Publication Ethics Policy

The Journal of Diabetes, Metabolism and Endocrinology is committed to maintaining the highest standards of research integrity, academic responsibility, transparency, and ethical scholarly publishing. This Publication Ethics Policy establishes the principles that govern authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, and the journal's publishing activities.

The journal follows relevant principles and recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and seeks to maintain internationally recognized standards of responsible scholarly publishing.

The following principles constitute the core of the journal's Publication Ethics Policy and guide all editorial, peer-review, and publishing activities.

1. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must accurately reflect substantial intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript.

All listed authors are expected to:

• Make a meaningful contribution to the conception, design, execution, analysis, or interpretation of the research.
• Participate in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
• Approve the final version submitted for publication.
• Accept responsibility for their contribution and participate appropriately in addressing questions concerning the accuracy or integrity of the work.

Individuals who contributed to the research but do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately.

The journal does not permit:

• Gift authorship — granting authorship without sufficient contribution.
• Guest authorship — listing individuals who did not make an appropriate contribution.
• Ghost authorship — omitting individuals who made substantial contributions.

Any change to authorship after submission requires a legitimate explanation and appropriate agreement from all affected authors.

2. Originality and Exclusive Submission

Authors must submit original work and must not simultaneously submit the same manuscript to more than one journal.

Submitted work should not contain substantial portions of previously published material unless appropriately quoted, cited, disclosed, and permitted.

The journal considers plagiarism, duplicate publication, redundant publication, and inappropriate text reuse to be serious publication-ethics concerns.

Manuscripts may be screened using Turnitin or another appropriate similarity-detection system.

Similarity scores are evaluated in context; a numerical similarity percentage alone does not establish plagiarism.

3. Data Access and Research Transparency

Authors are expected to maintain appropriate research records and supporting data sufficient to substantiate the published findings.

Where ethically, legally, and practically possible, authors should make relevant supporting data available to qualified researchers upon reasonable request.

Data sharing must respect:

• Participant privacy.
• Informed-consent restrictions.
• Institutional policies.
• Intellectual-property rights.
• Confidentiality obligations.
• Applicable laws and regulations.

The journal may request supporting data, documentation, or methodological information when necessary to investigate questions concerning research integrity or reproducibility.

4. Data Citation

Research datasets that materially contribute to a manuscript should be appropriately identified and cited where they are publicly available or otherwise formally accessible.

Authors should provide sufficient information to allow readers to identify and locate the relevant dataset, including an appropriate persistent identifier where available.

Data citations should be distinguishable from ordinary literature references where necessary and should give appropriate credit to data creators and repositories.

5. Source Acknowledgment

Authors must properly acknowledge the intellectual and scholarly contributions of others.

All sources of:

• Ideas
• Text
• Data
• Methods
• Figures
• Tables
• Images
• Software
• Datasets
• Other intellectual contributions

must be appropriately cited or acknowledged.

Failure to provide appropriate attribution may constitute plagiarism or other forms of publication misconduct.

6. Conflict of Interest Disclosure

Authors, reviewers, editors, and Editorial Board members must disclose relevant financial and non-financial conflicts of interest.

Potential conflicts may include:

• Employment.
• Consultancy.
• Research funding.
• Honoraria.
• Grants.
• Equity or ownership interests.
• Patents.
• Personal or professional relationships.
• Institutional interests.
• Other relationships that could influence, or appear to influence, the research or editorial process.

If no relevant conflict exists, authors should provide an explicit statement declaring that there is no conflict of interest.

Editors and reviewers should recuse themselves when a conflict could compromise impartiality.

7. Reporting Standards and Research Transparency

Authors are expected to report research accurately, transparently, and completely.

Manuscripts should provide sufficient information regarding:

• Research objectives.
• Study design.
• Methods.
• Participants or samples.
• Data collection.
• Statistical analysis.
• Results.
• Limitations.
• Ethical oversight.

Authors should not fabricate, falsify, selectively manipulate, or intentionally omit data in a manner that could mislead readers.

Where applicable, authors are encouraged to follow recognized reporting standards appropriate to their study design.

8. Human Rights and Participant Protection

Research involving human participants must respect human dignity, privacy, autonomy, and fundamental rights.

Authors must ensure that:

• Participants are treated ethically and respectfully.
• Risks are appropriately assessed and minimized.
• Confidential information is protected.
• Identifiable information is not unnecessarily disclosed.
• Appropriate ethical approval has been obtained.
• Informed consent is obtained where required.

The journal may request documentation demonstrating compliance with these requirements.

9. Animal Welfare

Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international standards for animal welfare.

Authors should demonstrate that:

• Animals were used only when scientifically justified.
• Appropriate measures were taken to minimize pain, distress, and suffering.
• Humane endpoints were applied where appropriate.
• Appropriate ethical approval was obtained.
• Relevant animal-welfare regulations and institutional requirements were followed.

Editors may request evidence of animal ethics approval when appropriate.

10. Research Ethics

All research submitted to the journal must comply with applicable ethical standards.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that research involving humans, animals, biological materials, clinical data, or other ethically regulated activities has received appropriate oversight.

Ethical approval does not remove the authors' responsibility for conducting and reporting the research appropriately.

11. Institutional Review Board (IRB) / Ethics Committee Approval

Where required, studies involving human participants or human-derived data must receive approval from an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB), Research Ethics Committee, or equivalent body before the research begins.

The manuscript should normally state:

• Name of the approving institution or committee.
• Approval/reference number, where applicable.
• Relevant approval date, where applicable.

The Editorial Office may request a copy of the approval documentation.

Where formal ethical approval is not required, authors should clearly explain the basis for that determination where appropriate.

12. Informed Consent

Appropriate informed consent must be obtained from research participants where required by the study design, applicable law, institutional policy, or ethical standards.

For case reports or publications containing potentially identifiable patient information, authors should obtain appropriate consent for publication where required.

Authors must ensure that personal information is adequately anonymized and that unnecessary identifying details are not published.

13. Clinical Trial Registration

Clinical trials should be registered in an appropriate publicly accessible trial registry when registration is required by applicable standards.

Where applicable, manuscripts should include:

• Trial registration name.
• Registration number.
• Registration date.
• Relevant protocol information.

Authors should provide sufficient information to allow readers to identify the registered trial and compare the published report with the registered study.

14. Author Accountability

Authors are collectively responsible for the integrity of the submitted work and individually responsible for their respective contributions.

Authors should cooperate with the Editorial Office if questions arise regarding:

• Data integrity.
• Authorship.
• Ethical approval.
• Conflicts of interest.
• Research methodology.
• Publication history.
• Supporting documentation.

Authors must promptly notify the journal if they discover a significant error in their published work.

15. Research Misconduct

The journal considers research misconduct to include, but not be limited to:

• Fabrication of data.
• Falsification of data or research procedures.
• Plagiarism.
• Duplicate or redundant publication.
• Improper manipulation of images.
• Manipulation or inappropriate citation practices.
• Authorship fraud.
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest.
• Ethical approval violations.
• Inappropriate use or disclosure of confidential participant information.
• Peer-review manipulation.
• Other deliberate practices that undermine the integrity of scholarly research.

When credible concerns arise, the journal may conduct an initial assessment and request explanations or supporting documentation.

Where appropriate, the journal may contact the relevant authors' institutions or other responsible authorities. Investigations will be conducted in accordance with applicable publication-ethics procedures and relevant COPE guidance.

16. Plagiarism and Similarity Screening

The journal maintains a zero-tolerance approach toward deliberate plagiarism.

Submitted manuscripts may undergo similarity screening using Turnitin or another suitable plagiarism-detection system.

Authors should ensure that:

• All borrowed material is properly cited.
• Direct quotations are appropriately identified.
• Previously published material is disclosed where relevant.
• Reused text is appropriately justified and attributed.

Where significant inappropriate overlap is identified, the manuscript may be rejected and further action may be taken depending on the circumstances.

17. Peer-Review Ethics

The journal maintains a confidential peer-review process designed to provide objective and constructive assessment.

Reviewers must:

• Maintain manuscript confidentiality.
• Declare conflicts of interest.
• Provide objective and evidence-based comments.
• Avoid discriminatory or personal criticism.
• Not use unpublished information for personal advantage.
• Inform the Editor of credible ethical or research-integrity concerns.

Editors are responsible for selecting appropriate reviewers and ensuring that conflicts are appropriately managed.

18. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are based on scientific and ethical considerations and must remain independent of commercial interests.

Acceptance or payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC) does not guarantee acceptance or influence the editorial decision.

Advertising, sponsorship, institutional relationships, or other commercial activities must not interfere with peer review or editorial judgment.

19. Corrections

The journal is committed to maintaining an accurate scholarly record.

If a published article contains a significant error, the journal may publish a Correction or Erratum.

Corrections may be issued for errors affecting, for example:

• Author information.
• Data presentation.
• Tables or figures.
• References.
• Funding or disclosure information.
• Other factual or production information.

Corrections should be transparent and clearly linked to the original article.

20. Retractions

A published article may be retracted when there is compelling evidence that its findings are unreliable or that serious publication misconduct has occurred.

Possible reasons for retraction include:

• Fabrication or falsification.
• Major plagiarism.
• Serious ethical violations.
• Duplicate publication.
• Unreliable or invalid findings.
• Significant undisclosed conflicts of interest that materially affect the work.
• Other circumstances that substantially undermine the integrity of the published record.

Retractions should clearly identify the original publication and explain the reason for the retraction. The original article should remain part of the scholarly record where appropriate, with the retraction notice clearly associated with it.

21. Expressions of Concern

Where serious concerns exist but an investigation has not yet reached a definitive conclusion, the journal may publish an Expression of Concern.

This mechanism allows the journal to alert readers to potentially significant issues while an appropriate investigation is ongoing.

22. Post-Publication Discussions

The journal welcomes legitimate scholarly discussion concerning published research.

Authors may be invited to respond to substantive concerns regarding their work. Where necessary, the Editorial Office may publish corrections, clarifications, responses, or other appropriate notices.

Post-publication criticism should remain evidence-based, professional, and focused on the research rather than individuals.

23. Advertising Policy

Advertising and commercial activities must remain strictly separate from editorial and peer-review functions.

The journal does not permit advertisers or sponsors to:

• Influence editorial decisions.
• Select reviewers.
• Influence manuscript acceptance or rejection.
• Alter scientific content.
• Obtain preferential publication treatment.

Advertisements must be clearly distinguishable from scholarly editorial content.

The journal reserves the right to reject advertisements that are misleading, unlawful, scientifically unsupported, unethical, or inconsistent with the journal's academic standards.

Acceptance of an advertisement does not constitute endorsement of the advertised product, service, or organization.

24. Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI

Authors, reviewers, and editors must use AI-assisted technologies responsibly.

AI tools must not replace human accountability for research, editorial judgment, or publication decisions.

Authors remain responsible for:

• Accuracy of AI-assisted content.
• Verification of references.
• Originality and attribution.
• Disclosure where AI use materially contributed to the work.
• Protection of confidential or sensitive information.

AI systems should not be listed as authors.

Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscripts, reviewer reports, or unpublished research information to external AI systems where confidentiality cannot be adequately assured.

25. Funding and Financial Transparency

Authors must disclose all relevant sources of financial support for the research.

Funding statements should identify the funding organization and, where applicable, grant or award information.

Funding does not influence editorial decisions.

26. Data Availability and Reproducibility

Where appropriate, authors should provide a Data Availability Statement describing whether supporting data are available and how qualified researchers may access them.

Data sharing should comply with ethical, legal, privacy, institutional, and consent requirements.

The journal encourages transparent reporting practices that allow readers and researchers to understand and, where possible, reproduce published findings.

27. Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, and readers may raise legitimate concerns regarding editorial decisions, peer review, publication ethics, or journal procedures.

Complaints and appeals should be submitted with sufficient supporting information.

The Editorial Office will assess complaints fairly and confidentially. Where necessary, an independent editor or appropriate external authority may be consulted.

28. Commitment to International Publication Ethics

The Journal of Diabetes, Metabolism and Endocrinology is committed to continuously improving its publication practices in accordance with internationally recognized principles of responsible scholarly publishing.

The journal uses relevant COPE guidance and flowcharts when dealing with publication-ethics issues and considers applicable ICMJE Recommendations for medical publishing, authorship, peer review, conflicts of interest, clinical trials, research ethics, corrections, and related editorial responsibilities.

These principles apply to authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, and publishing staff and are intended to protect the integrity of the research record and maintain the trust of researchers, healthcare professionals, patients, and readers.