Authorship
All authors must meet the criteria of the concept. The participation of each author in the work should be sufficient to assume responsibility for its content. The right to be called the author is based on the following facts:
- significant contribution to the concept and design of the study or to the analysis and interpretation of data;
- work on the text of the article or the introduction of fundamental changes;
- the final approval of the version submitted for printing.
Participation, which consists only in securing financing or selecting material for an article, does not justify inclusion in the composition of the author's group. The overall management of the research team is also not recognized as sufficient for authorship. The editors have the right to specify the authors' contribution to each article's writing. This information can be published.
All members of the team that do not meet the criteria of authorship, but who assisted in the research on the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, the provision of materials and tools, should be listed with their consent in the "Acknowledgments" section that is stated by the decision of the team.
Conflict of interest
Conflict of interest concerning a particular manuscript arises if one of the participants in the review or publication process (author, reviewer or editor) has obligations that could affect his or her opinion (even if this does not happen in reality). The most frequent cause of conflict of interest is financial relations (for example, related to hiring, consulting, shareholding, payment of fees and paid expert opinions), direct or through close relatives. There are other possible reasons - personal relationships, scientific rivalry and intellectual predilections.
Participants in the review and publication process should report a conflict of interest.
The authors, when presenting the manuscript, are responsible for disclosing their financial and other conflicting interests that can influence their work. The manuscript should include all individuals and organizations that have provided financial support, as well as other financial or personal contributions. The role of the sponsor / sponsors in the research structure, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data should be described.
Authors should indicate the names of those who, in their opinion, should not get the manuscript for review in connection with a possible conflict of interest. If the authors are not sure of the presence of a conflict of interest, they should explain the situation to the editor for its evaluation.
Reviewers should notify the editorial office of any conflicts of interest that may affect their opinion of the manuscript. They must refuse to review a particular article, if they consider it justified. In turn, the editorial staff should be able to assess the objectivity of the review and decide whether it is worth to abandon the services of this reviewer.
The Editorial Board can use the information provided in the reports on the presence of a conflict of interest and on financial interests as the basis for making editorial decisions.
Editors who make decisions about a manuscript should not have personal, professional or financial interest/participation in any matter that they can decide. Other members of the editorial team, if they participate in decision-making, should provide editors with a description of their financial interest (since it may have an impact on editorial decisions) and refuse to participate in decision-making if there is a conflict of interest.
Observance of patients' rights and confidentiality
Patients have the right to maintain confidentiality, which can not be disclosed without their consent. Personally identifiable information, including patient names, initials, hospital numbers and case histories, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs and pedigrees unless this information is of great scientific value or if the patient (or parent or guardian) does not provide written consent to the publication. The authors must inform the patients if there is a possibility that the material to be identified after publication will be available via the Internet. Authors must provide the written informed consent of the patient for dissemination of information and inform about it in the article.
Protection of people and animals
If there are descriptions of human/human experiments in the article, the authors should indicate whether they were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the committee responsible for experiments involving human / people (institutional or national) and the 1975 Helsinki Declaration and its revised version of 2000. In doubtful cases, the authors should provide a justification for their approach and evidence that the agency's review board has approved the questionable aspects of the study. When presenting experiments involving animals, the authors should indicate whether the requirements of the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrates, the requirements of the national leadership and the management of the institution for the maintenance and use of laboratory animals have been met.
Publication of negative results
Many studies showing negative results are in fact non-committal / inconclusive. The editorial board considers the possibility of publishing incomplete research results in a special order; as such articles do not have biomedical value and expend resources belonging to the journal.
Multiple publications
The editors do not consider manuscripts that are simultaneously submitted for publication to other journals, as well as the works that have for the most part already been published as an article or have become part of another work submitted or accepted for publication by other print journal or electronic media. This policy does not exclude consideration of an article not accepted for publication by another journal, or a complete description presented after the publication of preliminary results, i.e. theses or posters presented at professional conferences.
Correspondence
Readers can send their comments, questions or criticisms to published articles that will be printed in the journal. If desired, the authors of the articles can respond to comments.
Author's copies are not provided. You can get the journal only by subscriptio.
The details of the "Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals" developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors can be found on the website www.ICMJE.org in English and also in Russian.