1) Authorship & Contributorship

Authorship implies substantial scholarly contribution, accountability for content, and agreement to be an author. Each submission must include a contributorship statement using a recognized taxonomy (e.g., conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review & editing, visualization, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition).

Prohibited practices

• Ghost authorship: Omitting those who made qualifying contributions.
• Guest/honorary authorship: Listing individuals without qualifying contributions.
• Purchased authorship: Adding or selling authorship positions.

Changes in authorship

Requests to add/remove/reorder authors after submission must include written consent from all authors and justification. Post-acceptance changes are rare and require editorial approval.

2) Data Integrity, Availability & Reproducibility

• Accuracy: Data must be honestly obtained, analyzed, and reported. Fabrication, falsification, or selective reporting that misleads is misconduct.
• Availability: Provide a Data Availability Statement describing where data/code are deposited (e.g., Dryad, Zenodo, SRA, GEO, PRIDE, OSF, GitHub release with DOI).
• Reproducibility: Include sufficient methodological detail, versions of software/algorithms, parameter settings, and statistical plans (pre-registered, if applicable).
• Image integrity: No inappropriate manipulation (e.g., splicing without demarcation, contrast changes that misrepresent results). Provide original uncropped images on request.

3) Human Participants & Clinical Research

• Ethics approval: Provide IRB/REC name, approval number, and date. Clinical trials require prospective registration (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov) and a registration ID in the manuscript.
• Informed consent: Obtain and document consent/assent; for case reports, secure written consent for publication (including images).
• Privacy: De-identify data; avoid publishing identifiable information unless essential and consented.
• Vulnerable populations: Include safeguards and justification for inclusion.

4) Animal Research

• Approvals: Provide IACUC/ethics committee approvals and protocol numbers.
• Welfare: Report housing, anesthesia/analgesia, humane endpoints, randomization, blinding, and sample-size rationale.
• Reporting: Follow recognized animal-research reporting standards; justify species/sex selection.

5) Competing Interests, Funding & Transparency

Authors must disclose all financial and non-financial relationships that could be perceived to influence the work (employment, grants, consultancies, stock ownership, patents, board memberships, speaking fees, or close personal relationships).

• Funding statement: List all funders and grant numbers; clarify the role of funders in study design, data collection/analysis, decision to publish, and manuscript preparation.
• Materials/Tools: Disclose any restrictions or MTAs impacting availability.

6) Plagiarism, Redundancy & Prior Dissemination

• Originality: Submissions must be original and not under consideration elsewhere.
• Plagiarism: Text, figure, table, or idea plagiarism is prohibited. The journal screens submissions using similarity tools; provide permissions for reused materials.
• Redundant/Salami publication: Do not split one study into multiple papers that unduly overlap. Prior conference abstracts and preprints are acceptable but must be cited.
• Translations: Secondary publication in another language requires permission and cross-citation; the original must be clearly identified.

7) Image, Figure & Media Ethics

• Disclose acquisition instruments and key settings; maintain original data.
• Report any adjustments; apply uniformly and do not obscure or misrepresent results.
• For clinical images, obtain explicit consent; mask identifiers appropriately.
• Indicate if images are representative or composites; delineate splices with demarcation lines.

8) Materials, Data & Code Availability

Upon reasonable request, authors should share materials unique to the manuscript (reagents, organisms, code). When legal/ethical constraints apply, describe how qualified researchers can gain access (e.g., controlled-access repositories, DUAs).

9) Use of Generative AI & Large Language Models

• AI tools may assist with language, formatting, or code generation but cannot be listed as authors.
• Authors are responsible for verifying accuracy, eliminating fabricated content/references, and ensuring no confidential or proprietary data were exposed to tools without permission.
• Required statement: Declare any AI tool usage (name, version, purpose) in the manuscript’s Acknowledgments or Methods.

10) Third-Party Content & Permissions

• Obtain and document permission for any third-party content not under a permissive license.
• Credit appropriately and specify license terms (e.g., CC BY, CC BY-NC, or “All rights reserved”).
• For adapted figures, state “Adapted from …” and include permission ID if required.

11) Allegations of Misconduct & Corrections

IBM investigates concerns about integrity, authorship, ethics, or competing interests. Outcomes may include clarification, correction, expression of concern, or retraction. Authors must cooperate with investigations and provide data or approvals upon request.

12) Post-Publication Responsibilities

• Promptly notify the editor of significant errors discovered after publication.
• Cooperate in issuing corrections or retractions when warranted.
• Update linked datasets/code releases when critical defects are identified; version and date-stamp changes.

13) Submission Checklists (Ethics-Focused)

14) Required Statements — Templates

Competing Interests

“The authors declare the following competing interests: [list or ‘none’].”

Funding

“This work was supported by [Funder names and grant numbers]. The funders had [no role / role] in study design; data collection, analysis, and interpretation; manuscript writing; and the decision to submit.”

Ethics

“The study was approved by [IRB/REC name, approval #, date]. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.”

Data & Code Availability

“All data and code are available at [repository, DOI/accession]; restrictions [if any].”

AI Use

“Generative AI tools (name, version) were used for [grammar checks / code scaffolding / figure layout]; authors verified all outputs.”

15) Non-Compliance & Editorial Actions

Submissions that do not meet these standards may be returned for revision or rejected without external review. Confirmed breaches may result in retraction, notification of institutions/funders, or bans on future submissions for specified periods.

Questions & Guidance

For ethics queries before submission, contact: [email protected]. Include a brief summary of your study design, approvals, and any potential issues requiring guidance.

Start a Submission Repository Policy

Policy Summary (At-a-Glance)