Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
Table of contents
- Ethical Standards
- Ethics Approval
- Consent to Participate
- Data Publication Consent
- Clinical Trial Registration
- New Clinical Tools and Procedures
- Research Involving Human Embryos, Gametes, and Stem Cells
- Research Involving Animals
- Plant Research Ethics
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Research Ethics
- Systematic Review Registration
- Availability of Data and Materials
- Conflict of Interest
- Author Contributions
- Changes to Authorship
- Withdrawal of Manuscripts
- Contributorship Statement
- Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
- Retraction Policy
- Corrections
Ethical Standards
The Journal of Current Biomedical Reports (JCBioR) is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and integrity. The journal adheres to the principles and best practices outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). These guidelines inform our editorial decisions and provide a framework for addressing ethical issues at all stages of the publication process, including authorship, peer review, data management, and the handling of allegations of misconduct. The journal applies these standards whenever necessary to ensure the accuracy, transparency, and integrity of the scholarly record.
Ethics Approval
All studies involving human participants, human specimens, or personal data must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki and receive prior approval from a recognized ethics committee. Manuscripts must clearly state this approval, including the committee’s name and, where applicable, the reference number. If ethics approval was not required, the manuscript should explicitly note the exemption and identify the committee granting it. Authors must be prepared to provide supporting documentation upon the Editor’s request. If ethics committee approval was not obtained before the study began, it is generally not possible to secure it retrospectively, and the manuscript may therefore be ineligible for peer review. In such cases, the decision to proceed with peer review rests solely with the Editor.
Consent to Participate
Identifiable details, images, or videos require written consent from the individual (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 18) permitting publication under the relevant Creative Commons license. If the person has died, consent for publication must be obtained from their next of kin. Consent forms must state that materials will be publicly available online. Non-identifiable images may not require consent; final determination rests with the Editor.
Data Publication Consent
Authors must confirm that all data included in the manuscript are published with the explicit consent of relevant parties and in compliance with applicable ethical, legal, and institutional requirements.
Clinical Trial Registration
For manuscripts reporting randomized controlled trials, authors must adhere to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guidelines to ensure transparency, accuracy, and completeness of reporting. All clinical trials must be prospectively registered in a publicly accessible registry listed by the ICMJE or WHO (e.g., ISRCTN, IRCT). The trial registration number (TRN) and date must appear at the end of the abstract. Retrospectively registered trials must also include the phrase “retrospectively registered.” Published trial protocols should be cited.
New Clinical Tools and Procedures
When reporting the use of a new procedure or tool in a clinical setting such as a technical innovation or a case report authors must clearly explain in the manuscript why this approach was considered more suitable than standard clinical practice for addressing the patient’s needs. This explanation is not necessary if the procedure or tool is already approved for clinical use within the authors’ institution. For any experimental use of a novel procedure or tool without an evident clinical advantage prior to treatment, authors are required to obtain ethics committee approval and informed patient consent.
Research Involving Human Embryos, Gametes, and Stem Cells
Manuscripts describing experiments involving human embryos, gametes, human embryonic stem cells, related materials, or clinical applications of stem cells must confirm that all work was conducted in compliance with applicable guidelines and regulations. An ethics statement should be included, specifying the institutional and/or national research ethics committee (including its name) that approved the study, along with relevant details. Where applicable, authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained from all donors and/or recipients of cells or tissues and outline the conditions under which materials such as human embryos or gametes were donated for research. The Editor may request copies of ethics approvals and redacted consent forms.
Research Involving Animals
Research involving vertebrates or regulated invertebrates must follow relevant institutional, national, or international guidelines, and, where applicable, obtain approval from a recognized ethics committee. The International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) provides ethical guidance in this area.
Manuscripts must include a statement confirming compliance with applicable regulations and/or details of ethics approval, specifying the ethics committee’s name and, where relevant, the approval reference number. If ethics approval was deemed unnecessary, the manuscript should state the granting committee, the exemption, and the reasons. The Editor may reject submissions involving procedures that conflict with widely accepted animal research norms and, in some cases, may contact the ethics committee for clarification.
Studies using anesthesia or euthanasia methods outside accepted veterinary best practice such as chloral hydrate, ether, or chloroform will not be considered, regardless of ethics committee approval or prior publication. Authors are encouraged to follow the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals (2020) for best practices. Client-owned animal studies require documented owner consent and confirm adherence to high veterinary care standards. Field studies and other non-experimental animal research must also meet relevant institutional, national, or international requirements, with ethics approval or necessary licenses documented in the manuscript. Authors are advised to follow IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Plant Research Ethics
All experimental and field studies involving plants (cultivated or wild) must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international laws and guidelines, including regulations on plant material collection. Manuscripts must state the required permits/licences for specimen or seed collection and authors are encouraged to follow IUCN and CITES recommendations. Voucher specimens of all wild plants should be deposited in an accessible public herbarium or collection, with identification details provided.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Research Ethics
CAM studies must meet the same ethical and scientific standards as conventional medical research. Clinical trials must comply with relevant regulations (e.g., Declaration of Helsinki), use appropriate controls, blinding, randomization, and sufficient statistical power. Comparisons only between CAM treatments are insufficient; combination therapies must include placebo controls. Human or animal studies require prior peer-reviewed, objective evidence of therapeutic potential.
Informed Consent for Publication
Identifiable details, images, or videos require written consent from the individual (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 18) permitting publication under the relevant Creative Commons license. If the person has died, consent for publication must be obtained from their next of kin. Consent forms must state that materials will be publicly available online. Non-identifiable images may not require consent; final determination rests with the Editor.
Systematic Review Registration
JCBioR encourages but not mandate authors to prospectively register their systematic reviews design in an appropriate registry (e.g., PROSPERO) or approval from a recognized ethics committee. If registered, the registration number should be provided at the final version of manuscript.
Availability of Data and Materials
Manuscript submission to JCBioR requires that all materials described, including relevant raw data, be made freely available for non-commercial use without compromising participant confidentiality. Authors should deposit datasets in publicly accessible repositories, where available and appropriate, or provide them in the manuscript or supplementary files in a machine-readable format. The Editor may request data in response to reasonable reader inquiries or for editorial assessment.
Conflict of Interest
JCBioR requires authors to disclose all financial and non-financial competing interests relevant to their work based on ICMJE recommendations. All manuscripts must include a “Conflict of interest” section at the end, listing any such interests. If none exist, authors should state: “The author(s) declare(s) that they have no conflict of interest”. Editors and reviewers must also declare any conflict of interest and may be recused from the peer review process if a conflict exists.
Author Contributions
Authorship confers credit for a published work and carries accountability for its integrity. It should be based on substantial scholarly contribution and responsibility.
- Authorship criteria
To qualify as an author, based on ICMJE recommendations each individual must meet all four of 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 to be published;
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Authors should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific parts of the work and should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.
- Non-Author contributors
Individuals who contribute to the work but do not meet all four authorship criteria should not be listed as authors but acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section.
- Corresponding Author
The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal during the submission, peer review, and publication process. They are responsible for ensuring that all journal administrative requirements such as ethics approval, conflict of interest disclosures, and data availability are properly completed, and for responding to inquiries after publication.
Changes to Authorship
This journal does not ordinarily permit changes to the list or order of authors after a manuscript has been submitted. Authors should ensure that the author list and its order are agreed upon and finalized prior to the initial submission. All authorship change requests must be formally submitted by the corresponding author through the official contact. Consideration of such requests may temporarily suspend the publication process. If the manuscript has already been published, any approved changes will be issued as an Erratum. Unauthorized changes to authorship may lead to rejection of the manuscript, or retraction if already published.
Withdrawal of Manuscripts
Authors may request withdrawal of their manuscript before it has been formally accepted for publication. A written request must be submitted by the corresponding author, stating the reason for withdrawal. The journal reserves the right to decline withdrawal requests if peer review or editorial assessment is substantially complete.
If a manuscript is withdrawn after acceptance, it will be recorded in the journal’s submission system as “Withdrawn by Authors”.
Contributorship Statement
A contributorship statement is required for every submitted manuscript and must clearly specify the role of each author in the planning, execution, and reporting of the study. All listed authors must meet the authorship criteria as defined by ICMJE, which require 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 to be published; and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Authors should provide their contributions in the submission system and within the manuscript under a separate heading titled “Authors’ Contributions”.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
Our journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, originality, and transparency in scholarly publishing. With the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in research and writing, we provide the following guidelines to ensure ethical and responsible practices. These guidelines are based on the principles of COPE and the recommendations of the ICMJE.
- Authorship and Accountability
- AI cannot be an author: Generative AI tools and large language models (LLMs) cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of any submitted manuscript. Authorship implies responsibility and accountability for the work, which AI tools cannot fulfill. Human authors are solely responsible for the entire content of their submitted work, including any part generated or assisted by AI.
- Human oversight and control: Any use of AI tools must be under direct human oversight and control. Authors are ultimately responsible for the accuracy, validity, and originality of their work. They must carefully review and edit any AI-generated output to ensure it is correct, complete, unbiased, and adheres to all ethical standards.
- Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that the content generated or improved by AI tools does not infringe on existing copyrights or constitute plagiarism. All sources, whether human or AI-generated, must be properly cited and attributed where appropriate.
- Permitted Uses of AI and AI-Assisted Technologies
Authors are permitted to use generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process before submission, but only to:
- Improve language and readability: This includes grammar checks, spelling corrections, stylistic improvements, and enhancing the clarity of the text.
- Refine phrasing and sentence structure: AI tools can assist in rephrasing sentences for conciseness or better flow.
- Prohibited Uses of AI and AI-Assisted Technologies
The following uses of AI and AI-assisted technologies are not permitted unless explicitly stated as part of the research design (see Section 4):
- Generation of scientific insights, conclusions, or critical analysis: AI tools should not be used to replace core authoring tasks such as forming scientific arguments, drawing conclusions, or providing expert interpretations.
- Creation or alteration of figures, images, and artwork: Generative AI or AI-assisted tools are generally not permitted to create or significantly alter images, figures, or artwork within submitted manuscripts. Minor adjustments to brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if they do not obscure or eliminate any original information.
- Creation of graphical abstracts or cover art: The use of generative AI in the production of artwork for graphical abstracts or journal covers is not permitted, unless prior permission is obtained from the journal editor and publisher, and all necessary rights are cleared with correct content attribution.
- Disclosure of AI Tool Usage
Transparency is paramount. Authors must clearly and explicitly disclose the use of any AI and AI-assisted technologies in their manuscript.
Location of disclosure:
- For uses in the writing process, a dedicated section in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript is required.
- If AI or AI-assisted tools were an integral part of the research design or methodology (e.g., AI-assisted imaging for data generation or interpretation), such use must be described in detail within the Methods section of the manuscript.
Content of disclosure: The disclosure statement must include:
- The name of the AI tool(s) used (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly, Mendeley, etc.).
- The version number of the tool(s) if applicable.
- A clear and specific description of how and for what purpose the AI tool(s) were used (e.g., "AI tool X was used for grammar and spell-checking," or "Generative AI model Y was employed to summarize background literature, with human oversight and verification of all generated content.").
- For AI used in methodology, describe the model/tool, version, extension numbers, and manufacturer, ensuring reproducibility.
Responsibility for accuracy: Regardless of AI assistance, authors are fully responsible for the accuracy and integrity of all information presented in the manuscript, including any output generated by AI tools. Any false, inaccurate, or fabricated information, including references, will be considered academic misconduct.
- Data Privacy and Confidentiality
- Authors must be aware of the data privacy and confidentiality implications of using AI tools. Do not upload confidential or unpublished research data, sensitive information, or personally identifiable information into generative AI platforms, as this may violate privacy rights and compromise intellectual property.
- Authors should familiarize themselves with the terms of use and data policies of any AI tool they employ.
- Ethical Considerations
- Authors are expected to adhere to all ethical guidelines for research and publishing, including those related to plagiarism, data fabrication, and conflicts of interest. The use of AI tools does not absolve authors of these responsibilities.
- The journal reserves the right to request pre-AI-adjusted versions of images and/or the composite raw images used to create the final submitted versions for editorial assessment, especially if the use of AI in image generation is suspected or disclosed.
- Reviewer Guidelines (for reference)
- Reviewers are strictly prohibited from uploading submitted manuscripts or any part of them into generative AI tools. This may violate the authors' confidentiality and proprietary rights, and where the paper contains personally identifiable information, may breach data privacy rights.
- Reviewers should not use generative AI or AI-assisted technologies to assist in the scientific review of a paper, as critical thinking and original assessment are essential for peer review.
- Reviewers may use AI tools to improve the readability, language, or formatting of their own review reports, but with careful oversight and human review.
Important Note: These guidelines will be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect the evolving landscape of AI technologies and their applications in scholarly publishing. Authors are encouraged to consult the latest version of these guidelines before submission.
Retraction Policy
JCBioR is committed to upholding the integrity of the scholarly record. Retractions are considered in accordance with COPE guidelines when significant issues are identified in published articles.
An article may be retracted if:
- There is clear evidence of misconduct, such as data fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism.
- The findings have been previously published elsewhere without proper citation, permission, or justification (redundant publication).
- There is serious error that invalidates the results or conclusions.
- The work reports unethical research, such as lack of ethical approval or participant consent.
- There is evidence of authorship manipulation or compromised peer review.
Retraction Process:
Retractions are initiated by authors, editors, or the publisher.
The retraction notice will be clearly linked to the retracted article (online and in metadata).
The original article will remain accessible but will be clearly marked as retracted to maintain the scholarly record.
The retraction notice will explain the reason for retraction and who is retracting the article (authors or editors).
All retraction notices are freely available and indexed.
JCBioR does not tolerate unethical publishing practices and will investigate all cases thoroughly, ensuring fair and transparent handling.
Corrections
The JCBioR is committed to upholding the integrity, accuracy, and ethical standards of the scholarly record. We recognize that errors or ethical concerns may occasionally arise after publication. In such cases, the journal follows the recommendations of COPE. Errors may be reported by authors, readers, or editors. After editorial review, a correction notice will be published promptly, clearly linked to the original article, assigned a DOI, and freely accessible. The notice will describe the nature of the error and the changes made, ensuring transparency.
Types of corrections:
Erratum: For production or typographical errors introduced by the journal that do not affect the validity of the work.
Corrigendum: For author-identified errors (e.g., in data, analysis, or interpretation) that may influence understanding but do not invalidate the main conclusions.
