Ethical Principles Policy
Manuscripts submitted to MedEst must adhere to international guidelines on clinical research involving human subjects and laboratory animals (World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki). Additionally, they must have been approved by the institution’s Ethics Committee and Scientific Council. The submitting authors accept the responsibilities outlined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, www.icmje.org).
MedEst promotes ethical publishing practices among all contributors. Each article submitted for review must meet the following requirements:
-
Institutional Approval – For studies requiring institutional authorization, researchers must provide proof of approval for their work proposals before commencing the study. The research must strictly follow the institutionally approved protocol.
-
Consent for Submission – All authors must consent to the submission and potential publication of the manuscript, having completed the supplementary Publication Authorization Letter.
-
Originality – The submitted article must be original, unpublished, and not under simultaneous review by another journal. Authors must complete the Originality Statement Form.
-
Reproduction Consent – The manuscript must not include copyrighted material from other authors without explicit permission. If reproducing third-party content, written consent for print and electronic reproduction must be clearly stated.
-
Prior Research – Any data derived from previous studies must be properly cited. If the submission analyzes a previously published proposal, the original work must be referenced.
-
Journal Archives – Submitted articles will remain in MedEst’s archives.
-
Reviewers’ Independence – Reviewers must have no professional, academic, or personal ties to the authors.
-
Ethical Publishing Principles – Authors must comply with established ethical publishing standards.
-
Informed Consent – Researchers must explicitly state whether they have obtained written consent from study participants for:
-
The research itself.
-
Audio/visual recordings used in the study.
-
-
Duplicate Publication – Submissions that substantially overlap with previously published articles (in print or electronic form) are considered redundant or duplicate publications. Articles with similar hypotheses, sample characteristics, methodology, results, or conclusions to prior works fall under this category. Unauthorized republication without editorial knowledge constitutes duplicate publication. Exceptions include:
-
Conference abstracts/posters.
-
Uninterpreted results from scientific meetings, trial registries, or databases.
-
Theses and dissertations in university repositories.
-
-
Authorship Changes – No changes to authorship (order, additions, or removals) are permitted after submission via Open Journal Systems (OJS).
-
Data Integrity – Fabrication of data is prohibited. If significant errors are found in published data, authors must take steps to issue public corrections.
-
Misconduct Allegations – Complaints regarding research irregularities (anonymous or identified) will only be investigated if supported by evidence.
-
Image Manipulation – While minor edits (e.g., brightness/contrast adjustments applied uniformly) are acceptable, misleading alterations are not. Authors must:
-
Avoid altering specific features.
-
Provide original unedited images if modified versions are submitted.
-
Clearly label non-linear adjustments or deletions in figure captions.
-
Indicate composite images with dividing lines and captions.
-
-
Plagiarism – Copying or misusing others’ intellectual property is prohibited. Manuscripts undergo automated plagiarism checks before editorial review. Editors also verify references for potential plagiarism.
-
Redundant Data Publication – Authors must avoid presenting previously published data as original. Reuse is permitted only with proper attribution.
-
Simultaneous Submission – Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously is not allowed. If detected, the manuscript will be rejected.
-
Translations – Manuscripts already published in other languages will not be considered.
-
Reporting Misconduct – Readers who detect plagiarism or duplicate publication should email revistamedest@gmail.com with the article title, author(s), volume, issue, and publication year.
