Journal policy on ethics for conducting, reporting, writing, and publishing research.
Genetics and Molecular Research adheres to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/
ETHICS COMMITTEE APPROVALS
Human subjects
Approval by a Research Ethics Committee must be indicated in the article for all research involving human subjects. Include the name of the institution of the Ethics Committee. The research should be conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki (2013) guidelines: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/ The manuscript must state if informed consent has been obtained from patients where appropriate.
Research on animals
Articles involving research with animals must conform to the legal requirements of the country in which the work was carried out. A statement identifying institutional committee approval of the experiments must be included in the article. Techniques should follow Committee on Animal Research and Ethics (CARE) guidelines: http://www.apa.org/science/leadership/care/guidelines.aspx
ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS
Genetics and Molecular Research is committed to upholding the integrity of scientific research reports. The journal follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct: https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines
Authors should refrain from misrepresenting research results that could damage trust in the journal and in science reporting. Authors should follow rules of good scientific practice, which include:
- No data, text, figures or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own (“plagiarism”). Genetics and Molecular Research uses software to screen for plagiarism.
- No data have been fabricated or manipulated (including images).
- Consent to submit has been received explicitly from all co-authors before the work is submitted.
- Authors whose names appear on the submission have contributed significantly to the scientific work and therefore share collective responsibility and accountability for the results.
- Upon request authors should be prepared to send relevant documentation or data in order to verify the validity of the results that they are reporting.
Plagiarism and Fabrication
Plagiarism is when an author attempts to pass off someone else’s work as his or her own. Duplicate publication, sometimes called self-plagiarism, occurs when an author reuses substantial parts of his or her own published work without providing the appropriate references. This can range from getting an identical paper published in multiple journals, to “salami-slicing,” where authors add small amounts of new data to a previous paper.
Plagiarism can be said to have clearly occurred when large chunks of text have been cut-and-pasted. Such manuscripts will not be considered for publication in Genetics and Molecular Research. However, minor plagiarism without dishonest intent is relatively common, for example, when an author reuses parts of an introduction from an earlier paper. The journal editors judge any case of which they become aware (by plagiarism software, by their own knowledge of and by checking the literature, or when alerted by referees) on its own merits.
Discussion of unpublished work
Manuscripts are sent out for review on the condition that any unpublished data cited within are properly credited, and the appropriate permission has been sought. Where licensed data are cited, authors must include during submission a written assurance that they are complying with the originators’ data-licensing agreements.
Referees are encouraged to be alert to the use of misappropriated unpublished data from databases or from any other source, and to inform the editor of any concerns they may have.
The following publications, regarding fabrication and plagiarism, are available on the website of the Committee on Publication Ethics: https://publicationethics.org/