Ethical Considerations

Authorship

All persons designated as "authors" should meet the criteria for authorship. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take responsibility for its content. Authorship credit should be based on:

1. substantial contribution to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. drafting the article or reviewing and introducing fundamental changes;
3. final approval of the version to be published.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship. All contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be listed in the "Acknowledgements" section.

Conflict of Interests

A conflict of interest exists when one of the participants in the review or publication process — author, reviewer, or editor — has obligations that could influence their actions. Financial relationships (employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria) are the most identifiable conflicts, but conflicts may also arise from personal relationships, academic competition, or intellectual passion.

All participants in the peer-review and publication process must disclose all conflicts of interests.

Patients' Rights and Confidentiality

Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information should not be published without written informed consent of the patient (or parent/guardian).

Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research

When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether procedures followed the ethical standards of the responsible committee and the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (revised 2000). When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors should ensure they have written entirely original works. If authors have used the work or words of others, this must be appropriately cited or quoted.

Redundant Publications

The editorial staff will not consider manuscripts simultaneously under consideration by other journals, or papers that have already been reported in large part in a published article.