Ethical Principles

Ethical Consideration for human and animal subjects:

1) If human subjects are used then they have to be registered with the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials website (www.irct.ir) or the related country and ethical committee of the research center or University where the study was carried out.

2) Research with human subjects should be conducted in full accordance with ethical principles, including the WMA Declaration of Helsinki-Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (2008) http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html

3) The submitted manuscripts must transparently state this in their methods and materials including a statement outlining whether the study has been independently reviewed and approved by an ethical board.

4) Moreover, where human subjects are used, informed consent explaining the nature of the procedure and possible discomforts and risks should be obtained from all patients who participated in the experimental investigation and subjects should be able to freely reject participation.

5) If animals are used, a statement protocol approval by the institutional animal care and use committee must be included. Methods section must clearly show that adequate measures were taken to minimize pain and/or distress, for example, the administration of local anesthetics or general anesthesia. Experiments should be carried out in accordance with the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) and in accordance with local laws and regulations governing within that country or with the guidelines laid down by the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the USA regarding the care and use of animals for experimental procedures.

 Authors

Authorship of the paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. Transparency about the contributions of authors is encouraged, for example in the form of a CRediT author statement.

  1. Publication and authorship:
  • The research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation.
  • Authors should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation.
  • Authors should strive to describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others.
  • Authors should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarized1, and has not been published elsewhere.
  • Authors should take collective responsibility for submitted and published work.
  • The authorship of research publications should accurately reflect individuals’ contributions to the work and its reporting.
  • Authors must list all references used in/for the article and should not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work.
  • Funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed.
  1. Author’s responsibility:
  • Only people who contributed significantly to the research and/or article can be listed as ‘author’. People who contributed in a lesser role must be acknowledged as ‘contributors’.
  • Authors are obliged to participate in the peer-review process and should follow the publisher’s requirements.
  • Authors should inform the editor if they wish to withdraw their work (just for ethical issues and compelling reasons) from publication process. If authors wish to withdraw after revision process, article publication fee payment is required due to waste of time waste of the editors, reviewers and the editorial staff.
  • Authors should respond to reviewers’ comments in a professional and timely manner.
  • Authors should use appropriate methods of data analysis and display and should state that all data in the article are real and authentic.
  • Authors should check their publications carefully at all stages to ensure methods and findings are reported accurately. Authors should carefully check calculations, data presentations, typescripts/submissions, and proofs.
  • Authors should respond appropriately to post-publication comments and published correspondence. They should attempt to answer correspondents’ questions and supply clarification or additional details where needed.
  • Authors should alert the editor promptly if they discover an error in any submitted, accepted, or published work. Authors should cooperate with editors in issuing corrections or retractions when required.
  • Authors should work with the editor or publisher to correct their work promptly if errors or omissions are discovered after publication.

Editorial Responsibilities

  • The editors are accountable and take responsibility for everything they publish and the editor-in-chief has the authority to reject or accept an article.
  • The editor/s will make fair and unbiased decisions and should not be involved in decisions about papers in which they have a conflict of interest whether they reject or accept the article.
  • The editor/s will guard the integrity of the published record by issuing corrections and retractions when needed and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct.
  • The Editors will protect reviewers’ identities. However, if reviewers wish to disclose their names, this will be permitted
  • The editor-in-chief will pursue reviewer and editorial misconduct.
  • The editors will critically assess the ethical conduct of studies in humans and animals and are responsible for the ethical standards of the journal.

 Publishing ethics issues

  • The editorial board will monitor and safeguard the publishing ethics of the journal
  • The guidelines for retracting articles are as follows: - Articles that are seriously unreliable will be retracted. Redundant articles (published in other journals) will be retracted. Minor errors or authorship changes will not lead to retraction but require a correction notice.

- Notices of retraction will clearly state the reason and the retracted article will be clearly marked in all electronic versions of the journal, and a retraction notice will be published in the print copy of the journal.

  • The journal will not compromise intellectual or ethical standards in favor of the business needs of the journal.
  • The editorial board will maintain the integrity of the academic record of the journal.
  • The editorial board will always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.
  • No plagiarism and no fraudulent data will be tolerated in this journal.

Editorial roles and responsibilities

Each Editorial Board member plays an important role to propel the journal's quality. Below is a brief description of Editor Roles and responsibilities.

  • The most prerequisite point is that the Editors should be actively involved in the journal activities and events.
  • The suggestion of novel ideas and providing guidance to implement them is one of the significant responsibilities.
  • Should help in planning journal activities and their timely implementation.
  • Should guide the journal to enhance the aim and scope.
  • Should participate in the peer-review process of articles sent from the Editorial office. In case of unavailability/ if the assigned article does not fall under the scope of research interest, the Editor can inform the same, so that the Editorial team searches for an alternative that speeds up the process without delays.
  • The Editor can also suggest any of his/ her colleagues active in the related field so that the Editorial office can approach them with the concerned reference.
  • If the Editor agrees to carry out the peer review process, it should be performed in detail and required modifications need to be suggested clearly.
  • The Editor should actively review the revised article and must let us know the decision to proceed with publication.
  • If an Editor rejects the article for publication, he/ she should elaborate on the reason for the same.
  • Editors are solely responsible to ensure the protection and confidentiality of the content.
  • Contribution on behalf of Editors is very crucial, which greatly enables the journal to release quality and timely issues
  • How to appeal an editorial decision

    If you wish to appeal a journal editor’s decision, please submit an appeal letter to the journal’s online editorial office. Please address this to the editor and explain clearly the basis for an appeal.

    You should:

    • Detail why you disagree with the decision. Please provide specific responses to any of the editor’s and/or reviewers’ comments that contributed to the reject decision.

    • Provide any new information or data that you would like the journal to take into consideration.

    • Provide evidence if you believe a reviewer has made technical errors in their assessment of your manuscript.

    • Include evidence if you believe a reviewer may have a conflict of interest.

    After receiving the appeal, chief editor may involve any editorial members who handled the peer review of the original submission depending on the nature of the appeal. Editor may confirm their decision to reject the manuscript, invite a revised manuscript, or seek additional peer- or statistical review of the original manuscript.

    Editors will consider one appeal per article and all decisions on appeals are final. The timely review and decision-making process for new submissions will take precedence over appeals.

     Transparency Statement on the Use of Artificial Intelligence

    In light of the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in academic writing, translation, data analysis, and editorial processes, our journal is committed to ensuring full transparency and ethical responsibility in the use of such technologies throughout the submission, peer review, and publication processes.

    To uphold the highest standards of academic integrity and align with the recommendations of the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), our journal has adopted the following principles regarding the use of AI:

    Transparent and Responsible Use: Authors are required to clearly disclose any use of AI tools—such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, DeepL, or others—at any stage of manuscript preparation (e.g., literature review, results description, discussion writing, language editing, or translation). This disclosure should appear in the acknowledgments section or a footnote on the title page.

    AI Tools Cannot Be Authors: According to the WAME guidelines, AI tools cannot be credited as authors of scientific manuscripts. These tools do not meet authorship criteria because they lack legal responsibility and the ability to consent to publication or accountability for the content.

    Human Oversight and Validation: All AI-generated content must be critically reviewed, edited, and validated by human authors. The final responsibility for the accuracy, coherence, and integrity of the manuscript lies solely with the human contributors.

    Use in Peer Review: Peer reviewers using AI tools to assist with manuscript evaluation must ensure they do not share confidential information with such tools. Any AI use during review must comply with confidentiality and data protection standards.

    Misuse and Ethical Violations: The inappropriate use of AI—such as generating fabricated content, falsifying data, or committing plagiarism—will be treated as a serious ethical violation and subject to disciplinary action in accordance with publication ethics.

    Policy Review and Updates: This policy will be reviewed regularly in response to evolving AI technologies and ethical considerations. Any updates will be published on the journal’s official website.

    Our journal is committed to transparency, integrity, and accountability in scientific publishing. We fully adhere to the WAME statement entitled “Recommendations on Chatbots and Generative Artificial Intelligence in Relation to Scholarly Publications.”

    For the complete text of WAME’s recommendations, please visit:
    https://wame.org/page3.php?id=106