Publication Ethics

RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION ETHICS POLICY

Journal of Pakistan Association of Dermatologists (JPAD) promotes research integrity, including objectivity, honesty, openness, fairness, accountability, and stewardship. Authors submitting manuscripts to JPAD are expected to uphold these values and engage in responsible research practices.

JPAD endorses the core practices of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) and handles any suspected misconduct according to COPE guidelines. Additionally, JPAD follows the policies of WAME (World Association of Medical Editors) regarding research ethics and professionalism.

 

Approval from Research Ethical Committees

Authors must provide institutional ethical review board/committee approval or exemption for all research articles at the time of submission.

Approval from the relevant authority or institution where the research was conducted is mandatory if required.

Experiments involving human subjects must adhere to ethical standards as per the latest version of the Helsinki Declaration. Patient information should be anonymized unless essential for scientific purposes and with explicit informed consent.

Experiments on animals should follow national and international guidelines, including institutional review body approval and adherence to care and use regulations.

 

Protection of Research Participants

JPAD prioritizes ethical research and expects authors to comply with international and national guidelines for safeguarding research participants.

Authors must declare any issues related to human and animal rights inherent in their submissions.

Institutional review board approval is required for experiments on human subjects and animals, following international ethical standards as per ICMJE standards.

JPAD may reject manuscripts suspected of ethical violations, even with approval from ethics committees.

 

Informed Consent & Confidentiality

Authors conducting research on human subjects must provide an ethical approval certificate and an undertaking that the informed consent to participate in the study has been obtained from the study participants and/or guardians/parents of the study participants under 18 years of age. This should also be documented in the methods section of the manuscript.

Consent is required for case reports, clinical pictures, and adverse drug reactions.

Patient confidentiality must be maintained, and authors should avoid identifying patient information without explicit consent.

For studies involving vulnerable populations (children, prisoners, or individuals with cognitive impairments), additional safeguards and consent processes may be necessary.

 

Human Rights Policy

JPAD adheres to ICMJE Recommendations and the WMA Declaration of Helsinki on ethical principles in medical research involving human subjects (detail).

Authors conducting experiments on humans should confirm adherence to national and international ethical standards, including the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (revised in 2008).

If any doubts arise regarding compliance with the Helsinki Declaration, authors must provide a rationale and demonstrate explicit approval from the institutional review body for any questionable aspects of the study.

 

Animal Rights Policy

Authors conducting research on animals must follow national and international guidelines for animal care and use.

Authors can take guidance on animal research ethics from WMA statement on animal use in biomedical research, International Association of Veterinary Editors’ Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare and Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals.

JPAD supports the 3Rs principles (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement) for humane animal usage in research.

Authors should submit the undertaking that informed consent was taken from the client if they involved the client-owned animals.

 

Authorship Criteria

Authors must meet the criteria for authorship as recommended by The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (detail).

The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

  1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  2. Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in 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 done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.

Issues related to authorship will be handled as per COPE guidelines.