General Principles

The Publisher and the International Journal of Health Supplements (IJHS) are committed to maintaining high standards of ethical conduct, transparency, and integrity in scholarly publishing. The Journal applies a fair and objective editorial review process appropriate to the nature of the content it publishes, with the aim of ensuring the responsible dissemination of scientific outputs originating from conferences, symposia, and thematic initiatives.

Authors, reviewers, guest editors, and editors are expected to adhere to recognized ethical principles in order to maintain an accurate and transparent scholarly record.

IJHS follows the recommendations and procedures of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in addressing potential cases of unethical behavior by authors, reviewers, or editors. In cases where ethical concerns are raised by readers or other stakeholders, the Journal will investigate such concerns in accordance with COPE guidelines and, where possible, resolve them through editorial assessment and dialogue with the involved parties. Authors are expected to respond responsibly and cooperatively to any ethical inquiries.

Research Integrity

Research integrity encompasses a range of ethical principles governing the conduct, reporting, and publication of scientific work. During submission, authors are required to confirm that their contributions comply with the ethical and integrity standards outlined in this policy.

A breach of research integrity may result in editorial actions including rejection, correction, or retraction of the published material, depending on the severity and nature of the issue.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should accurately reflect individuals’ contributions to the work. Each listed author must have contributed sufficiently to take public responsibility for the content and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Authorship requires all of the following:

• substantial contributions to the conception, design, acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the work;
• drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
• final approval of the version to be published;
• agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to address questions related to accuracy or integrity.

Individuals who do not meet these criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section.

Authors are encouraged to provide ORCID iDs and to include a statement describing individual contributions, following the CRediT taxonomy, where appropriate.

The involvement of professional medical or scientific writers must be transparently acknowledged, including disclosure of funding sources. For multicenter or group-authored works, individuals responsible for submission must meet full authorship criteria. Authors affiliated with commercial organizations or sponsors must declare relevant competing interests.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author is responsible for managing the submission and all communications with the Journal. This includes ensuring that all listed authors meet authorship criteria and that disclosures related to conflicts of interest and funding are accurate and complete.

Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must be submitted in writing by the corresponding author to the Editorial Office and must include written agreement from all authors. If agreement cannot be reached, the manuscript may be withdrawn. Authorship changes cannot be requested at the proof stage.

Competing Interests

All authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be perceived as influencing their work. Sources of financial or material support related to the submitted content must be clearly declared.

Research Misconduct

Research misconduct includes fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and other practices that compromise the integrity of the scholarly record.

Duplicate publication and inappropriate text reuse, including self-plagiarism, are not acceptable unless clearly justified, properly cited, and compliant with copyright requirements.

IJHS employs similarity-detection tools (e.g. iThenticate) as part of its editorial quality control process. Submissions found to contain plagiarized material may be rejected or subject to further editorial action.

Inappropriate image manipulation is considered a form of data falsification. All figures must be original or appropriately credited, with permissions provided where required. Any use of generative or non-generative artificial intelligence tools for image creation or modification must be disclosed in the figure legend.

Data Availability

Where applicable, authors are encouraged to ensure that underlying research data remain accessible after publication through appropriate repositories or archiving systems. A data availability statement describing where supporting data can be accessed should be included when relevant to the content type.

Research Ethics

Research Involving Human Participants

When research involving human participants is reported, authors should state that the study was approved by an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board and conducted in accordance with recognized ethical standards (Declaration of Helsinki; European Medicines Agency Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice).

Patient Confidentiality

Authors must protect patient privacy. Written informed consent for publication must be obtained when identifiable information or images are included. For minors, consent must be provided by a parent or legal guardian. Studies involving organ transplantation should declare adherence to the Declaration of Istanbul.

Sex and Gender Considerations

Authors are encouraged to follow the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines, using the terms sex and gender appropriately where relevant.

Research Involving Embryos, Stem Cells, Animals, or Plants

When studies involve human embryos, gametes, stem cells, animals, or plants, authors should confirm compliance with relevant institutional, national, and international regulations and ethical standards.

Clinical Trial Registration

Clinical trials reported in IJHS should be registered in a publicly accessible registry prior to participant enrollment. The registry name, registration number, and URL should be included in the submitted material, in line with ICMJE recommendations, where applicable.