Research ethics policy

Research Ethics & Legal Policies

The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences (IJIMS) upholds the highest standards of transparency and integrity. All contributors must strictly adhere to the following ethical and legal guidelines to ensure the protection of participants and the validity of published research.

Conflict of Interest (COI)

To maintain objectivity and public trust, IJIMS requires full disclosure of any financial or personal relationships that could be perceived as biasing the research.

  • Author Responsibility: Authors must disclose all financial support, consultancies, stock ownership, or personal relationships related to the manuscript.
  • Editor & Reviewer Duty: Any editor or reviewer with a potential conflict of interest regarding a manuscript must recuse themselves from the decision-making process.
  • Disclosure Statement: If no conflict exists, authors must state: "The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article."

Human and Animal Rights

Protection of Human Subjects

All research involving human participants must be conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (as revised in 2013).

  • Institutional Approval: Manuscripts must include a statement confirming that the study was approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethics Committee.
  • Vulnerable Populations: Specific care and legal compliance are required for research involving children, prisoners, or those with diminished autonomy.

Animal Welfare and Ethics

For research involving animals, IJIMS requires adherence to the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement).

  • Authors must confirm that the study followed the ARRIVE guidelines and was approved by an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) or equivalent.
  • The species used and the efforts made to minimize pain and distress must be clearly documented.

Informed Consent

Privacy is a fundamental right. IJIMS strictly enforces the following regarding participant data:

  1. Written Consent: Authors must obtain written informed consent from all human participants involved in the research.
  2. Anonymity: Identifying information (names, initials, or hospital IDs) must not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient has given explicit written consent for publication.
  3. Case Reports: For individual case studies, a signed consent form for publication must be kept on file by the author and provided to the journal upon request.

Legal Compliance & Data Protection

IJIMS operates under the legal framework of Mumbai, India, and adheres to international data privacy laws:

  • GDPR & Data Privacy: We are committed to protecting the personal data of our authors and reviewers. Personal information is used solely for the editorial and publication process.
  • Plagiarism & Legal Liability: Authors are legally responsible for the originality of their work. IJIMS utilizes industry-standard software to detect plagiarism. Any form of data fabrication, falsification, or image manipulation will result in immediate rejection or retraction and may be reported to the author's institution.
  • Copyright: Upon acceptance, authors agree to the Open-Access license (CC-BY), allowing the public to share the work with proper attribution while the authors retain copyright of their research.

Reporting Ethical Concerns

If a reader or author suspects a breach of these policies, please contact our Ethics Committee at copyeditor@ijims.in . We investigate all allegations of misconduct in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.