The journal adheres to the ethical guidelines for research and publication described in Guidelines on Good Publication (http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines) and the ICMJE Guidelines (http://www.icmje.org).

1. Authorship (CACD)

Authorship should be credited to those who have had direct involvement in the study and who fulfill the following criteria: (a) made significant contributions to either the conception or design of, or data collection, analyses and/or interpretation for, the work; AND (b) drafted the work or undertook critical revisions for important intellectual content; AND (c) approved the final version for publication. The primary investigator is designated as the first author of the study, unless contested by the other authors.

The corresponding author is directly responsible for communication about and revision of the submitted manuscript. In the case of a change in authorship, a written explanation must be submitted; changes to either the first or corresponding author(s) require approval by the editorial board.

2. Originality, plagiarism and duplicate publication

Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. No part of the accepted manuscript should be duplicated in any other scientific journal without the permission of the Editorial Board. Submitted manuscripts are screened for possible plagiarism or duplicate publication by Similarity Check upon arrival. If plagiarism or duplicate publication is detected, the manuscripts may be rejected, the authors will be announced in the journal, and their institutions will be informed. There will also be penalties for the authors.

A letter of permission is required for any and all material that has been published previously. It is the responsibility of the author to request permission from the publisher for any material that is being reproduced. This requirement applies to text, figures, and tables.

3. Originality and Previous Publication

All submitted manuscripts should be original and not under consideration for publication simultaneously by other scientific journals. No part of an accepted manuscript should be published in any other scientific journal without the permission of the editorial board. If duplication is discovered, manuscripts may be rejected and the concerned authors’ names and institutes will be informed in the journal. The authors will also incur penalties.

It is possible to republish manuscripts if the manuscripts satisfy the conditions of secondary publication of the ICMJE Recommendations (http://www.icmje.org/urm_main.html).

4. Conflict of interest statement (CACD)

The corresponding author of an article should inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest that may influence the authors’ interpretation of the data. Such conflicts must be disclosed during the online submission process and could include financial support from or private connections with commercial organizations, political pressure from interest groups, or academic problems. The editor will decide whether this information should be included in the published paper, and will consult the corresponding author before publication. In particular, all funding sources for research should be explicitly disclosed.

5. Statement of human rights

Clinical research should be done in accordance of the Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects, outlined in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (revised 2013), available from: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/. Clinical studies that do not meet the Helsinki Declaration will not be considered for publication. Human subjects should not be identifiable, such that subjects’ names, initials, identification numbers, dates of birth, or other protected information should not be disclosed.

6. Statement of informed consent and institutional review board approval

Copies of written informed consent documents should be kept for studies on human subjects, which includes identifiable information or sensitive information. For clinical studies of human subjects, a certificate, agreement, or approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the author’s institution is required. If necessary, the editor or reviewers may request copies of these documents to resolve questions about IRB approval and study conduct.

7. Process for managing research and publication misconduct

When the journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fraudulent or fabricated data, changes in authorship, an undisclosed conflict of interest, ethical problems with a submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and so on, the resolution process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The discussion and decision on the suspected cases are carried out by the Editorial Board.

8. Process for handling cases requiring corrections, retractions, and editorial expressions of concern

Cases that require editorial expressions of concern or retraction shall follow the COPE flowcharts available from:http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts. If correction needs, it will follow the ICMJE Recommendation for Corrections, Retractions, Republications and Version Control available from:http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/corrections-and-version-control.html as follows:

Honest errors are a part of science and publishing and require publication of a correction when they are detected. Corrections are needed for errors of fact. Minimum standards are as follows: First, CACD shall publish a correction notice as soon as possible detailing changes from and citing the original publication. Second, CACD shall post a new article version with details of the changes from the original version and the date(s) on which the changes were made through CrossMark. Third, it shall archive all prior versions of the article. This archive can be either directly accessible to readers. Fourth, previous electronic versions shall prominently note that there are more recent versions of the article via CrossMark.

9. Editorial responsibilities

The Editorial Board will continuously work to monitor and safeguard publication ethics: guidelines for retracting articles; maintenance of the integrity of the academic record; preclusion of business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards; publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed; and excluding plagiarism and fraudulent data. The editors maintain the following responsibilities: responsibility and authority to reject and accept articles; avoiding any conflict of interest with respect to articles they reject or accept; promoting publication of corrections or retractions when errors are found; and preservation of the anonymity of reviewers.