To ensure the highest standards of publication, the Journal of Clinical and Translational Research requests all members involved in the publishing process to follow the Guidelines on Good Publication Practice developed by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
JCTR is committed to upholding the values in each process of publication. If you would like to share any concerns regarding a published manuscript, our publishing policy, or request the publication history of any manuscript, please contact our editorial office.
JCTR does not tolerate any academic misconduct or ethical violation, including plagiarism, self-plagiarism, falsification and fabrication of data, withholding conflict of interest, improper reporting of or unapproved animal studies, authorship issues, and duplicate submission.
In cases of suspected misconduct or violation, JCTR will form a panel for investigation and reserve the right to reject or retract the manuscript in question based on clear evidence of misconduct/violation.
Plagiarism
The editorial team does not approve of any plagiarism attempts. iThenticate will be utilized at the editor’s discretion to verify the originality of submitted manuscripts. If plagiarism is detected during the review process, the manuscript may be rejected pending the severity of the plagiarism. Therefore, if a manuscript uses a text copied directly from another source, this text must be written in quotation marks, and the original source must be cited. If plagiarism is suspected or discovered, the editorial office will take appropriate action as directed by the standards set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)'s core practices for submitted manuscript or published article.
Ethics guidelines for studies on human subjects
For studies on human subjects, the manner in which informed consent was obtained from the study participants (i.e., oral or written) should be stated clearly.
The authors should inform the study participants of the purpose(s) of publication, the possible risks and benefits as a result of the experiment, and the patient's right to withhold or withdraw consent. Consent should be obtained from the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) if the study participant is a minor.
The authors are obliged to declare and clearly specify any restrictions on the availability or use of human data in the manuscript.
Human subjects have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information or patient identifiers, including patient names, initials, date of birth, contacts, medical record numbers, hospital numbers, and geographical location, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Efforts must be made by the authors to at least mask or conceal any identifying information about the patients that appears in writing or within a photograph.
Authors are obliged to explain to the patient if revealing the patient's identity cannot be fully avoided, e.g., an image of an identifiable body part like the face has to be published in the report. The relevant identifying information to be published, e.g., the image, must be shown to the patient, and consent for publication must be obtained for the use of that information in the publication. If the patient dies, consent must be obtained from the next of kin or legal representative.
Correction and retraction policies
JCTR recognizes its responsibility to notify and correct errors in its previously published work. Complaints and disagreements over published work in JCTR should be primarily addressed to the editor-in-chief and the handling editor. The four categories of publishable amendments are described below.
Erratum
An erratum is published to rectify a significant error made by the journal.
Corrigendum
A corrigendum is published to rectify a significant error made by the author(s). JCTR will only consider publishing readers' criticisms of published original articles when the authors present compelling evidence that the major conclusion or claim of the original article is incorrect. Refutations are sent out for peer review and, where possible, to the external reviewers who reviewed the original paper.
Retraction
A retraction is published to invalidate previously published results. All authors must sign a retraction form specifying the error and stating briefly how the results and conclusions are affected. The handling editor of the original paper will seek peer reviewers' advice and impose the most appropriate amendment in case the co-authors cannot reach any agreement.
Addendum
An addendum is published to add peer-reviewed information to a previously published paper. An addendum is only published when the handling editor receives criticism from the readers that contains compelling evidence that additional information must be added to improve understanding of a crucial part of the published work.
