Publication Ethics

Scientific Quality of the Journal
The editorial board is responsible for all the content published in the journal and seeks to constantly improve its scientific quality. It regularly works on renewing its panel of reviewers and scientific committee, as well as its own renewal, with a concern for professional rigor. It ensures that the affiliations of the editorial board members are mentioned on the journal's website.

Freedom of Expression and Scientific Debate
The editorial board selects articles with impartiality. It pays particular attention to articles contributing to scientific debate. Any article presenting a relevant critique of an article published in the journal may be proposed for publication. Furthermore, any author can propose a response to a critique made in the journal about their article.

Relations with Readers
Any sources of funding for the research presented in the journal are mentioned where applicable. The editorial board also commits to responding to complaints filed by readers against the journal.

Relations with Authors
Articles are selected based solely on their intellectual or scientific content, without distinction of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, nationality, university affiliation, or political philosophy of the authors. The editorial board considers legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement, or plagiarism in its decisions. The procedure for submitting an article to the journal is specified in a document published on the journal's website and regularly updated. Any financial charges for publishing an article must be explicitly mentioned in this document.

Relations with Reviewers
The responsibilities of reviewers are specified in a document published on the journal's website and regularly updated. The editorial board ensures the anonymity of reviewers.

Political or Commercial Interests
Articles are selected based on their academic interest for readers and not on the commercial or political gain they may provide. The editorial board also ensures the journal's independence from its publisher and owner(s). If the journal publishes advertisements, these will be clearly distinguished from the scientific content of the journal.

Unethical Publishing Behavior
The editorial board seeks to identify and prevent any unethical publishing behavior. It commits to conducting an investigation in case of a complaint filed against the journal, following the procedure described below. The author is accountable for the alleged infraction. The editorial board is always willing to publish corrections, apologies, or explanations if necessary.

Procedure for Unethical Publishing Behavior
A complaint reporting unethical publishing behavior may be filed at any time by anyone with the journal's editorial board. The complainant must provide evidence to justify their complaint. All complaints are taken seriously by the editorial board and handled until resolved. Complaints will be addressed regardless of the publication date of the article concerned. Documents related to the handling of this complaint will be retained by the editorial board. The following measures may be implemented in case of complaints to journals:

  • Meeting with the author, in case of misunderstanding of the ethical charter and publishing rules.
  • Sending a letter to the author detailing the infraction as a warning.
  • Sending a letter to the author's employer.
  • Publication of an editorial informing readers.
  • Retraction of the article from the journal and indexing databases, with notification to readers.
  • Embargo on any new articles by the author for a specified period.
  • Referral to an external organization or authority competent to handle the complaint.

Ethical Rules Applicable to Reviewers

  • Responsibilities of Reviewers: Reviewers are selected for their intellectual and scientific expertise. They are tasked with evaluating manuscripts solely on their content, without distinction of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, nationality, university affiliation, or political philosophy. Reviews must be objective. Reviewers must report any similarity between the submitted article and other works.
  • Conflict of Interest: Members of the editorial board and reviewers must recuse themselves in case of a conflict of interest with the author or manuscript content.
  • Confidentiality: Manuscripts received for evaluation are treated as confidential documents. No information about a submitted manuscript is disclosed to anyone other than the author(s), potential reviewers, and, if necessary, the publisher. Reviewers commit not to retain or copy a manuscript received for evaluation.
  • Use of Data: Data presented in submitted articles must not be used before their potential publication in research by a member of the editorial board or a reviewer without the explicit written consent of the author.

Evaluation Process
Except for book reviews, which are evaluated by the reviews editor and discussed with the editorial board, all articles submitted to the journal are evaluated using one of the following methods:

  • Editor-in-Chief Review: The editor-in-chief, alone or with the help of the editorial board, evaluates submitted articles.
  • Open Review: Each article is evaluated by at least two (or three) reviewers, whose identities are known to all, and the author’s identity is also known to the reviewers.
  • Single-Blind Review: Authors do not know the reviewers' identities, but the reviewers know the authors' identities. There are at least two (or three) reviewers per article.
  • Double-Blind Review: The author does not know the reviewers’ identities, and the reviewers do not know the author’s identity. There are at least two (or three) reviewers per article.

In case of doubt or differing opinions among reviewers, additional opinions may be requested by the editorial board. Articles conflicting with the journal's editorial line may be rejected by the editorial board without an evaluation report. Based on reviewers' reports, the editorial board makes one of the following decisions within a reasonable timeframe after receiving the manuscript:

  • Acceptance of the text as submitted.
  • Rejection.
  • Acceptance subject to modifications.

In the latter case, the editorial board makes a final positive or negative decision based on the author's consideration of reviewers’ suggestions and comments. Any accepted text, whether in its original submission or after revision, undergoes editorial work in consultation with the author. The editorial board always considers legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement, or plagiarism.

Ethical Rules Applicable to Authors

  • Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure their article's originality and refrain from publishing any work resembling plagiarism as defined by intellectual property law. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are unacceptable.
  • Multiple, Redundant, or Simultaneous Publications: Authors agree not to submit an article that has already been published elsewhere or a new article based solely on previously published work. Similarly, authors agree not to submit their article to multiple journals simultaneously.
  • References: Any citation (or use of other authors' works) must be identified as such and accompanied by appropriate references, formatted according to the journal's usual style. If the author wishes to use information obtained privately (e.g., conversation, correspondence), they must obtain permission from the source.
  • Authorship: The list of authors should be limited to those who made significant contributions to the study's design, execution, interpretation, or writing. All authors must be mentioned with their affiliation, in alphabetical order or according to their level of involvement. The corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors have agreed to submit the article for publication.
  • Defamatory Statements: Authors agree not to exceed the rules of scientific debate in their submitted articles and not to make defamatory statements that could harm a third party's reputation.
  • Conflict of Interest: Authors must declare any potential professional or financial conflicts of interest. All non-public funding sources for the research presented in the submitted text must be explicitly mentioned.
  • Errata: Any author who discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work must promptly inform the editorial board and cooperate to publish an erratum or, if necessary, withdraw the article.
  • Access to Data: At the editorial board’s request, authors may be asked to provide raw data related to their research. If the article involves clinical cases with real situations, the author commits to maintaining anonymity or obtaining explicit consent.
  • Paper and Digital Publication: Authors agree, upon submission of their article, to allow its dissemination in paper and digital formats—particularly through platforms like cairn.info—unless explicitly notified otherwise.