ISSN: 2764-1589
Ethical Procedures
The Brazilian Journal of Transplantation (BJT) is committed to high standards of ethical behavior in management and editorial practices, with an emphasis on relations with authors and, above all, on the evaluation of their manuscripts, in accordance with the procedures established by international institutions such as: the “Principles of Transparency and Good Practices in Publications”, by COPE; the DOAJ; OASPA; the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME); the “Código de Boas Práticas Científicas”, of the Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo -FAPESP);and the “Guide to Good Practices for Strengthening Ethics in Scientific Publication”, by SciELO.
The Brazilian Journal of Transplantation (BJT) makes clear the guidelines for authors, editors and evaluators to act ethically and responsibly:
Authors: when submitting manuscripts, authors undertake to respect scientific integrity, strictly observing the criteria for attribution of authorship and informing the individual contributions of each of the authors. They must also declare all potential conflicts of interest concerning the submitted article and notify about previous publications, presentation of the work, academic affiliations and sources of financing. Authors must undertake to cite and give the correct reference to all articles, data and other documents mentioned in the article. The submitting author assumes, on behalf of all authors of the manuscript, responsibility for the integrity of the research and content of the manuscript, as well as making corrections or retractions, if necessary. Whenever applicable, the certificate from the ethical committees approving the research must be presented at the time of submission.
Editors: editors undertake to adopt and ensure editorial neutrality and impartiality and to ensure that published manuscripts comply with internationally established ethical recommendations. They must check whether the Ethics Committees approve the research, requiring certificates if they have not been presented. When assigned to manage the manuscript evaluation process, editors must adopt measures to identify and prevent works that show research misconduct from being published. They also undertake to deal appropriately with formal allegations of scientific misconduct and to seek constant improvement of the journal and its content, including the publication of corrections and retractions, as well as clarifications and apologies, whenever necessary. Editors must declare potential conflicts of interest in evaluating manuscripts and prevent conflicts of interest involving authors and reviewers from compromising ethical standards in publication.
Reviewers: When appointed, only those who can prepare the opinion with the most remarkable scientific rigor and within the defined deadline should accept the invitation for review and who do not present conflicts of interest that could influence their evaluation or recommendation. Reviewers who participate in the evaluation process are committed to evaluating the work under the best academic practices and scientific integrity and pointing out practices of scientific misconduct when identified. They also undertake to maintain the confidentiality of the documents they receive and the process during the evaluation.
Thus, to ensure publication ethics, submissions must meet the requirements:
Original Content and Duplicate Publishing: BJT only publishes original content. The authors confirm the submission of the original content in the Terms and Conditions at the time of submission. Manuscripts submitted to the journal must not have been previously published in another journal or be under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part.
Fabrication and Falsification: BJT opposes data or image fabrication or falsification practices (ie, the intentional misrepresentation or deceptive manipulation of data).
Plagiarism: Plagiarism occurs when an author attempts to present a previously published work as original content. BJT uses the Similarity Check system, which allows the detection of similarities in the submitted manuscripts.
In cases where misconduct is identified, the BJT editorial board will take the necessary steps in accordance with international recommendations (COPE) and publish a retraction. Research misconduct does not include honest errors or differences of opinion.
Concepts, ideas, or opinions expressed in the manuscripts, as well as the origin and accuracy of the citations contained therein, are the sole responsibility of the author(s).
Ethical Principles
When reporting experiments on human beings, authors must indicate whether the procedures followed were approved by the institutional Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa, respecting Resolution 466/2012 of the Conselho Nacional de Saúde, http://bvsms.saude.gov.br/bvs/saudelegis/cns/2013/res0466_12_12_2012.html. Foreign articles must comply with the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki, revised in 2013, https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/.
Manuscripts must be accompanied by a declaration that the research was carried out with the informed and appropriate consent of each participant. Written consent must be obtained from the patient (legal guardian or enforcer, if applicable) for the publication of any detail or photograph that could identify an individual.
If there is any doubt as to whether the research was carried out in accordance with current legislation, the authors must explain the reason for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional ethics committee explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.
When reporting experiments with animals, authors must present the case number approved by the institutional Ethics Committee for the Use of Animals (Comitê de Ética para o Uso de Animais -CEUA), following Federal Law nº 11.794/08 (Arouca Law) which regulates item VII of § 1 of Article 225 of the Federal Constitution, establishing procedures for the scientific use of animals. For articles from abroad, they must follow the international standards of the Council for International Organization of Medical Sciences - CIOMS
Informed Consent
Patients cited in the articles have the right to privacy, which should not be infringed without informed consent.
The identification of information, including patient names, as well as initials or numbers in the hospital, should not be published in descriptions, photographs and genealogies unless such information proves essential for scientific purposes, in which case the Free and Informed Consent Term (Termo de Consentimento Livre e Esclarecido -TCLE) of the research participant (or their guardians) for publication.
Informed consent for this purpose requires the manuscript to be published to be shown to the patient. Authors should also identify individuals who have provided assistance with the writing of the article, as well as disclose the source of funding for this assistance. Identifying details should be omitted when not essential.
How to achieve complete anonymity is a difficult task. In case of doubt from the authors, the consent of the patients must be obtained. An example of an attempt to inappropriately maintain anonymity would be to mask the ocular region in patient photographs.
If patient identification characteristics are altered in order to protect their anonymity, authors should ensure that the changes do not distort the scientific meaning.
Once the TCLE information is obtained, this information must be included in the published article..
If there is submission to the Research Ethics Committee (Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa- CEP) the CAAE-Certificado de Apresentação de Apreciação Ética (Certificate of Presentation of Ethical Appreciation) number must be placed in the article.
