Research and Publication Ethics Policy

Publication Ethics and Transparency: 

To maintain high-quality ethics and transparency, Research Summit adheres to COPE guidelines. 

1.      Electronic submission: Research Summit accepts newly submitted articles exclusively through OJS, which can be accessed at www.researchsummit.org.

2.      Editorial Process: All the manuscripts, which are within the scope of the journal and successfully meet the quality parameters, are submitted to peer review. 

3.      Responsibilities of Editors: Editors of the Research Summit are responsible for the decision to publish the manuscript. Editors are also responsible for maintaining confidentiality by not disclosing any information regarding unpublished or in-process research work. Editors can not use submitted materials in their own research work. 

4.      Responsibilities of Reviewers: Research Summit follows a single-blind review process in which the name of reviewers is not disclosed to authors. Reviewers are requested to evaluate the manuscripts for scientific and medical soundness, originality, clearness, and relevance on medical and ethical grounds. Reviewers shall neither disclose any information before publication nor use research material for their own personal research works. 

Responsibilities of authors:

o   The submitted research manuscript must be an original work of the authors which had not been published previously or under process of publication in any other journal or forum. The originality of research work is the sole responsibility of authors, not that of the journal, publisher, or editor. The editor has the right to reject or withdraw the article even after published if the research work is found not original. 

o   The authors should present original work in an accurate manner. Inaccurate statements or presenting plagiarized content are unethical behaviors and are not accepted. Essentially, all the authors must follow high principles of research conduct as per “COPE”, “ICMJE”, and “HEC” guidelines, and authors must fulfill ICMJE criteria.

o   Authors must submit written permission from the copyright owner to use direct quotations, tables, or illustrations that have appeared in copyright form elsewhere, along with complete details about the source.

Research Ethics

·         The submitted research work that involves any role of humans must have prior approval by an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) or ethical committee. The certificate from the IRB or the ethical committee should be provided at the time of submission of the manuscript. 

·         The studies that include animal experiments must follow guidelines for research conducted on animals available at the WMA statement on animal use in biomedical research, and the International Association of Veterinary Editors’ Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare. These studies should submit a letter of permission from an appropriate committee, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), along with the submitted manuscript. 

·         If an exemption from ethical review is granted, this should be mentioned in the manuscript, and an exemption letter signed by the IRB Chair/ ethical review committee must be submitted with the manuscript. The Editor may contact the IRB for further information on exceptional cases.

·         Approval letter from the Ethical committee /IRB, along with synopsis approval letter from CPSP/ RTMCis mandatory for submitted research work from dissertation/ thesis. 

·         The time duration and place of the study must be mentioned.

·         Patient’s information, identification, or hospital medical record numbers (MRN) should not be disclosed.

·         Written consent to reproduce photographs or investigations should be sent along with the manuscript. 

·         Clinical Trials and systematic reviews: All Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) should be registered at clinicaltrials.gov, and the trial registration number is mandatory. The editor recommends consulting CONSORT guidelines for clinical trials, STROBE guidelines for observational studies, PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews, and SRQR guidelines for qualitative studies.

·         For a retrospective study, informed consent is not required, but an approval letter from the IRB is mandatory to submit along with the manuscript. 

·         The author retains copyright of submitted manuscripts. The readers may reproduce the contents with permission from the author or by giving credit to the author. If the author aims to withdraw the article during the process, the author must request withdrawal via official email. No withdrawal is considered without sending an email. 

·         There are some useful resources:

o    Publication Ethics Guidelines

o    International Standards For Authors

o   Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in the Care and Use of Non-human Animals in Research