Enacted in February 20, 2011
Revised in July 16, 2014
Revised in April 1, 2017
Revised in August 15, 2024

Ewha Medical Journal (EMJ) follows the ethical guidelines for research and publication outlined in the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines), the ICMJE Recommendations (https://www.icmje.org), and the Good Publication Practice Guideline for Medical Journals (https://www.kamje.or.kr/board/view?b_name=bo_publication&bo_id=13). All procedures for addressing research and publication misconduct adhere to the COPE flowcharts (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). Any instances of duplicate publication or plagiarism will result in immediate rejection and may negatively impact the acceptance of future submissions.

1. Authorship

2. Originality, plagiarism, and duplicate publication

3. Secondary publication

4. Conflicts of interest

5. Statement of human and animal rights

6. Statement of informed consent and IRB approval

7. Protection of privacy and confidentiality

8. Registration of clinical trial research

9. Management of research and publication misconduct

10. Editorial responsibilities

11. Research ethics council and role of the council

12. Administration of research ethics violation

1. Authorship

All designated authors should meet the criteria for authorship and be appropriately listed. Authorship credit should be based on substantial contributions to all four categories established by the ICMJE: (1) conception and design, or acquisition, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Individuals who do not meet these criteria may be acknowledged as contributors in the Acknowledgments section. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, and general supervision of the research group, by themselves, does not justify authorship.

• Role of corresponding author: The corresponding author takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal throughout the submission, peer review, and publication processes. This author ensures that all administrative requirements of the journal are met, including: (1) providing details of authorship, (2) securing ethics committee approval, (3) submitting clinical trial registration documentation, and (4) completing conflicts of interest forms and statements. While some of these tasks may be delegated to coauthors, the corresponding author remains accountable for their completion. They must be available to respond promptly to editorial queries during submission and peer review, and address critiques and journal requests for data post-publication.
• Correction of authorship: Requests for changes in authorship (adding/removing authors or rearranging order) after submission but before manuscript acceptance must be submitted in writing to the editor with justification, signed by all authors, and require the editor’s approval. All authors must complete the copyright assignment form. Post-publication, authorship changes will not be permitted, even in the case of editorial staff errors, as authors are responsible for verifying authorship during the final proofreading process.
• Recommendations for working with individuals with personal connections: Authors must disclose if minors (under 19) or family members (spouse, children, relatives) are involved in the research or publication in the cover letter. Refer to the “Guidelines for Preventing Illegitimate Authorship” by the National Research Foundation of Korea (https://www.nrf.re.kr/eng/main) for details.
• Use of AI-assisted technologies: In line with ICMJE policies, AI tools (e.g., generative AI, language models, chatbots) can be used to enhance scientific writing and language accuracy but cannot be listed as authors.

2. Originality, plagiarism, and duplicate publication

All submitted manuscripts must be original and not under consideration by other journals. Accepted manuscripts should not be duplicated in any other journal without permission from the Editorial Board. If duplicate publication is detected, the authors will be publicly announced, their institutions informed, and penalties imposed. We do not consider posting on a preprint server to be duplicate publication, and it will not affect the manuscript's consideration for publication.

Plagiarism: Similarity Check is used to screen manuscripts for plagiarism or duplicate publication. Plagiarism is defined as reproducing another work without attribution. If plagiarism is detected before or after acceptance, or after publication, the author will have a chance for rebuttal Unsatisfactory rebuttals will result in retraction and a publication ban for a period determined by the editor(s). Figures and tables can be used freely if the original source is verified according to the Creative Commons Non-Commercial License. Authors must resolve any copyright issues when citing figures or tables from non-open access journals.

3. Secondary publication

Manuscripts can be republished if they meet the ICMJE Recommendations for secondary publication available from https://www.icmje.org/:

(1) Certain types of articles, such as guidelines from governmental agencies and professional organizations, may be published in multiple journals to reach a broader audience with the consent of the authors and editors.

(2) Secondary publication in another language or country is permissible if: both journals' editors approve (the editor concerned with the secondary publication must have access to the primary version), and publication interval of at least one week is maintained, unless otherwise agreed.

(3) The secondary version targets a different readership and may be abbreviated. It must reflect the primary version's data and interpretations accurately. The title page of the secondary version must indicate its secondary nature and cite the primary publication, e.g., “This article is based on a study first reported in [journal title, full reference].”

4. Conflicts of interest

The corresponding author must ensure that any conflicts of interest related to the submitted manuscript are disclosed in the manuscript and take responsibility for this disclosure. Potential conflicts should be reported even if the authors believe they were not influenced in preparing the manuscript. All authors must disclose i.e., (1) financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony), (2) personal relationship, (3) academic competition, and (4) intellectual passion. These disclosures should be included on the title page. A completed conflict of interest form should be submitted during manuscript submission.

5. Statement of human and animal rights

Investigations involving humans must be conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/). Clinical studies not adhering to the Helsinki Declaration will not be considered for publication. For animal research, studies must comply with the National or Institutional Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, ensuring the ethical treatment of all experimental animals.

6. Statement of informed consent and IRB approval

Research involving humans or animals must be approved by the institution's Research Ethics Committee (REC), Institutional Review Board (IRB), or Animal Care Committee. For human studies, informed consent must be obtained unless waived by the IRB. Copies of written informed consent (from the patient, or from a parent or guardian if the patient is not capable) and IRB approval should be retained. Editors or reviewers may request these documents. The manuscript must explicitly state that written informed consent was obtained from all study participants. For animal studies, approval from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is required.

7. Protection of privacy and confidentiality

Patients have a right to privacy that must not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information, such as names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published unless essential for scientific purposes and with written informed consent from the patient (or parent or guardian). Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. If there is any doubt about maintaining anonymity, informed consent is necessary, as masking the eye region in photographs is inadequate. If identifying characteristics are deidentified, authors must assure, and editors must confirm, that these changes do not distort scientific meaning.

8. Registration of clinical trial research

Any research involving a clinical trial should be registered with the primary national clinical trial registry site, such as the Korea Clinical Research Information Service (CRiS, http://cris.nih.go.kr), any other primary national registry site accredited by the World Health Organization (https://www.who.int/clinical-trials-registry-platform/network), or ClinicalTrials.gov (http://clinicaltrials.gov/), a service of the United States NIH.

9. Management of research and publication misconduct

When the journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct, such as redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fabricated data, changes in authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, ethical problems with the submitted manuscript, a reviewer appropriating an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and other issues, resolution processes will follow the applicable COPE flowchart (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). Suspected cases will be discussed and decided upon by the Editorial Board of EMJ.

10. Editorial responsibilities

The Editorial Board is committed to upholding publication ethics by continuously monitoring and safeguarding ethical standards. This includes retracting articles when necessary, maintaining the integrity of the academic record, and ensuring that business needs do not compromise intellectual and ethical standards. The Board is also responsible for publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed, and for preventing plagiarism and fraudulent data in publications. Editors have the responsibility and authority to accept or reject articles. They must avoid any conflicts of interest with respect to the articles they evaluate and ensure the accuracy of accepted papers. Additionally, editors are responsible for promoting the publication of corrections or retractions when errors are found and for preserving the anonymity of reviewers.

11. Research ethics council and role of the council

For the consideration of research ethics and related issues, the journal operates a Research Ethics Council (the Council). The Chairperson of the Publication Committee of the EMJ serves as the chair of the Council. The composition of the Council is determined by the Publication Committee of EMJ, and its operations follow regulations set by the Council. The roles of the Research Ethics Council are as follows:

1) The Council reviews research ethics issues arising from the publication of the Journal and related papers (original articles, review articles, and others).

2) The Council investigates allegations of forgery, alteration, plagiarism, wrongful authorship indication, or multiple/duplicate publication for published papers and reports the findings to the Executive Committee of the EMJ.

12. Administration of research ethics violation

1) When research ethics violations occur, the Chair of the Council must convene a meeting immediately to review the situation and report the findings to the Executive Committee.

2) The Council must keep any investigation of ethics violations confidential and ensure that the investigation does not conflict with the interests of the Journal.

3) Upon completing the investigation, the Council will decide on the appropriate level of punishment for the violator (author or corresponding author) based on the severity of the violation. The Council may prohibit the violator from publishing in the Journal for a specified period or exclude them permanently.

4) The Council will keep a record of the investigation and the results of any ethical misconduct.

5) If the Council confirms ethical misconduct in a paper, the Executive Committee will announce the case and disapprove the publication of the paper in the Journal. If the paper has already been published, it will be removed from the Journal’s list of papers, and this action will be announced to the Journal's members and related academic institutions.