Journal Search

  1. Home
  2. Research and Publication Ethics

Research and Publication Ethics

The KJCEM adheres to the ethical guidelines for research and publication described in the Guidelines on Good Publication (http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines) and the Guidelines for Research Ethics of the Ministry of Education, and the Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE; http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines).

1. Authorship

  • Authorship credit should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, 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.
  • Corresponding author and first author: KJCEM does not allow multiple corresponding authors for one article. Only one author should correspond with the editorial office and readers. KJCEM does accept notice of equal contribution for the first author when the study was clearly performed by co-first authors.
  • Correction of authorship after publication: KJCEM does not correct authorship after publication unless a mistake has been made by the editorial staff. Authorship may be changed before publication when an authorship correction is requested by all of the authors involved with the manuscript.

2. Originality and Duplicate Publication

  • Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. No part of the accepted manuscript should be duplicated in any other scientific journal without the permission of the Editorial Board. Submitted manuscripts are screened for possible plagiarism or duplicate publication by Similarity Check upon arrival.
  • If plagiarism or duplicate publication is detected, the manuscripts may be rejected and the Editor may inform third parties such as author(s)’ institution(s). In cases of proven research misconduct involving published articles, or where the academic integrity of the article is significantly undermined, articles would be retracted. There will also be penalties for the authors.
  • A letter of permission is required for any and all material that has been published previously. It is the responsibility of the author to request permission from the publisher for any material that is being reproduced. This requirement applies to text, figures, and tables.

3. Conflict of Interest Statement

The corresponding author must inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the authors’ interpretation of the data. Examples of potential conflicts of interest are financial support from or connections to companies, political pressure from interest groups, and academically related issues. In particular, all sources of funding applicable to the study should be explicitly stated.

4. Statement of Human and Animal Rights

Clinical research should be done in accordance of the Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects, outlined in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (revised 2013), available from: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/. Clinical studies that do not meet the Helsinki Declaration will not be considered for publication. Human subjects should not be identifiable, such that patients’ names, initials, hospital numbers, dates of birth, or other protected healthcare information should not be disclosed. For animal subjects, research should be performed based on the National or Institutional Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and the ethical treatment of all experimental animals should be maintained.

5. Statement of Informed Consent and Institutional Review Board Approval

Copies of written informed consent documents should be kept for studies on human subjects, which includes identifiable information or sensitive information. For clinical studies of human subjects, a certificate, agreement, or approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the author’s institution is required. If necessary, the editor or reviewers may request copies of these documents to resolve questions about IRB approval and study conduct.

6. Process for Managing Research and Publication Misconduct

When the journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fraudulent or fabricated data, changes in authorship, an undisclosed conflict of interest, ethical problems with a submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and so on, the resolution process will follow the flowchart provided by the COPE (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The discussion and decision on the suspected cases are carried out by the Editorial Board. If there is suspicion that research has not taken place within an appropriate ethical framework, the Editor may reject a manuscript and may inform third parties such as author(s)’ institution(s). In cases of proven research misconduct involving published articles, or where the academic integrity of the article is significantly undermined, articles would be retracted.

7. Process for Handling Cases requiring Corrections, Retractions, and Editorial Expressions of Concern

Cases that require editorial expressions of concern or retraction shall by the COPE (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). If correction needs, it will follow the KJCEM Recommendation for Corrections, Retractions, Republications and Version Control available. Honest errors are a part of science and publishing and require publication of a correction when they are detected. Corrections are needed for errors of fact. Minimum standards are as follows: First, it shall publish a correction notice as soon as possible detailing changes from and citing the original publication on both an electronic and numbered print page that is included in an electronic or a print Table of Contents to ensure proper indexing; Second, it shall post a new article version with details of the changes from the original version and the date(s) on which the changes were made through CrossMark; Third, it shall archive all prior versions of the article. Fourth, previous electronic versions shall prominently note that there are more recent versions of the article via CrossMark.

8. Editorial Responsibilities

The Editorial Board will continuously work to monitor and safeguard publication ethics: guidelines for retracting articles; maintenance of the integrity of the academic record; preclusion of business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards; publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed; and excluding plagiarism and fraudulent data. The editors maintain the following responsibilities: responsibility and authority to reject and accept articles; avoiding any conflict of interest with respect to articles they reject or accept; promoting publication of corrections or retractions when errors are found; and preservation of the anonymity of reviewers.