followed and advice from the COPE forum will be ascertained.

Retrospective ethics approval

If a study has not been granted ethics committee approval prior to commencing, retrospective ethics approval usually cannot be obtained and it may not be possible to consider the submission for peer review. The decision on whether to proceed to peer review in such cases is at the discretion of the journals' editors.

Patient consent and confidentiality

Any item submitted to TUOMS PRESS journals, containing personal medical information about an identifiable living individual, requires patient's explicit consent before it can be published. Consequently, all studied patients are required to sign an informed consent form after reading the related information sheet.

If consent cannot be obtained because the patient cannot be traced in a study, then publication will be possible only if the information can be sufficiently anonymized. Anonymization means that neither the person nor anyone else could identify the individual with certainty.

If the patient is dead the authors should seek permission from a relative (as a matter of courtesy and medical ethics). If the relatives are not contactable, the journals will balance the worthwhileness of the case, the likelihood of identification, and the likelihood of offence in decision to publish a submitted paper.

Images—such as x-rays, laparoscopic images, ultrasound images, pathology slides, or images of undistinctive parts of the body—may be used without consent so long as they are anonymized by the removal of any identifying marks and are not accompanied by text that could reveal the patients' identity.

Research involving vulnerable participants

Research involving vulnerable participants Authors must identify vulnerable participants (e.g., children, prisoners, individuals with cognitive disabilities, older adults, ...) in their submissions. Obtaining informed consent from participants is mandatory, ensuring they are fully informed about the study's purpose, nature, risks, and their right to withdraw at any time. Studies involving vulnerable populations must be approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethics Committee before commencement. Confidentiality and secure handling of sensitive data must be ensured. Recruitment guidelines must demonstrate that participation is voluntary and free from coercion. Researchers are required to outline measures for identifying and mitigating potential risks and for ongoing monitoring of participants during the study. Reporting should prioritize the protection of participants' identities and comply with international ethical guidelines and regulations for research involving vulnerable populations.

Research involving animals

Experimental research on vertebrates or any regulated invertebrates must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines, and where available should have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee. The Basel Declaration outlines fundamental principles to adhere when conducting research on animals and the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) has also published ethical guidelines in this regard.

For experimental studies involving client-owned animals, authors must also document informed consent from the client or owner and adherence to a high standard (best practice) of veterinary care.

Plagiarism, Duplicated Publication, Data Fabrication and Falsification

Medical Journal of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences is committed to publish the original studies and recent reviews that have not already been submitted to other journals and is not under review elsewhere. All submitted manuscripts to the journal are scrutinized for plagiarism. The plagiarized materials will incur the "Plagiarism Sanctions". Such cases as redundant publication, translation to other languages and other journals without permission are subjected to research misconduct. Submitted manuscripts, which are found to be published or under review elsewhere, will be sustained and experience the "Duplicated Publication Sanctions". Submitted manuscripts, which are found to include either fabricated or falsified data including the manipulation of images, will confront with the "Data Fabrication/Falsification Sanctions". (Plagiarism Policy)

Redundant Publications

All the redundant publications, which are involved in an inappropriate dividing of study outcomes into several articles, will face with the "Redundant Publication Sanctions".

Citation Manipulation

All the submitted manuscripts found to have manipulated citations primarily for just increasing the number of citations to a given author(s) or article(s) will incur the "Citation Manipulation Sanctions".

Gift Authorship

All listed authors are required to have significant scientific contributions to the research of the submitted manuscript and approve the claimed findings. Gift Authorship, an author without any significant scientific contribution, will meet with the "Gift Authorship Sanctions". According to the ICMJE, the authorship should be based on the following criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content
• Final approval of the version published
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved

Retraction

Based on the COPE guidelines, the journal will consider retracting a publication if:

• It has clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g. data fabrication) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error).
• The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication).
• It constitutes plagiarism.
• It reports unethical research.

Sanctions

In the case of any aforementioned violations occur, it is the journal's right to apply the following sanctions:

• Medical Journal of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences keeps all the rights to retract the infringing published works at any time found based on the COPE guideline for retracting articles.
• Immediate rejection of the infringing manuscript and sanction of the infringed author(s).
• Prohibition against all the authors for any new submissions to the journal for a minimum of 24 months.
• Prohibition against all the infringed authors from serving as a reviewer of acting as a member of the Editorial Board of Medical Journal of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences for a minimum of 36 months.
• In cases of violations found to be particularly ostensible, the journal reserves the right to apply additional sanctions beyond the aforementioned actions.

Academic dishonesty

• Suspected redundancy or duplication
• Suspected plagiarism
• Suspected fabrication and falsification

Authorship

• Request for addition of extra author or after publication
• Request for removal of author before publication
• Request for removal of author Suspected as guest, ghost or gift authorship
• Request for being advised on how to spot authorship problems

Competing Interests

• If the reviewer suspects undisclosed conflict of interest in a submitted manuscript
• If the reader suspects undisclosed conflict of interest in a published article

Other considerations

• If we suspect an ethical problem with a submitted manuscript
• If we suspect a reviewer has appropriated an author's idea or data
• How COPE handles complaints against editors

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