Publication Policy

The Editorial Board of the Journal of Orthopedics Research and Rehabilitation and the responsible publisher adhere to the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE),  World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Council of Science Editors (CSE), European Association of Science Editors (EASE), US National Library of Medicine (NLM), World Medical Association (WMA), and the National Information Standards Organization (NISO). The Journal conforms to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publishing.

According to the journal’s policy, approval of research protocols by an ethics committee following the international agreements "WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (last updated: October 2013, Fortaleza, Brazil),” "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (8th edition, 2011), " or "International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals (2012)" is required for all research studies. If the submitted manuscript does not have ethics committee approval, it will not be processed for further evaluation.

For articles concerning experimental research on humans, a statement that showed the informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. The Journal may request a copy of the ethics committee approval from the authors.

The ICJIM authors were required to confirm the following.

• The submitted articles must be original studies by authors (s).

• Only unpublished articles should be submitted.

• Submitting an article to more than one journal at the same time is unethical.

• Any conflict of interest should be clearly stated.

• The data sources used in this study are explained.

• Any errors detected after the article is submitted should be immediately reported to the ICJIM editors.

The ICJIM reviewers were required to confirm the following:

• All articles should be reviewed legally based on their intellectual content, regardless of the gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or political value of the author(s).

• Reviews should be objective and constructive, avoiding hostile or provocative comments and making libelous or offensive comments.

• To conduct a comprehensive review, authors should have the required field expertise and review articles that can be evaluated on time.

• Any conflict of interest detected during the review process must be reported to the ICJIM editors.

• All information about the article should be kept confidential.

• Information obtained during the review process should not be used for the benefit of the reviewers themselves or any other person, the organization, or to put others in a disadvantageous position or discredit them.

• Information that may be the reason for the rejection of an article’s publication should be reported to ICJIM editors.

The ICJIM editors were required to confirm the following:

• All articles should be evaluated reasonably based on their intellectual content, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or political values of the author(s).

• All information about the article should be kept confidential.

• Any observed conflicts of interest with the articles should be disclosed.

• The editorial board takes on the responsibility to make publication decisions for submitted articles based on peer reviews, the policies of the journal's editorial board, and legal restrictions against plagiarism, defamation, and copyright.

Ethic Responsibility

All the authors have made direct academic and scientific contributions to the submitted manuscript. The authors should have all the following specifications: plan or execute the study in the manuscript, write or revise the manuscript, and accept the final draft.

The journal searches for conformity with the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm) for all clinical studies. The scientific and ethical liabilities of the manuscript belong to the authors, and the copyright of the manuscript belongs to the journal. The authors are responsible for the content of the manuscript and accuracy of the references. All manuscripts submitted for publication must be accompanied by the Copyright Transfer Form [copyright transfer]. Once this form, signed by all authors, has been submitted, it is understood that neither the manuscript nor the data it contains have been submitted elsewhere or have been previously published, and the authors declare the statement of scientific contributions and responsibilities of all authors.

If the article includes any direct or indirect commercial links or if any institution provides material support to the study, the authors must state in the cover letter that they have no relationship with the commercial product, drug, pharmaceutical company, etc. concerned, or specify the type of relationship (consultant, other agreements), if any. The authors must provide a statement regarding the absence of conflicts of interest among the authors and authorship contributions. In case of any suspicion or claim regarding scientific shortcomings or ethical infringement, the journal reserves the right to submit the manuscript to supporting institutions or other authorities for investigation. The Journal accepts the responsibility of initiating action but does not undertake any responsibility for an actual investigation or any power of decision.

The preparation of systematic reviews and meta-analyses must comply with the following study design guidelines: PRISMA statement of preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, PRISMA Group. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: PRISMA Statement. PLoS Med 2009; 6(7): e1000097.) (http://www.prisma-statement.org/).

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All sources of financial support have been disclosed. All authors should disclose whether a meaningful conflict of interest exists in the process of their study. Any financial grants or other support received from individuals or institutions for the submitted study should be disclosed to the Editorial Board of the Journal. The ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form should be filled in and submitted by all the contributing authors to disclose potential conflicts of interest. The Editorial Board of the journal determines cases of potential conflicts of interest between the editors, authors, or reviewers within the scope of the COPE and ICMJE guidelines.

Conditions that provide financial or personal benefits lead to conflicts of interest. The reliability of scientific processes and published articles is directly related to the objective consideration of conflicts of interest during planning, implementation, writing, evaluation, editing, and publication of scientific studies.

Financial relations are the most easily identified conflicts of interest, and inevitably undermine the credibility of journals, authors, and science. These conflicts can be caused by individual relationships, academic competition, or intellectual approaches. The authors should refrain as much as possible from making agreements with sponsors in the opinion of gaining profit or any other advantage that restricts their ability to access all data of the study or analyze, interpret, prepare, and publish their articles. Editors should refrain from bringing together those who may have any relationships during the evaluation of the studies. The editors who make the final decision about the articles should not have any personal, professional, or financial ties to any of the issues they are going to decide. The authors should inform the editorial board concerning potential conflicts of interest to ensure that their articles are evaluated within the framework of ethical principles through an independent assessment process.

If one of the editors was the author of any manuscript, the editor was excluded from the manuscript evaluation process. The article evaluation process was double-blinded to prevent conflicts of interest. Because of the double-blinded evaluation process, except for the Editor-in-Chief, none of the editorial board members, international advisory board members, or reviewers was informed about the authors of the manuscript or the authors’ institutions.

Our publication team works devotedly to ensure that the evaluation process is conducted impartially, considering all these situations.

Conflict of Interest

The declaration of conflict of interest between authors, institutions, and acknowledgment of any financial or material support or aid is mandatory for authors submitting a manuscript, and the statement should appear at the end of the manuscript. Reviewers are required to report whether any potential conflicts of interest exist between the reviewers and the authors or institutions.

Appeals and complaints

Appeal and complaint cases were handled within the scope of COPE guidelines by the journal’s Editorial Board. The appeals should be based on the scientific content of the manuscript. The final decision regarding the appeal and complaint was made by the editor-in-chief. An Ombudsperson or the Ethical Editor is assigned to resolve cases that cannot be resolved internally. Authors should get in contact with the Editor in Chief regarding their appeals and complaints via e-mail at [email protected]