Ethical Considerations

 

Editors of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences (ZUMS) journals may seek expert advice regarding any submitted manuscript that raises ethical concerns or issues related to data and materials access. All parties involved in the publication process—including authors, editors, and reviewers—are expected to adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct.

According to the regulations of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran, all manuscripts submitted to ZUMS journals must first be registered with the

Iran National Committee for Ethics in Biomedical Research and obtain an official Ethics Committee Approval Code. This code must be included in the manuscript (at the end of the Materials and Methods section) and will be verified online via: https://ethics.research.ac.ir
 

Authorship and Author’s Responsibility

 

The corresponding author is primarily responsible for all communications with the journal throughout the submission, peer review, and publication process. This includes ensuring that all required documentation—such as details of authorship, ethics approval, clinical trial registration, and conflict of interest statements—is correctly completed and submitted.

The corresponding author must respond promptly to editorial queries and cooperate with any journal requests after publication.

ZUMS journals do not permit adding or changing the first or corresponding author after final acceptance. If an author wishes to withdraw their name, a signed request from that author and all co-authors is required. Any change in author order also requires written consent signed by all contributors

 

Conflict of Interest

 

Authors must disclose all financial and non-financial relationships that could be perceived as influencing their work. Every manuscript must contain a Conflict of Interest statement at the end. If there are no conflicts, authors should include the statement:

“The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.”

Conflicts may arise when an author’s interpretation of data is affected by personal, professional, or financial relationships. Examples of financial competing interests include (but are not limited to):

  • Research grants from funding agencies (including grant numbers and sponsors)

  • Financial support for educational activities

  • Employment or consultancy roles

  • Membership in advisory boards or management committees

  • Financial compensation, fees, or funding from organizations that could benefit or suffer from publication results

  • Intellectual property rights (e.g., patents, royalties, copyrights)

  • Financial holdings or interests of close family members

Non-financial conflicts—such as political, personal, ideological, academic, or religious interests—should also be declared if they may influence the work or its perception.

Editors and reviewers must also disclose any potential conflicts and will be excluded from handling or reviewing such manuscripts if conflicts exist.

 

Human and Animal Rights


For studies involving human participants, human data, or human tissue, manuscripts must state that the research was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by an appropriate Ethics Committee. If a study was exempted from ethics approval, the exemption and the responsible ethics committee must be clearly mentioned.

Researchers must obtain ethics approval and informed consent before conducting any experimental procedure that involves humans or new medical interventions.

For animal studies, all procedures must follow the latest edition of the "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" 

ensuring that animal welfare is respected. Authors must confirm that international, national, or institutional guidelines were followed and that the study received approval from an institutional ethics committee (where applicable).

Authors conducting animal experiments should also comply with the European Committee Guidelines on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes 
 

All clinical trials must be registered prior to initiation in an official clinical trials registry International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) of WHO or Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials and include the registration number and trial name. Randomized controlled trials must follow the  CONSORT statement in reporting study design, intervention assignment, and blinding methods. No unregistered clinical trial will be accepted for review or publication.

If editors determine that ethical standards have not been met, the manuscript may be rejected. In some cases, editors may contact the relevant ethics committee for clarification

 

Informed Consent

 

For all human studies, informed consent must be obtained from participants. When manuscripts include identifiable details (e.g., names, images, videos, or genetic data), written consent for publication is required from participants (or guardians). A statement confirming this consent should appear in the manuscript.

Personal information must not be disclosed unless essential for scientific purposes and only with explicit written consent. The final judgment on whether consent to publish is needed rests with the Editor

 

Originality and Duplicate Publication

 

Manuscripts submitted to ZUMS journals must be original and not published or under consideration elsewhere. This rule applies to all submissions under simultaneous review. Authors are responsible for obtaining necessary copyright permissions for reused figures, tables, or content from other sources

 

Research and Publication Misconduct

 

ZUMS journals are committed to preventing and addressing all forms of publication misconduct, including plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, redundant publication, authorship disputes, and undeclared conflicts of interest.

Any suspected case of misconduct will be handled in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines available at: http://www.publicationethics.org.

 

Plagiarism

 

Authors are strongly encouraged to check their manuscripts for plagiarism before submission using reliable plagiarism detection software.

All submissions to ZUMS journals are screened for plagiarism using iThenticate or similar tools. If plagiarism is detected—by reviewers, editors, or readers—at any stage of the review or publication process, the manuscript will be rejected, and the corresponding author will be notified.

Self-plagiarism is also considered unacceptable and will be handled accordingly.

If plagiarism is found in a submitted or already published paper, COPE’s code of conduct and flowcharts will be strictly followed to resolve the issue