The Journal of Keloid Research is committed to maintaining high ethical standards in the conduct, reporting, peer review, and publication of research. The Journal expects all submitted research to comply with applicable institutional, national, and international ethical standards.
The Journal follows the principles and recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Human Subjects Research
All research involving human participants, human tissue, identifiable patient information, or clinical data must have been conducted in accordance with internationally accepted ethical principles, including the Declaration of Helsinki, and all applicable local and national regulations.
Authors must state in the manuscript that the study was reviewed and approved by an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB), Research Ethics Committee, or equivalent independent ethics body. The name of the approving institution or committee and, when available, the approval or protocol number should be provided.
If a study was determined to be exempt from formal ethics review, the manuscript must identify the institution or appropriate authority that granted the exemption and provide the basis for that determination.
The Journal reserves the right to request documentation of ethical approval or exemption at any time during the editorial review process.
Informed Consent
For research involving human participants, authors must confirm that appropriate informed consent was obtained when required by applicable ethical and regulatory standards.
For minors or individuals unable to provide legally valid consent, consent must be obtained from a parent, legal guardian, or other legally authorized representative as required by applicable regulations. Assent should also be obtained when appropriate.
A statement concerning informed consent must appear in the manuscript.
Patient Privacy, Clinical Photographs, and Case Reports
Protecting patient privacy is particularly important to the Journal of Keloid Research because clinical photographs are frequently important to the documentation and study of keloid disorder.
Authors must protect the confidentiality and privacy of patients. Names, initials, medical record numbers, or other unnecessary identifying information must not be published.
When a patient may reasonably be identifiable from a photograph, case description, clinical history, or other information, authors must obtain appropriate consent for publication from the patient or, when applicable, the patient’s parent or legal guardian.
The Journal may request confirmation or documentation that appropriate consent for publication has been obtained.
Research Using Human Tissue and Biological Materials
Research involving human tissue, cells, specimens, or other human biological materials must comply with applicable institutional and regulatory requirements.
Authors must describe the source of the material and provide information regarding ethics approval and informed consent when applicable.
Studies using human-derived cell lines, including keloid fibroblasts, should clearly identify the origin of the cells and provide sufficient information regarding their acquisition and use to permit appropriate ethical and scientific evaluation.
Animal Research
Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional and national standards governing the humane care and use of laboratory animals.
Authors must identify the institutional animal care and use committee or equivalent body that approved the research and provide the approval or protocol number when available.
The Journal reserves the right to reject research when there are concerns regarding the ethical justification or humane treatment of animals.
Clinical Trials
Prospective clinical trials should be registered in an appropriate publicly accessible clinical trial registry in accordance with applicable standards and ICMJE recommendations.
Authors reporting clinical trials must provide the registry name and registration number in the manuscript.
Clinical investigations must clearly describe ethics approval, informed consent, participant selection, interventions, and clinically relevant outcomes.
Scientific Integrity and Research Misconduct
The Journal of Keloid Research expects all submitted work to represent an accurate and honest account of the research performed.
Fabrication, falsification or inappropriate manipulation of data or images, plagiarism, duplicate publication, deliberate misrepresentation of results, and other forms of research or publication misconduct are not acceptable.
If concerns regarding research integrity arise before or after publication, the Journal will investigate the matter and may request original data, ethics documentation, or other relevant information from the authors. When appropriate, the Journal may contact the authors’ institutions or other responsible authorities.
Confirmed or unresolved concerns may result in rejection, correction, expression of concern, or retraction, as appropriate and consistent with established publication-ethics practices.
Authorship and Contributions
Authorship should reflect meaningful intellectual and scientific contributions to the work. The Journal follows the principles of the ICMJE recommendations regarding authorship and contributorship.
All listed authors should have participated sufficiently in the work to accept responsibility for their contributions and should approve the final manuscript.
Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged.
Conflicts of Interest
Authors must disclose all financial and non-financial relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation.
Editors and peer reviewers must likewise disclose relevant conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from the evaluation of manuscripts when a conflict could compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, their objectivity.
Funding and Sponsorship
All sources of financial support for the research must be disclosed.
Authors must identify the role of the funding source, when applicable, in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and the decision to submit the work for publication.
Industry or commercial sponsorship must be transparently disclosed.
Data Integrity and Availability
Authors are responsible for maintaining accurate research records and preserving the underlying data in accordance with applicable institutional and regulatory requirements.
The Journal may request supporting or original data when necessary to evaluate the scientific integrity of a submitted or published article.
Authors should make research data available when ethically, legally, and practically appropriate, while protecting patient confidentiality and complying with informed-consent requirements.
Editorial Independence and Ethical Oversight
Editorial decisions are based on scientific merit, relevance to keloid disorder and related research, methodological quality, originality, and compliance with ethical standards.
Commercial, financial, institutional, or personal considerations shall not determine whether a manuscript is accepted for publication.
If an Editor or Editorial Board member is an author of a submitted manuscript, that individual will not participate in the editorial decision or peer-review process for that manuscript. Editorial responsibility will be assigned to another qualified editor without a relevant conflict of interest.
Corrections and Retractions
The Journal of Keloid Research is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scientific record.
When significant errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication, the Journal will take appropriate action, which may include publication of a correction, expression of concern, or retraction.
Such actions will be undertaken transparently and in accordance with accepted standards of scientific and publication ethics.
Responsibility of Authors
Submission of a manuscript to the Journal of Keloid Research constitutes an affirmation by the authors that the research was conducted ethically, that all required approvals and consents were obtained, that the work is reported accurately, and that all relevant conflicts of interest and sources of funding have been disclosed.
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board reserve the right to request additional documentation and to reject or withdraw consideration of any manuscript when there are unresolved concerns regarding research ethics, patient safety, scientific integrity, or compliance with this policy.
