Editorial policies

Introduction and General Principles

Scientific journals published by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Press (TUOMS PRESS) adhere to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the WAME policy statement on geopolitical intrusion in editorial decisions, the CSE white paper on promoting integrity in scientific journal publications, and the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals. Submission of a manuscript to any of these journals implies that all named authors have read and approved the content of the submitted work and that the journal's policy has been taken into account.

Ethics and Consent

All submissions based on research must include a statement indicating that ethical approval has been obtained (or a statement explaining why approval was not required), including the name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s) (IRB), the reference number or identifier of the approval(s), and a statement that participants gave informed consent before participation. Even when a study has been approved by a research ethics committee or institutional review board, editors may request further information and details regarding research ethics from the authors. Research on humans, human tissue, or human data must be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and must be approved by an appropriate ethics committee. If editors conclude that the research was not conducted within an appropriate ethical framework, the submission may be rejected. Editors may also contact the relevant institutional ethics committee for further information in specific cases. Allegations of publication misconduct are carefully investigated both before and after publication, and TUOMS PRESS reserves the right to contact institutions, funders, or regulatory bodies associated with the authors if necessary. If conclusive evidence of misconduct is found, necessary actions regarding the correction of the scholarly record, which may include correction or retraction of published works, will be taken.

Retrospective Ethical Approval

If a study did not obtain ethics committee approval before commencing, retrospective ethical approval is usually not possible, and the submission may not enter the peer review process. In such cases, the decision to allow the submission into the peer review process rests with the journal editors.

Patient Consent and Confidentiality Principles

Any submission to journals published by TUOMS PRESS that contains personally identifiable medical information about a living individual requires the explicit consent of that individual before publication. Therefore, all study patients must sign an informed consent form after reading the relevant study information sheet. If consent cannot be obtained because the patient cannot be located, publication is possible only if the information remains sufficiently anonymized. Anonymized means that neither the individual nor anyone else can confidently identify the person. If the patient is deceased, authors must obtain permission from a relative (as a matter of respect and medical ethics). If relatives are unavailable, journals will weigh the value of the case, the likelihood of identification from the article, and the potential offensiveness of publishing. The use of images such as radiography scans, laparoscopic images, ultrasound images, pathology slides, or images of body parts in a non-identifying manner is permitted without consent when any identifying marks are removed and no accompanying text reveals the patient's identity.

Research on Vulnerable Participants

Authors must identify vulnerable participants (such as children, prisoners, individuals with cognitive disabilities, the elderly, etc.) in their articles. Obtaining informed consent from participants is essential, and you must ensure they understand the purpose, nature, and risks of the study, and that they can withdraw at any time. Studies involving vulnerable populations must obtain approval from an institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee before commencement. Maintaining confidentiality and security of sensitive information related to vulnerable participants is mandatory. Guidelines for recruiting these individuals must show that participation is entirely voluntary and free from coercion. Researchers are obligated to describe the measures taken to identify and mitigate potential risks and to specify mechanisms for ongoing monitoring of participants throughout the study. Reporting must be conducted in a manner that protects the identity of participants and complies with international ethical guidelines and regulations in research involving vulnerable populations.

Trial Registration

According to ICMJE recommendations, a clinical trial is defined as: "Any research project that prospectively assigns people or a group of people to an intervention, with or without concurrent comparison or control groups, to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome." In adherence to ICMJE recommendations, no scientific journal published by TUOMS PRESS will consider reports of clinical trials unless the trial was registered before any participant assignment. Registration of all clinical trials in one of the public clinical trial registries approved by ICMJE (any registry that is a primary partner of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform) is a prerequisite for reviewing submissions for publication in journals published by TUOMS PRESS. The trial registration number and date of registration must be included in the last line of the abstract of the submitted work.

Reporting Standards

Authors are encouraged to use the research reporting guidelines provided by the EQUATOR Network for various study types when preparing their manuscripts. Authors should follow these guidelines in preparing their articles, and peer reviewers will be asked to refer to these checklists when evaluating such studies. This practice ensures that authors provide sufficient information for editors, reviewers, and readers to understand how the research was conducted and the likelihood that the findings are reliable. The main reporting guidelines include: CONSORT for randomized controlled trials (RCTs); PRISMA and MOOSE for systematic reviews and meta-analyses; STROBE for observational studies in epidemiology; CARE for case reports; STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies; SQUIRE for quality improvement studies; SRQR or COREQ for qualitative research; and CHEERS for economic evaluations.

Statistical Methods

Authors are asked to include complete information about the statistical methods and criteria used in their research, including justification for the appropriateness of the statistical tests used, in their submitted manuscripts (for more information, refer to the SAMPL guideline). Reviewers will be asked to examine the statistical methods, and if necessary, the submitted manuscript may be sent to statistical experts for review. Editors may also consult a methodology expert.

Data Sharing

TUOMS PRESS encourages authors of scientific works to share data and any materials related to the methods and results of submitted articles in an appropriate public repository or as supplementary content with open access. Therefore, manuscripts submitted to journals published by TUOMS PRESS should preferably include a data sharing statement. In line with ICMJE recommendations, manuscripts reporting clinical trial results must include a data-sharing statement on whether and how the data will be made available. For more information, please refer to the ICMJE recommendations regarding data sharing in clinical trials.

Competing Interests

A competing interest is anything that interferes or could reasonably be perceived to interfere with the full and objective presentation, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication of research or non-research articles submitted to journals published by TUOMS PRESS. A competing interest exists when professional judgment regarding a primary interest (such as patient welfare or the validity of research) is influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain, employment, consultancy fees, stock ownership or options, honoraria, patents, expert testimony fees, or personal relationships). A competing interest is not, in itself, outside ethical norms, but it must be acknowledged and openly declared. All authors must declare all competing interests at the time of submission in the cover letter and in the "Competing Interests" section. If authors have no competing interests, the following statement must be included verbatim: "The authors declare that they have no competing interests regarding the authorship or publication of this article." The journal editor may request further information regarding competing interests. Journal editors and reviewers must also declare any competing interests; if a competing interest exists, they will be excluded from the review process for that article. According to TUOMS PRESS policy, editors of scientific journals published by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences must not have any financial relationships with biomedical companies. Declaring all potential competing interests is a necessity and part of the transparent research reporting process. Failure to declare competing interests can result in immediate rejection of an article. If an undeclared competing interest is discovered after publication, TUOMS PRESS will act in accordance with COPE guidelines and will publish a public notice to the community. Competing interests can be financial or non-financial, professional or personal. Competing interests can arise in relation to an organization or an individual.

Financial Competing Interests

Some financial competing interests include, but are not limited to, the following: receiving payments for reimbursement, fees, work funding, or salary from an organization that may in any way share in the financial gains or losses resulting from the publication of the article, whether now or in the future; stock ownership in an organization that may in any way share in the financial gains or losses resulting from the publication of the article, whether now or in the future; patent ownership or pending patent applications related to the content of the article; receiving payments for reimbursement, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that owns or is applying for a patent related to the content of the article.

Non-Financial Competing Interests

Non-financial competing interests include (but are not limited to) political, personal, religious, academic, and intellectual competing interests.

Commercial Organizations

Authors in relation to pharmaceutical companies or other commercial organizations sponsoring clinical trials must declare such matters as competing interests when submitting to the journal. They must also adhere to the "Good Publication Practice guidelines for pharmaceutical companies (GPP2)," which are designed to ensure work is published responsibly and ethically. These guidelines are also applicable to any company or individual employed in industry-supported publications, including freelance authors, contract research organizations, and communications companies. TUOMS PRESS does not publish advertising content.

Artificial Intelligence

TUOMS PRESS's policy on the use of artificial intelligence technologies generally aligns with the global community's consensus and the recommendations of relevant international committees. Artificial intelligence can produce outputs that may be incorrect, incomplete, or erroneous. Additionally, generally, any interaction and content uploaded to AI-based tools that are available for free or by subscription do not remain confidential. TUOMS PRESS monitors developments in AI-based technologies in publishing, including the creation of scientific works, editing, peer review, and related processes, and updates its policy on the use of AI in article publishing. Authors of articles submitted to scientific journals of TUOMS PRESS are required to declare any use of AI technologies (such as large language models [LLMs], chatbots, or image generation) in the submitted article. The use of AI must be specified in both of the following ways: stated in the cover letter; and described in the relevant section within the submitted article. For example: the use of AI-based editing software should be stated in the acknowledgments section. Data collection, analysis, or image generation using AI-based technologies must be specified in the methods section, including the name and version of the tool used and the prompt employed, to enable reproducibility. Since various types of chatbots (such as ChatGPT) cannot take responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work, which are criteria for authorship, they cannot be granted authorship status, and their names cannot be listed as authors in the author list. AI-generated content is not acceptable as a primary source or reference. Editors, in accordance with ICMJE recommendations, should consider that using AI technologies to process articles may violate the principle of article confidentiality. Therefore, the use of AI technologies for processing articles submitted to scientific journals of TUOMS PRESS is not permitted. Reviewers: Maintaining the confidentiality of articles in the review process is essential. Therefore, to maintain confidentiality, the use of AI technologies to process content under review in the review process of articles submitted to TUOMS PRESS scientific journals is not permitted. Strictly, any uploading of submitted content, including any part of the article, to AI-based software that violates the confidentiality of the content is prohibited.

Authorship

Generally, an individual is considered an author who has made a significant intellectual contribution to the publication of a research work. According to ICMJE recommendations, authorship is evaluated based on the following four criteria: substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; final approval of the version to be published; and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work they have done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for other specific parts of the work. Furthermore, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors. All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Mere participation in obtaining funding, data collection, technical and writing assistance, or general supervision of the research group does not constitute authorship. The names of individuals who do not meet these four criteria should be mentioned in the "Acknowledgments" section.

Acknowledgments

Individuals who have contributed to the scientific work but do not meet the four authorship criteria should be acknowledged with their names and the nature of their contributions in the "Acknowledgments" section. Authors must ensure that anyone whose name is listed in the "Acknowledgments" section has given permission for their name to be included for the stated contribution. Financial and material support must also be mentioned. It is essential to report all sources of financial support and other support for the submitted work, including funds received from participants, institutions, or commercial sources. Consultancy fees and funds paid directly to researchers must also be included. Contributions of scientific writers (medical writers) or any other individual who assisted in preparing the manuscript content, along with the financial source of the work, must be mentioned in accordance with the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) guidelines.

Author Information

Author information is published by journals so that authors and their institutions can be identified by the scientific community. Author information is also used for resource retrieval in databases and bibliographic indexes; however, many databases do not include or display all author information. TUOMS PRESS is aware that some authors have multi-part names, middle names, or family names, or some do not have middle names but part of their name or family name has been incorrectly published as their middle name in another journal in the past. The policy of scientific journals of TUOMS PRESS is to publish author information, including names, suffixes, and nominal prefixes along with organizational affiliations, in the same form as provided by the corresponding author at the time of submission. In order to ensure the accuracy and correctness of author information, prevent any errors regarding the spelling or declaration of author names to bibliographic indexes and databases, and minimize changes at the proof stage or post-publication corrections, it is essential that authors review and approve the display of names automatically generated from the information provided in the submission system at the time of submission to journals published by TUOMS PRESS. This section will include how author information is displayed and retrieved in databases such as PubMed or Scopus. Therefore, each author is responsible for ensuring bibliographic consistency of author names with their previous articles.

Authorship Changes

Any change in authorship (i.e., order, addition, and removal of authors) after initial submission must be approved by all authors. Authors must agree among themselves on the order of author names. Additionally, authors must explain any changes to the editor. According to COPE guidelines, TUOMS PRESS will obtain written confirmation from all authors that they agree with the proposed changes to the authorship of the submitted work or published article. This confirmation must be communicated directly via email from each author. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all authors agree with the proposed changes. If there is a disagreement among authors and a satisfactory agreement is not reached, authors must contact the relevant institution(s) to resolve the issue. Resolving authorship disputes is not the responsibility of the journal editor. Changes in authorship of a published article can only be corrected through the publication of an erratum.

Unique Identifiers

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a non-profit, community-driven initiative aimed at providing a registry of unique identifiers for researchers and a transparent method for linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers. Providing ORCID is mandatory for the first author and corresponding author in scientific journals published by TUOMS PRESS, and other authors are also encouraged to provide their unique identifier. Providing ORCID is also necessary for individuals selected as reviewers for the peer review process of submissions to scientific journals. Members of the editorial boards of scientific journals published by TUOMS PRESS are also asked to provide their unique identifiers, including ORCID, for inclusion in their profiles.

Citations

Research and non-research articles (such as critiques, opinions, and review articles) must cite appropriate and relevant literature in support of the claims made in the article. Behaviors such as excessive and inappropriate self-citation or coordinated efforts by authors for collective self-citation are strongly prohibited. Authors should consider the following guidelines when preparing their articles: for any statement in the manuscript that relies on external sources of information (i.e., a source other than the author's own ideas or findings or general knowledge), the relevant source must be cited; authors should avoid citing derivatives of original works — for example, authors should cite the original work rather than a review article that cites an original work; authors must ensure that their citations are accurate (i.e., authors must ensure that the cited source supports the statement made in the manuscript and must not misrepresent another cited work as supporting the manuscript when it does not); authors must not cite sources they have not read; authors should preferably not cite works published by themselves or friends, colleagues, or their institution; authors must not cite articles solely from a particular country; authors must not cite an excessive number of sources to support a single viewpoint; authors should, at best and as much as possible, cite sources that have undergone peer review; authors must not cite advertisements or advertorials.

Duplicate Publication

Manuscripts submitted to scientific journals published by TUOMS PRESS must be original works and must not be under review by another journal, nor should significant portions of them be under review elsewhere. Whenever there is a potential likelihood of overlap or duplication of text, we ask authors to be explicit about it. Authors must declare any published works with potential overlap at the time of submission and, if possible, submit them as additional files accompanying the article. Any published work that overlaps with the manuscript must be cited. Any in-press or unpublished manuscript cited or relevant to the editor's or reviewers' evaluation must be made available upon the editor's request. TUOMS PRESS reserves the right to judge case by case regarding works that potentially overlap or are duplicated. In general, the submitted manuscript must not have been formally published in any scientific journal or in any other citable form. If this matter is justified and clarified at the time of submission, there are exceptions to this rule, such as publication as a poster or presentation at a conference. TUOMS PRESS uses CrossCheck text similarity detection technology (plagiarism detection) for English-language articles and deals seriously with all cases of publication misconduct. Any case of covert duplicate manuscript submission will be dealt with according to COPE guidelines, and the editor may contact the relevant institution of the authors (for more information, refer to the Misconduct policy). TUOMS PRESS emphasizes the ICMJE policy regarding overlapping works.

Online Institutional Repositories and Preprint Servers

Posting a version of the manuscript on a preprint server such as ArXiv, BioRxiv, or Peer J PrePrints or similar platforms (commercial and non-commercial) is not considered duplicate publication. Cases that form part of an academic thesis and have been placed in the public domain according to the requirements of the relevant institution will also be considered in scientific journals published by TUOMS PRESS.

Summary of Clinical Trial Results in Public Registries

Generally, posting a summary of clinical trial results in publicly available databases is not considered duplicate publication. In TUOMS PRESS, it is essential that authors of manuscripts containing reports of clinical trials register their trial in an appropriate accessible registry (for more information, refer to the Trial Registration policy).

**Text Recycling**

Authors should be aware that textual repetition from their own previous articles constitutes text recycling (or, in other words, self-plagiarism) and in some cases this is unacceptable. When textual similarity with the authors' own previous articles is necessary or unavoidable, the duplication of text must always be clearly stated and properly referenced and must be compatible with copyright requirements. If the submitted work contains text that has been published elsewhere, authors must inform the journal editors in the cover letter accompanying the article.

Peer Review

All research articles, and most other article types, published by scientific journals of TUOMS PRESS undergo a full peer review process. This process typically involves review by two independent peer reviewers. For information about the journal's peer review policy, please refer to the Peer Review Process page.

Peer Review Policy

All submissions to scientific journals published by TUOMS PRESS are evaluated by an editor of the journal who decides on their suitability for peer review. Whenever an editor of the journal is listed as an author of a work or has any other competing interests regarding any submitted work, another member of the editorial board is assigned to take responsibility for overseeing the peer review process. Submissions that are initially deemed suitable for publication are sent for peer review by independent experts. Journal editors make decisions based on the reviewers' comments, and these comments, along with the editorial decision on the manuscript, are sent to the authors. Authors should note that even with a positive review from one reviewer, concerns raised by other reviewers may fundamentally question the study and lead to rejection of the manuscript. All scientific journals published by TUOMS PRESS use a double-blind peer-review process. Authors and reviewers are treated anonymously.

Editors

TUOMS PRESS invites scientists from various fields affiliated with scientific institutions worldwide to serve as journal editors, based on their scientific achievements and publication record. The "Council of Scientific Journals" of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences evaluates candidates' qualifications and selects the best individuals based on COPE guidelines, including matters related to conflicts of interest. The journal also conducts regular reviews to ensure best practices are implemented in accordance with COPE guidelines. Submissions are first reviewed by journal editors, and then peer reviewers are assigned. Editors evaluate the comments of peer reviewers and make the final decision regarding publication in the journal.

Peer Reviewers

Authors may, if they wish, suggest potential peer reviewers for their work; however, the decision to send the work to those reviewers is at the discretion of the editor. Authors must not suggest recent collaborators or colleagues employed at their institution. Authors who wish to suggest peer reviewers can do so in the cover letter accompanying the article, which should, if possible, include the institutional email address or information (such as ORCID or Scopus ID) that will assist journal editors in verifying the identity of the suggested potential reviewer. Authors may request the exclusion of certain individuals as peer reviewers, but must explain their reasons in the cover letter at the time of submission. Authors must not request the exclusion of a large number of individuals, as this could disrupt the peer review process. Please note that journal editors may still select excluded reviewers. Deliberately providing false information, such as suggesting reviewers with fictitious names or email addresses, will result in rejection of the manuscript and may lead to further investigation in accordance with our misconduct policy.

Confidentiality

Journal editors treat all submissions to the journal confidentially. Reviewers are also required to treat manuscripts confidentially. Scientific journals published by TUOMS PRESS will not share submissions with third parties except in cases of suspected misconduct. For more information in this regard, please refer to our Misconduct policy.

Misconduct

TUOMS PRESS deals seriously with all potential allegations of misconduct. Scientific journals published by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences follow COPE guidelines to address suspected cases of misconduct. In cases of suspected research or publication misconduct, it may be necessary for journal editors to contact third parties, such as the relevant institution(s) of the authors or ethics committees, and share manuscripts with them. TUOMS PRESS may also seek advice from COPE and discuss cases anonymously in the COPE forum.

Research Misconduct

All research involving humans (including human data and human tissues) must have been conducted within an appropriate ethical framework (for more information, refer to our Ethics and Consent policy). If there is suspicion that a research study was not conducted within an appropriate ethical framework, journal editors may reject the manuscript and may inform third parties, such as the relevant institution(s) of the author(s) and ethics committees. If research misconduct is proven regarding published articles, or if the scientific integrity of an article is significantly questioned, the article may be retracted. For more information, refer to our Corrections and Retractions policy.

Publication Misconduct

In all scientific journals published by TUOMS PRESS, COPE guidelines are followed in cases of potential publication misconduct.

Image Manipulation

All digital images in submissions will be carefully examined for any signs of manipulation that violate the following guidelines. Manipulations that violate these guidelines may delay the article acceptance process or lead to rejection or retraction of the article. No specific features should be enhanced, hidden, moved, removed, or introduced in the images. Grouping of images from different parts of a gel or gels, different areas, or different photographic settings must be specified with the figure arrangement (i.e., using dividing lines) and in the text below the figure. Brightness, contrast, or color balance settings are acceptable as long as they are applied to every pixel of the image and do not obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent information. Non-linear adjustments (e.g., changes in gamma settings) must be clearly indicated in the text below the figure. Any questions during or after the peer review process will be referred to the editor, who will request the original data from the author(s) for comparison with the prepared images. If the original data cannot be found, the submission may be rejected or, in the case of a published article, retracted. Any work in which data manipulation affects the interpretation of data will be rejected or retracted. Suspected cases of misconduct will be reported to the institution(s) of the author(s).

Plagiarism

All English articles in scientific journals published by TUOMS PRESS are examined for textual similarity by iThenticate software, which specifically addresses this issue, before publication. If plagiarism is detected, we will follow COPE guidelines. Examples of plagiarism include (but are not limited to): direct copying of text from other sources; copying ideas, images, or data from other sources; reuse of text from one's own previously published articles; using an idea from another source with slight language modification. If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, it may result in rejection of the submission. If plagiarism is detected after publication, we reserve the right to issue a correction or retraction notice for the article. We reserve the right to inform the relevant institutions of the authors about plagiarism both before and after publication.

Corrections and Retractions

TUOMS PRESS may, in rare cases, publish a correction or retraction notice for a published article in order to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record in its scientific publications. In line with accepted norms of the academic community, correction or retraction of published articles will be carried out by publishing an erratum or retraction notice, without changing the original article and by adding a clear link to the erratum/retraction notice. The original article remains in the public domain, and the subsequent erratum or retraction notice is indexed everywhere. In exceptional cases where the material in question violates specific rights or is defamatory, we may be required to remove the article from the website and other archives and repositories. Minor corrections in published articles may be possible by posting a comment from the author(s) of the article below the published article. This process will only be appropriate when the intended changes do not affect the findings or conclusions of the article.

Erratum
Changes in published articles that affect the interpretation and conclusions of the article but do not completely invalidate it are, at the editor's discretion, corrected through the publication of an erratum that is indexed and linked to the original article. Changes in the author list of published articles are corrected with an erratum. For more information, refer to the Authorship policy.

Retraction
In rare cases, when the scientific information in an article is fundamentally questioned, it may be necessary to retract the published article. TUOMS PRESS will follow COPE guidelines in such cases. The retracted article is indexed and linked to the original article.