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Ethical Policy

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JACS adheres completely to the ethical guidelines and best practices published by professional organizations, including Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Journals (http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines) from ICMJE and Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA: http://doaj.org/bestpractice).

1. Research Ethics

All manuscripts should be prepared under strict observation of research and publication ethics guidelines recommended by the Council of Science Editors (http://www.councilscienceeditors.org), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, http://www.icmje.org), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME, http://www.wame.org). Any study including human subjects or human data must be reviewed and approved by a responsible institutional review board (IRB). For further information on investigations involving human material, please refer to the principles in the Declaration of Helsinki (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects).

2. Authorship

Authorship credit must be based on the ICMJE, 2013 (http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf). Author credit should be based on (1) substantial contributions to the conception and design, or acquisition, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) 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. All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged. These authorship criteria are intended to preserve the status of authorship for those who deserve credit and can take responsibility for the work.

Group authorship should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship and should complete an authorship form. The corresponding author should clearly indicate the citation and identify all individual authors as well as the group name.

3. Redundant Publication and Plagiarism

Redundant (or duplicate) publication is publication of a paper that overlaps substantially with one already published in print or electronic media.

If all or part of the subject population has been reported previously, it should be declared in the Materials and Methods and must be appropriately referenced. This requirement applies to text, figures, and tables. In cases where authors are concerned with any potential overlap with published manuscripts or manuscripts being reviewed, the authors must include a letter explaining how the manuscript submitted to JACS significantly differs from other materials. For more information, please refer to ‘Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication’ (Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3142758).

4. Conflicts of Interest

Any potential conflict of interest that could influence the authors’ interpretation of the data, such as financial support from or connections to companies, political pressure from interest groups, or academically related issues, must be stated.

Conflict of interest statements will be published at the end of the text of the article, before the ‘References’ section. Please consult the COPE guidelines (http://www.publicationethics.org) on conflict of interest. Even when there is no conflict of interest, it should also be stated.

5. Human and Animal Rights

Animal experiments should also be reviewed by an appropriate committee (IACUC: Institutional Animal Care and use Committee) for the care and the use of animals. Studies involving pathogens requiring a high degree of biosafety should pass review of a relevant committee (IBC: Institutional Biosafety Committee). The editor of JACS may request submission of copies of informed consents from human subjects in all studies or IRB approval documents. Articles where human subjects can be identified in descriptions, photographs or pedigrees must be accompanied by a signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) the descriptions, photographs and pedigrees from each subject who can be identified. Articles covering the use of human samples in research and human experiments must be approved by the relevant review committee. Articles covering the use of animals in experiments must be approved by the relevant authorities.

6. Role of the Funding Source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated.

7. Policy on Ethical Oversight

When the Journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as falsification of data, plagiarism, improprieties of authorship, misappropriation of the ideas of others, violation of generally accepted research practices, material failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements affection research, inappropriate behavior in relation to misconduct, the resolving process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The Editorial Board will discuss the suspected cases and reach a decision. We will not hesitate to publish errata, corrigenda, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.

World Association of Medical Editors gives a definition of scientific misconduct and useful overview of the following issues:

Falsification of data

This ranges from fabrication, the deceptive reporting of findings, and the omission of conflicting data to willful suppression and/or distortion of data.

Plagiarism

The appropriation of the language, ideas, or thoughts of another without crediting their true source—representing them as one’s own original work.

Improprieties of authorship

The improper assignment of credit, for example, by excluding others, presenting the same material in more than one publication, including individuals as authors who have not made a definite contribution to the work, and publishing or submitting multi-authored publications without the concurrence of all authors.

Misappropriation of the ideas of others

An important aspect of scholarly activity is the exchange of ideas among colleagues. Scholars can acquire novel ideas from others during the process of reviewing grant applications and manuscripts. However, the improper use of such information can constitute fraud. The wholesale appropriation of such material constitutes misconduct.

Violation of generally accepted research practices

This category includes serious deviation from accepted practices in proposing or carrying out research, the improper manipulation of experiments to obtain biased results, deceptive statistical or analytical manipulations, and the improper reporting of results.

Material failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements affecting research

This includes but is not limited to serious or substantial, repeated, and willful violations of local regulations and laws involving the use of funds, care of animals, human subjects, investigational drugs, recombinant products, new devices, or radioactive, biological, or chemical materials.

Inappropriate behavior in relation to misconduct

This includes unfounded or knowingly false accusations of misconduct, the failure to report known or suspected misconduct, the withholding of information relevant to a claim, and any kind of misconduct or retaliation against persons involved in an allegation or investigation.

8. Complaints and Appeal

How the journal will handle complaints and appeals; The policy of the journal is primarily aimed at protecting the authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher of the journal. If not described below, the process of handling complaints and appeals follows the guidelines of the Committee of Publication Ethics available from https://publicationethics.org/appeals.

Who is responsible to resolve and handle complaints and appeals?

The Editor, Editorial Board, or Editorial Office is responsible for them.

What may be the consequence of remedy?

It depends on the type or degree of misconduct. The consequence of resolution will follow the guidelines of the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE).

9. Secondary Publication

It is possible to republish manuscripts if the manuscripts satisfy the conditions of secondary publication of the ICMJE Recommendations (http://www.icmje.org/urm_main.html).

10. Copyright

JACS applies the Creative Commons Attribution license to works it publishes. Under this license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), although publisher retains ownership of the copyright for content, it allows anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy the content.

11. Research Reporting Guideline

JACS requires that manuscripts adhere to recognized reporting guidelines relevant to the research design used and requires author(s) to submit a checklist verifying that essential elements have been reported for all primary researches and systematic reviews.
Reporting guidelines endorsed by the journal are listed below:

• Observational cohort, case control and cross sectional studies
- STROBE - Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology
- MOOSE - Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology

• Qualitative studies
- COREQ - Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research
- SRQR - Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research

• Quasi-experimental/ non-randomized trials
- TREND - Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Non-randomized Designs

• Randomized (and quasi randomized) controlled trials
- CONSORT - Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials

• Study of diagnostic accuracy/assessment scale
- STARD - Standards for the Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies

• Systematic review and meta-analysis
- PRISMA - Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
- MOOSE - Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology

• Quality improvement studies
- SQUIRE - Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence


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