Publishing ethics

Every article must include: a conflicts of interest statement (even when none is present); a funding statement (total and/or partial funding); a signed informed consent statement regarding any study subjects (especially if any images or video footage are present); and a statement detailing author contributions.

Conflicts of interest

All authors must report any personal or financial relationships with people or institutions that might influence (bias) their work inappropriately.

Examples of potential conflicts of interest include: employee status, consultancy services, stock holding, remuneration, paid expert testimony, patent registrations/applications, and grants or other funding sources.

The authors must include their conflicts of interest statement in a final section, just before “References”, in all article-related files, that is, both in the complete version (with authors) and in the file without author and affiliation details. In the latter document, authors, when specified, must be exclusively identified by initials.

Studies in humans and animals

If the work reported included human subjects, the author must ensure that it was carried out in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving human beings. The manuscript must be in line with the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals, and aim to include representative human populations in terms of sex, age, and ethnicity as specified in said Recommendations. The terms “sex” and “gender” should be correctly used. The author must state in the manuscript that all subjects gave their informed consent for the study. The privacy rights of all human subjects must be at all times observed.

All animal expeiments must comply with the ARRIVE guidelines, and must be carried out in accordance with the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 and associated guidelines, EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, or the National Institutes of Health guide for the care and use of laboratory animals (NIH Publications No. 8023, revised 1978). The author must clearly state in the manuscripts that said guidelines were adhered to. The sex of animals must also be reported, as well as the influence (or association) of sex on (with) the results of the study, when appropriate.

Funding source

Please indicate which institutions provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article, and briefly describe the role of the sponsors, if any, in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the article; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding sources had no such involvement, please state this as well.

Informed consent and patient data

Studies in patients or volunteers require the approval of an ethics committee and an informed consent, which should be documented in the article.

Should an author wish to include case details or other personal information, including images of patients and/or other individuals, the appropriate consents, permissions, and releases must be obtained.

The author must retain all written consents; however, it is not required that copies be submitted to the Journal. Only when specifically requested by the Journal, under exceptional circumstances (for example, if a legal issue arises), must the author provide copies of the consents or evidence that such consents were obtained.

For more information, please review the Journal’s policy on the use of images or personal data of patients or other people.