ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND PUBLICATION POLICY
The Journal of Pediatric Clinical Science is committed to research integrity, transparent reporting, fair peer review, and editorial independence. Its policies are guided by the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and relevant guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Reference to these organizations does not imply membership or endorsement.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS
Authors must submit accurate, original work and provide sufficient methodological detail to allow critical appraisal. Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, deceptive image manipulation, duplicate publication, and citation manipulation are unacceptable.
All authors must meet the ICMJE authorship criteria: substantial contribution to the work; drafting or critical intellectual revision; approval of the final version; and accountability for the integrity of the work. Contributors who do not meet all criteria should be acknowledged with their permission.
All authors must approve submission. Manuscripts must not be under consideration elsewhere. Related publications, preprints, thesis-derived work, and previous conference presentations must be disclosed. Authorship changes require an explanation, agreement from all affected authors, and editorial approval.
Authors must disclose relevant funding and conflicts of interest, cooperate with editorial inquiries, and promptly notify the journal of significant errors discovered after submission or publication.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF REVIEWERS
Reviewers must assess manuscripts objectively, constructively, and confidentially. They should accept assignments only when they have appropriate expertise and can complete the review within the agreed period.
Reviewers must disclose potential conflicts of interest and decline assignments when impartiality may be compromised. They must not use unpublished information for personal benefit or share manuscripts without editorial authorization.
Concerns about originality, research ethics, data integrity, or substantial overlap with other work should be communicated confidentially to the editor. Citation recommendations must be justified by scientific relevance.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDITORS
Editors evaluate manuscripts on scientific merit, methodological quality, relevance, clarity, and ethical suitability. Editorial decisions must not be influenced by commercial interests or personal relationships.
Editors are responsible for selecting suitable reviewers, protecting confidentiality, managing conflicts of interest, and ensuring fair consideration of submissions, complaints, and appeals.
Manuscripts submitted by editors, editorial board members, or individuals with close professional or personal connections are handled by an independent editor. The author concerned does not participate in reviewer selection, access confidential review information, or influence the decision.
PEER-REVIEW PROCESS
Submissions undergo an initial editorial assessment. Manuscripts outside the journal’s scope or failing to meet its scientific, ethical, or submission requirements may be declined without external review.
Manuscripts proceeding to external review, including letters to the editor considered for publication, are evaluated by at least two independent reviewers using double-anonymous peer review. Reviewer selection takes account of expertise, institutional diversity, and conflicts of interest.
Authors must remove identifying information from reviewer-facing files. Funding, Conflicts of Interest, Author Contributions, and Acknowledgments are supplied on the separate title page during review and incorporated into the final published article.
When reviewer recommendations differ, the editor may obtain an additional review or make a reasoned decision based on the available assessments. Revised submissions may undergo further review. The final decision rests with the editor.
Review duration depends on manuscript complexity, reviewer availability, and the extent of revision. Submission does not guarantee acceptance or publication within a fixed period.
RESEARCH ETHICS
Research involving human participants must comply with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and applicable institutional and national requirements. Studies requiring ethical review must obtain approval before the research begins.
Authors must provide the committee name, approval date, and reference number and supply supporting documentation confidentially when requested. Retrospective studies are not automatically exempt from ethical review. Any exemption or consent waiver must be supported by the relevant authority.
Full approval details are provided to the editor during submission. Identifying information may be anonymized for peer review but must be restored in the published article. Approval information must appear in the Methods section and in an ethics declaration on the first or final pages.
Research involving animals must have appropriate approval and describe relevant welfare safeguards.
INFORMED CONSENT AND PATIENT PRIVACY
Authors must describe informed consent arrangements for research participants. For children, parental or legal guardian permission and age- and capacity-appropriate assent must be obtained where applicable. Approved waivers must be explained.
Written informed consent for publication is required for case reports and identifiable patient information or images. Consent to clinical care or research participation does not automatically constitute consent for publication.
Patient privacy must be protected in text, photographs, radiological images, pedigrees, and supplementary material. Unnecessary identifying information must be removed.
Authors must retain consent records securely. Signed forms containing personal information must not be uploaded as publicly accessible supplementary material.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, FUNDING, AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Authors must disclose financial and non-financial relationships that could influence the work. Funding sources and the funder’s role must be identified. Statements confirming the absence of funding or conflicts must be included when applicable.
Funding, Conflicts of Interest, Author Contributions, and Acknowledgments must be provided under separate headings on the title page during submission and revision. These declarations will appear at the end of the published article.
Editors and reviewers must also disclose relevant conflicts and withdraw from handling a manuscript when appropriate.
ORIGINALITY AND SIMILARITY ASSESSMENT
Manuscripts are screened for textual overlap as part of editorial assessment. Similarity findings are evaluated in context; a numerical score alone does not establish plagiarism or determine acceptance.
Authors must identify reused material, cite its source, and obtain permission where required. Changes to images must not conceal, fabricate, or misrepresent findings. Original data and image files may be requested to investigate concerns.
TRIAL REGISTRATION AND REPORTING
Clinical trials must be registered in an appropriate public registry before enrollment of the first participant. The registry name and registration number must be reported in the abstract and manuscript.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should report protocol registration details where available. PROSPERO registration is not a mandatory condition for submission.
Authors must follow reporting guidelines appropriate to their study design and submit relevant checklists as specified in the Author Guidelines.
DATA AVAILABILITY
Research articles must include a Data Availability statement explaining whether supporting data can be accessed, under what conditions, and why any restrictions apply. Clinical trial reports must describe their data-sharing arrangements.
Sharing must respect consent, confidentiality, and applicable restrictions. Authors must retain supporting records in accordance with institutional and applicable requirements and cooperate with reasonable editorial requests for verification.
USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AI tools cannot be authors. Authors must disclose generative AI use in the cover letter and an appropriate manuscript statement, identifying the tool and its purpose. Research-related use must be described in the Methods section.
Authors remain responsible for accuracy, originality, references, and confidentiality. AI-generated material must not be presented as authentic patient data, clinical images, or experimental findings.
Editors and reviewers must not upload confidential submissions to external AI services without appropriate authorization and confidentiality safeguards. Editorial judgment and responsibility cannot be delegated to AI tools.
MISCONDUCT AND POST-PUBLICATION ACTIONS
Concerns about misconduct are assessed fairly and confidentially. The journal may request explanations, original data, or supporting documents and may contact the relevant institution when necessary.
Depending on the findings, action may include rejection, correction, an expression of concern, or retraction. Public notices will explain the reason for the action and be linked to the affected article. Retractions will be clearly identified while preserving the scholarly record, except where removal is necessary for exceptional legal or privacy reasons.
COMPLAINTS, APPEALS, AND WITHDRAWAL
Authors may submit a reasoned appeal through the journal’s official contact or feedback channel, identifying the manuscript and addressing the grounds for the decision. Appeals are assessed by an editor not directly involved in the disputed decision where practicable. An appeal does not guarantee reversal.
Complaints about editorial conduct are referred to an independent editor or responsible publisher representative. Requests for withdrawal must include an explanation and confirmation that all authors agree. Withdrawal does not prevent investigation of a research-integrity concern.
POST-PUBLICATION DISCUSSION
The journal welcomes evidence-based discussion of published work, including letters to the editor. Authors of the original article may be invited to respond. Comments must be scientifically relevant and professionally expressed. Substantive concerns may lead to a correction or other editorial action.
PUBLISHER RESPONSIBILITIES
Bursa City Hospital, as publisher, supports editorial independence and the integrity of the scholarly record. The publisher must not interfere with individual acceptance or rejection decisions and cooperates with the editorial team in addressing ethical concerns and publishing necessary notices.