ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

ETHICAL GUIDELINES
An approval of research protocols by the Ethics Committee in accordance with international agreements (World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki “Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects,” amended in October 2013, www.wma.net) is required for experimental, clinical, and drug studies and for some case reports. If required, ethics committee reports, or an equivalent official document will be requested from the authors. Submission that have no ethical approval will be reviewed according to COPE’s Research, Audit and Service Evaluations guideline. Such manuscripts can be rejected after editorial review due to the lack of ethics committee approval.

For manuscripts concerning experimental research on humans, a statement should be included that written informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures they may undergo.

It is the authors’ responsibility to protect the patients’ anonymity carefully. For photographs that may reveal the patient’s identity, signed releases of the patient or their legal representative should be enclosed, and the publication approval must be provided in the Methods section.

For studies carried out on animals, an approval research protocol by the Ethics Committee in accordance with international agreements (Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals, 8th edition, 2011" and/or “International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals, 2012”) is required. Also, the measures taken to prevent pain and suffering of the animals should be stated clearly in such studies.

Information on patient consent, the ethics committee’s nam, and the ethics committee approval number and date should also be stated in the Methods section of the manuscript.

PLAGIARISM AND ETHICAL MISCONDUCT
Imaging and Intervention is extremely sensitive about plagiarism. All submissions are screened by a similarity detection software (iThenticate by CrossCheck) at any point during the peer-review and/or production process.

When you discuss others' (or your own) previous work, please make sure that you cite the material correctly in every instance. 

Authors are strongly recommended to avoid any form of plagiarism and ethical misconduct that are exemplified below.

Self- plagiarism (text-recycling): Overlapping sections or sentences with the author’s previous publications without citing them. Even if you are the author of the phrases or sentences, the text should not have an unacceptable similarity with the previously published
data.
Salami slicing: Using the same data of research into several different articles. Reporting the same hypotheses, population, and study methods in different papers is not acceptable.
Data Fabrication: It refers to the addition of data that never occurred during data gathering or the experiments. Results and their interpretation must be based on the complete data sets and reported accordingly.
Data Manipulation/Falsification: It refers to manipulating the research data to give a false impression. This includes manipulating images (e.g. micrographs, gels, radiological images), removing outliers or ‘inconvenient’ results, changing data points, etc.

In the event of alleged or suspected research misconduct, e.g., plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, the Editorial Board will follow and act according to COPE flowcharts.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST
Imaging and Intervention requires and encourages the authors and the individuals involved in the evaluation process of submitted manuscripts to disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interest including financial, consultant, and institutional, that might lead to potential bias or a conflict of interest. Any financial grants or other support received for a submitted study from individuals or institutions should be disclosed to the Editorial Board. The ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form should be filled in and submitted by all contributing authors to disclose a potential conflict of interest. The journal’s Editorial Board resolves cases of a potential conflict of interest of the editors, authors, or reviewers within the scope of COPE and ICMJE guidelines.

APPEAL AND COMPLAINT
The Editorial Board of the journal handles all appeal and complaint cases within the scope of COPE guidelines. In such cases, authors should get in direct contact with the editorial office regarding their appeals and complaints. When needed, an ombudsperson may be assigned to resolve claims that cannot be resolved internally. The Editor in Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all appeals and complaints.