Ethical Standards for Authors

1) Purpose and guiding principles

Respect for persons: Protect autonomy, dignity, and confidentiality in every stage of research and reporting.
Integrity of the record: Present methods and results honestly; correct the record quickly when errors arise.
Accountability: All listed authors share responsibility for the accuracy and ethics of the work.
Transparency: Disclose funding, competing interests, methods, limitations, and access to data/materials.
Equity: Acknowledge contributions fairly; use inclusive language and culturally respectful citation practices.

2) Authorship and contributorship

Authorship signals both credit and responsibility. CJNCP uses contributorship (CRediT-style roles) and requires that each author meets all of the criteria below.

Criterion	What it means in practice
Substantial contribution	Conceptualization; methodology; investigation; data curation; formal analysis; software; or other substantial scholarly input.
Drafting or critical revision	Writing the initial draft and/or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
Final approval	Approving the final submitted version and any major changes made during peer review.
Accountability	Agreeing to be accountable for the work’s accuracy and integrity and to resolve questions—especially those related to ethics or data.

Corresponding author duties

Ensure all authors meet criteria and approve the submission and final proofs.
Coordinate responses to editors/reviewers and maintain data/materials availability.
Manage authorship changes with written consent from all authors; provide justification for additions/removals.

What does not qualify as authorship

General supervision, departmental oversight, or funding acquisition alone.
Administrative assistance, routine data collection, or editing/translation services (acknowledge appropriately).

Provide a CRediT-style contributorship statement on the title page or in the manuscript’s author note.

3) Originality, prior dissemination, and overlapping submissions

Original work: Submit only manuscripts that are original and not under consideration elsewhere.
Preprints: Preprinted manuscripts are welcome; disclose the server and DOI at submission and update the record with the CJNCP DOI on publication.
Conference and theses: Prior abstracts or theses must be cited; ensure the manuscript provides substantial additional content.
No duplicate publication: Do not submit substantially similar work to multiple outlets (“duplicate” or “redundant” publication).
No salami-slicing: Do not fragment a single study into several minimal papers without clear, justified differentiation.

4) Plagiarism, text recycling, and self-citation

Plagiarism: Presenting others’ ideas, text, figures, or data as your own is prohibited. Cite and quote appropriately; obtain permissions where required.
Text recycling: Limited, properly cited reuse of methods text may be acceptable; extensive recycling across your own papers is not.
Self-citation: Cite your relevant work proportionately; avoid citation stacking to inflate metrics.
Similarity checks: CJNCP screens manuscripts. Excessive overlap may lead to rejection or investigation.

5) Data integrity, analysis, and reproducibility

Expectations

Collect and analyze data using methods appropriate to the research question.
Report inclusion/exclusion criteria, handling of missing data, and sensitivity analyses.
Disclose software and version; provide analytic code where possible or describe analysis in enough detail for replication.
Retain primary data and analysis records for a reasonable period consistent with institutional policy and law.

Prohibited practices

Fabrication (inventing data) or falsification (manipulating data or analysis to misrepresent findings).
P-hacking, data dredging, or undisclosed HARKing (hypothesizing after results are known) presented as confirmatory research.
Undeclared exclusions or unreported analyses that materially change interpretation.

Where applicable, preregister protocols and analysis plans and cite the registration ID in the manuscript.

6) Image, figure, and multimedia integrity

Do not add, remove, or enhance features in a way that could mislead. Global brightness/contrast adjustments are acceptable if applied uniformly and disclosed when material.
Maintain original scale bars, orientation, and labeling; provide raw images on request.
Ensure patient images are non-identifiable or used with explicit written consent for publication.
For flowcharts and diagrams, ensure accuracy and avoid embellishments that imply unsupported inference.

7) Research involving humans and communities

Ethical oversight

Provide IRB/IEC approval (reference number and date) or a documented waiver with justification.
Describe informed consent processes; for vulnerable groups (e.g., children, cognitively impaired), explain safeguards and assent where applicable.
Quality improvement activities must clarify oversight and whether the institution classifies the activity as research.

Cultural respect and community engagement

Design and report research with cultural humility and sensitivity.
For research involving Indigenous or locally governed data, respect community data sovereignty and agreements.
Avoid deficit-based framing; reflect benefits to participants and communities.

8) Patient privacy and confidentiality

Remove protected health information unless explicit consent permits publication; anonymize case details and images where feasible.
For case reports/series with identifiable elements, obtain written, informed consent for publication and state this in the manuscript.
De-identify qualitative transcripts and field notes; avoid small-cell disclosures that could re-identify individuals.

9) Animal research and welfare

Provide institutional animal care approval and describe welfare measures, anesthesia/analgesia, humane endpoints, and housing.
Follow the 3Rs: replacement, reduction, and refinement.

10) Registration, reporting, and transparency

Register prospective clinical trials before enrolling the first participant and state the registration ID in the abstract and Methods.
Use appropriate reporting guidelines (CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, SQUIRE, COREQ/SRQR, CARE, STARD, TIDieR). Upload the checklist as supplementary material and cite it in Methods.
State deviations from the protocol and discuss limitations candidly.

Data availability

Provide a Data Availability Statement indicating where de-identified data and code can be accessed, or explain justified restrictions (privacy, law, contractual limits).
Use trustworthy repositories and persistent identifiers (e.g., DOIs). Cross-link dataset DOIs in the manuscript and references when appropriate.

Responsible sharing

Respect consent limitations and community agreements. Use controlled access when appropriate.
Include README files, variable dictionaries, and software versions for reusability.

12) Conflicts of interest and funding transparency

Disclose all financial and relevant non-financial interests for each author (employment, consultancies, grants, equipment, travel, advisory roles, intellectual property).
State funder names and award numbers and describe the funder’s role in study design, data collection/analysis, decision to publish, and manuscript preparation.
If there is no external funding or conflicts, state this explicitly.

13) Use of AI and computational tools

Disclose any use of AI tools (language generation, translation, statistical, image processing) and describe how outputs were verified.
Do not list a tool as an author. Authors remain fully responsible for originality, accuracy, permissions, and confidentiality.
Do not enter confidential or identifiable data into external tools without legal and ethical safeguards; protect participant privacy.

14) Third-party material and permissions

Obtain permission for previously published figures/tables where required and keep permission letters.
Verify licensing for instruments/scales; include required credit lines and license notices.
Make sure third-party content is compatible with the article’s open license or is used under a permitted exception with attribution.

15) Redundant or duplicate publication and salami slicing

Do not publish multiple papers derived from the same dataset without clear, non-overlapping questions and transparent cross-referencing.
Secondary analyses must specify their relationship to primary publications and disclose any reuse of cohorts or instruments.

16) Allegations of misconduct: process and cooperation

Our approach

Screening: The editorial office may use similarity tools, figure checks, or statistical review.
Inquiry: If concerns arise, we contact the corresponding author for an explanation and may request data or ethics documents.
Escalation: Where appropriate, we coordinate with institutions or funders. Authors are expected to cooperate fully and promptly.
Outcomes: Corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or other actions are applied proportionately and transparently.

Retaliation against whistleblowers or reviewers is unacceptable. Report concerns to the editorial office with specific details and evidence where possible.

17) Post-publication responsibilities

If you discover a significant error, contact the journal immediately and work with editors to issue a correction or retraction as appropriate.
Update preprints and repository records to point readers to corrections or the version of record.
Respond constructively to post-publication commentary; share additional materials that clarify methods or results when feasible.

18) Media, social media, and public communication

Present findings accurately and avoid overstating implications, particularly for safety-sensitive clinical topics.
Respect embargoes and coordinate press materials with your institution where applicable.
Disclose conflicts and funding consistently across all communications.

19) Non-compliance and sanctions

Potential actions include request for corrections, manuscript rejection, retraction, or temporary submission restrictions.
Serious breaches may be reported to institutions, funders, or regulators as appropriate.

20) Author ethics checklist (before you submit)

Statements & documents

IRB/IEC approval or waiver letter and consent statements (human studies).
Animal care approval and welfare details (animal studies).
Trial or protocol registration ID (if applicable).
Conflict of interest disclosures for each author; funding statements and award numbers.
Permissions/licenses for third-party content; instrument licenses as needed.

Integrity & transparency

Data Availability Statement and repository links (or justified restrictions).
Accurate author list with CRediT roles; all authors have approved the manuscript.
Similarity/plagiarism self-check completed; figures meet integrity standards.
AI tool usage disclosed and verified; no confidential data shared with external tools.

21) Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Common questions

Q1: Can we reuse parts of our prior methods section?
Limited, well-cited reuse may be acceptable, but extensive text recycling is not. Clarify what is new in your study.

Q2: Are preprints allowed?
Yes. Disclose the preprint at submission and update it with the CJNCP DOI and citation on publication.

Q3: What if our data are sensitive?
Provide a Data Availability Statement explaining de-identification and any controlled access arrangements. Share instruments/codebooks and analytic code when feasible.

Q4: Can AI tools be used to help write?
Yes, with disclosure and rigorous author verification. AI cannot be listed as an author and must not compromise confidentiality or originality.

Q5: How are image adjustments handled?
Apply global adjustments uniformly; do not add/remove features. Maintain scale bars and orientation. Provide originals on request.

22) Contact

Ethics questions can be directed to the editorial office via the journal’s official contact page. Include your manuscript ID (if available), a concise description of the issue, and relevant documents (e.g., IRB letter). We will respond with guidance tailored to your situation.