ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Authorship
Authors are expected to fulfill the criteria set out by the ICJME.
Criteria for authorship
Only persons who contributed to the intellectual content of the paper should be listed as authors. According to the ICMJE recommendations authorship should be based on the following 4 criteria:
In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he or she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.
All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Contributors who meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged.
Funding
All sources of funding should be declared in the covering letter. Authors must describe the role of the study sponsor(s), if any, in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funder(s) had no such involvement, this should be stated.
Previous publication
Declaration of previous publications of any content of the paper is a must.
Previous publication of some content of a paper does not necessarily preclude it being published in the SLJFMSL, but the editors need this information when deciding how to make efficient use of space in the journal. Failure of a full disclosure by authors of possible prior publication will be considered as a breach of scientific ethics.
Declaration Form
Ethics Approval
Authors should adhere to relevant national and international laws and best practice guidelines in conducting research. Every research article should include a statement that the study obtained ethics approval (or a statement that it was not required and why), including the name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s), the number/ID of the approval(s), and a statement that participants gave informed consent before taking part.
Research involving humans
All research conducted on human subjects should be conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki. All research involving human participants, human material or human data has to be approved by an ethics committee. Any exemptions granted should be indicated in the manuscript with the name of the ethics committee that granted exemption and the reason for exemption. In research involving human participants a statement regarding the consent procedure should be included in the manuscript.
For case reports, signed consent by the patients must be submitted with the manuscript. If the person described in the case report has died, then consent for publication must be sought from their next of kin. If the individual described in the case report is a minor, or unable to provide consent, then consent must be sought from their parents or legal guardians.
If consent cannot be obtained because the patient cannot be traced then publication will be possible only if the information can be sufficiently anonymised. Anonymisation means that neither the patient nor anyone else could identify the patient with certainty.
Research involving animals
Experimental research on animals must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines, and should have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee. Please adhere to fundamental principles outlined by the Basel Declaration and the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS). If an exemption has been granted by an ethics committee it should also be indicated (including the name of the ethics committee that granted the exemption and the reasons for the exemption).
Research involving plants
Experimental research on plants (either cultivated or wild) including collection of plant material, must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines. The manuscript should include a statement specifying the appropriate permissions and/or licenses.
All clinical trials should be registered in an internationally recognized Clinical Trials Registry and authors should submit the Trial Registration Number along with the manuscript.
Scientific misconduct
The following are some examples which the SLJFMSL considers as scientific misconduct:
Falsification of data, plagiarism, improper attribution of authorship, failure to cite relevant sources, failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements
Dealing with allegations of misconduct
The SLJFMSL takes all forms of misconduct seriously. If there is concern that a submitted article includes content that may constitute misconduct the editors will discuss with the editorial board prior to arriving at a decision.
The editorial board would be guided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in dealing with such cases. However, editors will make independent decisions on a case by case basis.
If readers suspect misconduct in a published article, they are encouraged to report this to the editors of the SLJFMSL.
Plagiarism Checking
All articles submitted to the SLJFMSL are automatically screened for plagiarism.
Corrections and Retractions
The authors would be requested to correct issues where possible or even retract articles in instances where there is evidence of unreliable data or findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unethical research.
The editors would publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies where relevant.
Appeals and complaints
Authors have the right to appeal rejection of their manuscript. Such appeals should be forwarded to the Editors with reasons for appeal. The Editorial Board’s decision regarding the appeal or complaint is final.
Conflicts of interests
The SLJFMSL requires that all authors declare any relevant financial and non-financial conflicts of interest. The journal will publish those that might influence a reader’s perception of the paper alongside the paper.
Please download and complete a copy of the Declaration Form which should be signed by all authors.