Authors are responsible for ensuring that their submissions are original, scientifically accurate, ethically conducted, and compliant with the editorial and ethical policies of both the journal and the publisher.
The following responsibilities apply to all manuscripts submitted to journals published by SMER Publications.
1. Authorship
Authorship should accurately reflect individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research. SMER Publications follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). To qualify as an author, each contributor must:
Make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the study, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
Participate in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content;
Approve the final version prior to publication;
Accept responsibility and accountability for the accuracy and integrity of the work.
Contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately with their permission.
Any change in authorship after submission, including the addition, removal, or reordering of authors, requires a written explanation and the consent of all authors.
2. Originality and Publication Ethics
Submitted manuscripts must represent original work that has not been published previously and is not under consideration elsewhere.
Authors must ensure that their work is free from plagiarism, duplicate publication, redundant publication, data fabrication, data falsification, inappropriate image manipulation, or any other form of research misconduct. All submissions may be screened using similarity detection software.
Authors are expected to comply with the ethical principles established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and other internationally recognized publication ethics standards.
3. Research Integrity and Data Transparency
Authors are responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and reliability of the data presented in their manuscripts. Research should be conducted using appropriate scientific methods and reported honestly and transparently.
Authors should retain original research data and make them available to the editors upon reasonable request to support editorial assessment, verification, or reproducibility of the published findings.
Any significant error identified before or after publication must be reported promptly to the editorial office.
4. Ethics Approval and Informed Consent
Research involving human participants, animals, human tissues, or identifiable personal data must receive approval from an appropriate ethics committee before the study is initiated.
Where applicable, informed consent must be obtained from all participants or their legally authorized representatives. Authors must clearly report ethics approval and informed consent within the manuscript in accordance with the journal's Research Ethics Policy.
Authors must disclose all financial, personal, institutional, or professional relationships that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the conduct or interpretation of the research.
If no competing interests exist, authors should include a statement declaring that they have no conflicts of interest.
6. Funding
All sources of financial support must be disclosed. Authors should also specify the role of the funding body, if any, in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or the decision to publish.
7. Copyright and Permissions
Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to reproduce or adapt copyrighted material, including figures, tables, photographs, illustrations, questionnaires, or other third-party content where permission is required.
Submission of a manuscript confirms that all necessary permissions have been obtained and that the manuscript does not infringe any intellectual property rights.
8. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation must be disclosed transparently.
AI tools may be used only to improve language or readability and must not replace the authors' scientific judgment or intellectual contribution. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, interpretation, citations, and integrity of the manuscript. AI systems cannot be listed as authors.
9. Acknowledgements
Individuals or organizations that contributed to the research but do not satisfy the authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately. Relevant financial, technical, editorial, or institutional support should also be recognized.
10. Post-Publication Responsibilities
Authors are expected to cooperate with the editorial office in the event that corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions become necessary after publication.
Requests for manuscript withdrawal or post-publication amendments will be considered in accordance with the publisher's editorial policies and the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
11. Compliance with Publisher Policies
Submission of a manuscript to SMER Publications constitutes confirmation that all authors have read and agreed to comply with the journal's editorial policies, ethical standards, and publication requirements. Failure to comply with these policies may result in editorial action, including rejection, correction, retraction, or other appropriate measures.
