Ethical aspects

ASEI's editorial policy contemplates ethical aspects both in terms of those related to research and those referring to the publication of research results. 

Both dimensions are part of the pre-evaluation process for articles submitted for publication in ASEI.

 

Research Ethics

Protection of human and animal research subjects

ASEI's policy in this regard is governed by the ICMJE guidelines.

When a report of results includes data on individuals, the authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were evaluated and approved by a Research Ethics Committee (REC), including whether informed consent was required or waived. If the authors consider that this requirement does not apply, they should justify it in the Letter to the Editor, which should be evaluated by the responsible editors in the preevaluation of the article submitted. The letter should also state whether the principles set forth in the Declaration of Helsinki were duly observed during the planning and conduct of the research. 

It is also recommended to read the Guide for Research in Human Health and Good Clinical Practice Scheme for Clinical Pharmacology Studies, approved by Resolution 1480/2011 of the Ministry of Health of Argentina. 

Ethical aspects of the research to be considered:

Participants have a right to privacy, so the use of informed consent is essential. Identifying information, including patients' names, initials, or medical record numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and family trees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) provides informed written consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that an identifiable patient be shown in the manuscript to be published.

Identification details should be omitted if they are not essential. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve and informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, covering the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If data are changed to protect anonymity, the authors should provide assurance that alterations to the data do not distort the scientific meaning. When informed consent has been obtained, it should be indicated in the published article at the end of the Methods section.

When reporting animal experiments, authors should be asked to indicate whether institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

 

 

Publication Ethics  - Ethics code

The Editorial Committee of ASEI assumes the challenge and responsibility of selecting the best articles to publish and thus disseminate new scientific knowledge in the pages of the journal. One of the crucial aspects in this regard is that all editorial procedures are carried out to safeguard the ethical aspects of the publication of research results. To this end, it adopts the guidelines and procedures of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) recommended by the ICMJE standards. 

Plagiarism detection

Plagiarism, alteration of images, falsification of data and simultaneous submission to another publication are unethical conducts in scientific publication and are cause for rejection of a manuscript.

ASEI condemns plagiarism in all its formats and extensions, even if it is a quotation without the corresponding credit. In addition to considering it a dishonest practice, ASEI argues that it hinders the development of scientific knowledge. Therefore, in order to detect possible cases, the editors use search engines such as Google Academics as a tool to help detect possible cases. If such a situation is corroborated, the Editorial Committee reserves the right to reject an article submitted for publication.