Publication Ethics

Research Involving Human Subjects

  • When reporting on research that involves human subjects, human material, human tissues, or human data, authors must declare that the investigations were carried out in accordance with the rules of the Declaration of Helsinki (1975), revised in 2008.
    https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/
  • According to point 23 of this declaration, approval from an institutional ethics committee should be obtained before initiating the research.
  • The Methodology section of the article must include the following:
    • Project identification code
    • Date of approval
    • Name of the ethics committee or institutional review board
  • Example of an ethical statement:

"All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of XXX, vide No. xxxx (Project identification code), dated xxxx."

  • A copy of the institutional ethics committee certificate must be submitted along with the manuscript.
  • Data relating to individual participants must be described in detail. However:
    • Private information that identifies participants should not be included, unless the identifiable material is directly relevant to the research (e.g., photographs of participants' faces showing specific symptoms).
    • In such cases, express written permission from the individual(s) must be obtained.
  • Editors reserve the right to reject any submission that does not meet these requirements.

 Informed Consent

  • Written informed consent for publication must be obtained from all participating patients who can be identified — including those who may identify themselves.
  • Patients’ initials or other personal identifiers must not appear in any image.
  • For manuscripts that include:
    • Case details
    • Personal information
    • Images of patients

Authors must obtain signed informed consent from the patients or their legal guardians before submission.

  • Authors should take all possible steps to conceal patient identity.
  • Avoid including information such as specific age, ethnicity, or occupation, unless it is essential to the study's conclusions.
  • If informed consent is not required, authors must provide a detailed justification explaining why.
  • For publication in Anaesthesia, Pain & Intensive Care, the consent, permission, or release form should include:
    • Unlimited permission for publication in all formats (print, electronic, and online)
    • Permission for sublicensed, reprinted, translated, or derived works
    • Approval for distribution under an open-access license
  • To respect the privacy of patients and individuals, do not submit signed forms with the manuscript.
  • The journal reserves the right to request signed consent forms if necessary.

Research Involving Animals

  • Evidence of approval by an institutional ethics committee (for both human as well as animal studies) must be provided by the authors.
  • Animal experimental procedures should be as humane as possible, and the details of anesthetics, analgesics, or other procedures used should be clearly stated.
  • The ethical standards of experiments must be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the CPCSEA and the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (for studies involving experimental animals and human beings, respectively).
  • Procedures involving animals should be designed and performed with due consideration of their relevance to human or animal health, the advancement of knowledge, or the good of society. The use of animals is also justified to provide scientific, veterinary, and medical training that is not possible through other mechanisms.
  • Analgesics and other techniques should be used to minimize discomfort and pain, except when the intervention would compromise experimental goals.
  • Appropriate anesthetics must be used to eliminate sensitivity to pain during all surgical procedures.
  • The journal will not consider any paper that is ethically unacceptable.

The following websites provide further insight into guidelines regarding the use of animals in research:

U.S. Government Principles for the Utilization and Care of Vertebrate Animals Used in Testing, Research, and Training

https://www.etikkom.no/en/ethical-guidelines-for-research/ethical-guidelines-for-the-use-of-animals-in-research/

Corrections, Expressions of Concern and Retraction Policy

Corrections

Corrections are issued to address substantial errors that may affect the interpretation, credibility, or discoverability of a published article. These may include inaccuracies in data, author affiliations, funding disclosures, or other key elements of the manuscript.
All corrections are formally published, clearly linked to the original article, and made freely accessible to readers.

Expressions of Concern

An Expression of Concern may be published to alert readers to potential problems with a paper when:

  • There is inconclusive evidence of research misconduct or data manipulation.
  • The validity of the findings is in question, and the authors’ institution is unwilling or unable to conduct an investigation.
  • An investigation is ongoing, but a conclusion is not expected for an extended period.

These notices aim to maintain transparency during ongoing assessments and are prominently linked to the original publication.

Retraction Policy

Published articles may be retracted if:

  • The paper contains a major scientific error that invalidates the conclusions of the article, for example, if the findings are evidently unreliable due to misconduct (e.g., data fabrication) or unintentional error (e.g., miscalculation or experimental error).
  • The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission, or justification (i.e., cases of redundant publication).
  • Plagiarism has occurred (appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit, including those obtained through confidential review of others' manuscripts).
  • Inappropriate authorship is involved (e.g., "guest" authorship; see COPE discussion document What constitutes authorship?).
  • Unethical research has been reported.

Retraction Process

In accordance with COPE guidelines, the journal adopts the following retraction process:

  1. All matters regarding a potential retraction are considered by the journal editor.
  2. The journal editor should follow the step-by-step guidelines according to the COPE flowcharts (including evaluating a response from the author of the article in question).
  3. The editor's findings are sent to the Ethical Review Committee (ERC) for review.
  4. The ERC consists of a chairperson and three members selected from the senior members of the journal's editorial team.
  5. The final decision is communicated to the author and, if so decided by the ERC, to any other relevant bodies, such as the author's institution.
  6. The retraction statement is then posted online and published in the next available issue of the journal (see below for more details of this step).
  7. ERC decisions are considered final and cannot be challenged in a court of law. Any complaint against the decision will be addressed to the ERC for reconsideration.
  • If the paper has been published in an earlier issue of the journal, we shall issue a retraction statement, which should be published separately but linked to the article being retracted. The article should be retained online in order to maintain the scientific record.
  • The retraction announcement and the title of the original article will be published in the next possible issue, with pagination in the contents list.
  • The text of the retraction should explain why the article is being retracted, both in print and in the link to the online paper.

Publication Ethics Statement

The editors of Anaesthesia, Pain & Intensive Care enforce a rigorous peer-review process alongside strict ethical policies and standards to ensure the publication of high-quality scientific work in the field of scholarly research. Authors wishing to publish their papers in Anaesthesia, Pain & Intensive Care must abide by the following:

  • Any facts that might be perceived as a possible conflict of interest by the author(s) must be disclosed in the paper prior to submission.
  • Authors should accurately present their research findings and include an objective discussion on the significance of those findings.
  • Data and methods used in the research must be presented in sufficient detail so that other researchers can replicate the work.
  • Simultaneous submission of manuscripts to more than one journal is not acceptable.
  • Republishing content that is not novel is not acceptable (e.g., an English translation of a paper previously published in another language).
  • If errors or inaccuracies are discovered by the authors after publication, they must promptly notify the editors so that appropriate corrective actions can be taken.

The manuscript must not contain any material that has already been published. If any previously published figures or images are included, the author must obtain the necessary permission from the copyright holder to publish them under the CC-BY license.