Publication Ethics:

Summary

• The research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation.
• Researchers should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.
• Researchers should strive to describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others.
• Researchers should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarised, 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..

• Funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed

Introduction

Publication is the final stage of research and therefore a responsibility for all researchers. Scholarly publications are expected to provide a detailed and permanent record of research. Because publications form the basis for both new research and the application of findings, they can affect not only the research community but also, indirectly, society at large. Researchers therefore have a responsibility to ensure that their publications are honest, clear, accurate, complete and balanced, and should avoid misleading, selective or ambiguous reporting. Journal editors also have responsibilities for ensuring the integrity of the research literature and these are set out in companion guidelines. This document aims to establish international standards for authors of scholarly research publications and to describe responsible research reporting practice. We hope these standards will be endorsed by research institutions, funders, and professional societies; promoted by editors and publishers; and will aid in research integrity training.

Responsible research publication

1 Soundness and reliability

1.1 The research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and follow all relevant legislation. [See also the Singapore Statement on Research Integrity, www.singaporestatement.org]
1.2 The research being reported should be sound and carefully executed.
1.3 Researchers should use appropriate methods of data analysis and display (and, if needed, seek and follow specialist advice on this).
1.4 Authors should take collective responsibility for their work and for the content of their publications. Researchers 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.

2 Honesty

2.1 Researchers should present their results honestly and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation. Research images (e.g. micrographs, X-rays, pictures of electrophoresis gels) should not be modified in a misleading way.
2.2 Researchers should strive to describe their methods and to present their findings clearly and unambiguously. Researchers should follow applicable reporting guidelines. Publications should provide sufficient detail to permit experiments to be repeated by other researchers.
2.3 Reports of research should be complete. They should not omit inconvenient, inconsistent or inexplicable findings or results that do not support the authors’ or sponsors’ hypothesis or interpretation.
2.4 Research funders and sponsors should not be able to veto publication of findings that do not favour their product or position. Researchers should not enter  agreements that permit the research sponsor to veto or control the publication of the findings (unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as research classified by governments because of security implications).
2.5 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.
2.6 Authors should represent the work of others accurately in citations and quotations.
2.7 Authors should not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work