Editorial Policies

Editorial Policies

Contents

General Information

The Publisher and International Journal of Wound Research (IJWR) are committed to maintaining a transparent, fair, independent, and objective editorial process and to preserving the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.

Research articles and other scholarly submissions designated as peer reviewed undergo double-anonymous external peer review by at least two independent reviewers with relevant subject expertise. Editorials, Commentaries, Letters to the Editor, Conference Abstracts, translations, and other specified non-research content may undergo editorial or Scientific Committee review rather than the journal’s standard external peer-review process. The review status of each type of content is clearly identified in the journal’s policies and published record.

Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff are expected to comply with recognized principles of research integrity, publication ethics, confidentiality, transparency, and accountability.

This document describes the journal’s principal ethical and editorial standards but is not exhaustive. IJWR follows the principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when addressing suspected misconduct, ethical concerns, disputes, corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions.

The use of generative artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies by authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff is governed by the journal’s Artificial Intelligence Policy.

Concerns raised by authors, reviewers, readers, institutions, or third parties will be evaluated fairly, confidentially, and independently. Where appropriate, the journal may request supporting documentation, consult external experts, or involve relevant institutions, ethics committees, funders, or other competent bodies.

Research Integrity

Research integrity encompasses the principles and professional standards governing the planning, conduct, analysis, reporting, peer review, and publication of research.

Authors submitting to International Journal of Wound Research must confirm that their work is original, accurate, ethically conducted, transparently reported, and compliant with the policies described on this page.

Breaches of research or publication integrity may include fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, inappropriate image manipulation, duplicate or redundant publication, undisclosed conflicts of interest, authorship manipulation, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, unethical research, misuse of artificial intelligence, or misrepresentation of data, approvals, consent, funding, or contributions.

Depending on the nature and seriousness of the concern, the journal may request clarification or supporting documentation, suspend the editorial process, reject the manuscript, publish a correction or Expression of Concern, retract a published article, or notify relevant institutions or other competent bodies.

Authorship

Each person listed as an author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content and agree to be accountable for all aspects related to its accuracy or integrity. The participation must include:

  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  • Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Authors who do not meet the above criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section.

Artificial intelligence tools, language models, chatbots, and other AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. All listed authors remain individually and collectively responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of the submitted and published work.

All authors are encouraged to provide their ORCID iD and to include a statement describing individual contributions according to the CRediT taxonomy.

The participation of scientific and medical writers must be acknowledged, together with the source of any funding or support received. Where a study has been conducted by a large multicentre group, the individuals responsible for submission must be clearly identified and must meet the journal’s authorship criteria. Authors employed by pharmaceutical companies, medical-device manufacturers, wound-care companies, or other commercial organizations sponsoring or supporting the research must disclose these relationships as competing interests.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author is responsible for submission and all communication with the journal regarding the manuscript. The corresponding author must ensure that all listed authors meet the required authorship criteria, have approved the submitted version, and agree to submission. The corresponding author is also responsible for ensuring that authorship, funding, conflicts of interest, ethical declarations, data availability, and other disclosures are accurate and up to date.

Order of Authors

The order of authorship should be agreed upon by all authors before submission and should reflect their relative contributions to the work. Requests made after submission to add, remove, or rearrange authors must be submitted in writing by the corresponding author and supported by the written agreement of all authors involved.

Such requests will normally be considered only during the editorial process. If agreement among the authors cannot be demonstrated, the manuscript may not proceed further. Requests made at an advanced stage of the editorial or production process may delay publication.

Changes to Authorship After Publication

Changes to authorship after publication, including the addition, removal, or rearrangement of authors, are permitted only in exceptional circumstances. Requests must be submitted by the corresponding author and must include a clear justification together with written confirmation from all authors, including any author to be added or removed.

The journal will assess such requests in accordance with COPE guidance and may involve the authors’ institutions where necessary. If a change is approved, the journal will publish a formal correction notice to preserve the transparency of the scholarly record.

Conflict of Interest

International Journal of Wound Research requires full disclosure of any conflict of interest or competing interest that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the editorial process, the interpretation of data, or the presentation of research findings.

Conflicts of interest may be financial, personal, professional, institutional, or intellectual. Examples include, but are not limited to, grants, employment, consultancies, honoraria, advisory roles, stock ownership, paid expert testimony, personal relationships, academic competition, and strongly held positions that may affect objective judgment.

In wound care research, relevant competing interests may also include relationships with manufacturers or distributors of dressings, medical devices, diagnostic systems, software, wound-imaging technologies, biological products, pharmaceuticals, regenerative therapies, or other commercial products evaluated or discussed in the manuscript.

Authors must disclose the provision of products, dressings, devices, software, equipment, professional services, statistical support, medical writing assistance, or other in-kind contributions, even where no direct financial payment was received.

Authors must disclose all relevant conflicts of interest and all sources of financial or material support at the time of submission. A dedicated Conflict of Interest Statement must be included in the manuscript and will be published in the final article. If no conflicts of interest exist, authors must explicitly state:

“The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

Reviewers must disclose any conflict of interest that may affect their ability to provide an objective and fair assessment. Reviewers with relevant conflicts must decline the invitation. Reviewers must also treat manuscripts as confidential documents and must not use unpublished material for personal or professional advantage.

Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest. Editorial responsibility will be assigned to another editor with no relevant competing interests.

Submissions authored or co-authored by members of the Editorial Board, the Editor-in-Chief, or other members of the editorial team will be handled independently by an editor who is not involved in the manuscript and who has no relevant conflict of interest. These submissions are subject to the same peer-review and editorial standards as other manuscripts.

An editor who is an author, co-author, institutional colleague, recent collaborator, mentor, trainee, family member, or otherwise connected to a submission must not access reviewer identities, review reports, or editorial discussions concerning that manuscript and must not participate in the final decision.

If a conflict of interest is identified after submission or publication, the journal will investigate the matter in accordance with COPE principles and may request additional disclosures, publish a correction, retract the article, or notify the relevant institution or funding body. Failure to disclose a relevant conflict may result in rejection, correction, retraction, or institutional notification.

Research Misconduct

Research misconduct includes fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, or other serious departures from accepted practices in proposing, conducting, reviewing, or reporting research.

Authors must avoid duplicate or redundant publication. Reuse of material from the authors’ previous publications must be appropriately cited and must comply with copyright and editorial requirements. Inappropriate or undisclosed text recycling may constitute unacceptable self-plagiarism.

Theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and substantial unattributed copying of another person’s work constitute plagiarism. The journal uses Crossref Similarity Check (iThenticate) to screen submitted manuscripts for textual similarity.

Similarity reports are interpreted by editors and are not used as automatic evidence of misconduct. Where plagiarism, inappropriate text reuse, or inadequate attribution is identified, the journal may request revision, reject the manuscript, publish a correction, retract the article, or take other action appropriate to the seriousness of the concern.

Inappropriate manipulation of scientific or clinical images is considered a form of data falsification when it alters, obscures, removes, introduces, or misrepresents information relevant to the interpretation of the work.

Figures, illustrations, clinical photographs, and wound images must accurately represent the original data or clinical condition. Adjustments to brightness, contrast, colour balance, orientation, or image size are permitted only when applied consistently and when they do not alter clinically or scientifically relevant information.

Authors must retain original, unmodified image files and provide them to the editors upon request. Previously published material must be appropriately cited and accompanied by any permission required from the copyright holder.

The creation, enhancement, or modification of images using generative AI or other AI-assisted technologies must comply with the journal’s Artificial Intelligence Policy. Generative AI must not be used to create, reconstruct, simulate, or materially alter clinical wound images presented as records of actual patients or treatment outcomes.

The journal implements safeguards against authorship manipulation, fabricated references, paper mills, false ethical approvals, undisclosed third-party manuscript preparation, and manipulation of the peer-review process.

All allegations of research misconduct are evaluated in accordance with the principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Concerns may be raised by editors, reviewers, authors, readers, institutions, or third parties at any stage of the publication process, including after publication.

The journal may request additional information from the authors, including original data, image files, ethics documentation, consent documentation, analysis records, earlier manuscript versions, or clarification regarding authorship, funding, and disclosures. Where appropriate, the journal may involve the authors’ institutions or other relevant bodies.

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the journal may take one or more of the following actions:

  • request clarification or revision;
  • suspend the editorial process;
  • reject the manuscript;
  • publish a correction;
  • publish an Expression of Concern;
  • retract the article;
  • notify the authors’ institutions, ethics committees, funders, or other relevant bodies.

Investigations will be conducted fairly, confidentially, and transparently, in accordance with relevant COPE principles.

Peer Review Manipulation

International Journal of Wound Research considers any attempt to manipulate, compromise, or circumvent the peer-review process to be a serious breach of publication ethics.

Prohibited practices include:

  • providing false reviewer names, affiliations, qualifications, or contact information;
  • creating or using fabricated reviewer identities or email accounts;
  • impersonating another researcher or reviewer;
  • coordinating reviews or editorial recommendations without disclosure;
  • attempting to influence reviewers or editors through personal, professional, institutional, or financial pressure;
  • submitting reviews written by an author, third party, commercial service, or undisclosed AI system;
  • concealing relationships between authors and suggested reviewers;
  • unauthorized access to manuscripts, reviewer identities, reports, or editorial correspondence.

The journal verifies reviewer identity, expertise, affiliation, publication history, and potential conflicts of interest before or during reviewer selection. Author-suggested reviewers may be considered but are independently assessed and are not automatically invited.

Suspected peer-review manipulation may result in rejection, suspension of the editorial process, retraction, notification of the authors’ or reviewers’ institutions, or other action consistent with COPE principles.

Citation Manipulation

International Journal of Wound Research considers citation manipulation to be a form of publication misconduct.

Authors must not include fabricated, irrelevant, unnecessary, misleading, or excessive citations for the purpose of artificially increasing citation counts or influencing bibliometric indicators. Coordinated citation exchanges, citation cartels, and disproportionate self-citation are not permitted.

Editors and reviewers must not request the addition of references solely to increase citations to themselves, the journal, an institution, a sponsor, or a particular group of authors. Recommendations to add references must be based on their genuine relevance and contribution to the manuscript.

The journal may investigate unusual citation patterns and may request the removal or correction of irrelevant, unverifiable, fabricated, or inappropriate references. Confirmed citation manipulation may result in manuscript rejection, correction, retraction, institutional notification, or other action consistent with COPE principles.

Artificial Intelligence

The use of generative artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation, translation, data analysis, image processing, wound assessment, peer review, and editorial activities must comply with the journal’s Artificial Intelligence Policy.

AI systems cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for all submitted content and must disclose relevant uses of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies.

Reviewers and editors must not upload manuscripts, clinical images, datasets, peer-review reports, editorial correspondence, or other confidential material into public or external generative AI systems.

Undisclosed, misleading, or inappropriate AI use may be investigated as a breach of research or publication integrity.

Data Availability

Authors must ensure that the data supporting the findings of their study are available and accessible where appropriate, subject to ethical, legal, contractual, and privacy considerations.

All research articles must include a Data Availability Statement specifying whether and how the data supporting the results can be accessed.

Authors should indicate whether data are:

  • publicly available in a repository, including relevant persistent identifiers such as a DOI or accession number;
  • available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request;
  • subject to restrictions for ethical, legal, commercial, or confidentiality reasons, which must be clearly explained;
  • not applicable, with justification.

Editors may request access to underlying data during peer review or after publication where concerns arise regarding the integrity, accuracy, or validity of the research.

Where research involves wound photographs, image datasets, clinical measurement systems, software, algorithms, or AI-assisted analysis, authors should provide sufficient information to permit scientific evaluation and, where ethically and legally possible, reproducibility.

Identifiable clinical data or patient images must not be made publicly available unless the participant has provided explicit consent for that specific form of disclosure and all applicable ethical and legal requirements have been satisfied.

Research Ethics

Research submitted to IJWR must comply with applicable ethical principles, institutional requirements, national and international regulations, and accepted standards for responsible research conduct.

Research on Human Subjects

When human participants are involved, authors must provide a statement identifying the ethics committee or institutional review board that approved the study, including the name of the committee and, where applicable, the approval number or reference code.

Authors must confirm that the study was conducted in accordance with recognized ethical standards, including the Declaration of Helsinki and, where relevant, the European Medicines Agency Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice.

Where applicable, authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained before participants were enrolled in the study.

If ethics approval was not required, authors must state this explicitly and provide a clear explanation. Authors remain responsible for ensuring that the research complied with all applicable ethical and legal requirements.

Patient Confidentiality

Whenever a study, case report, or other article includes data or images that could identify a patient, explicit written consent for publication, which is distinct from consent to participate in research or receive treatment, must be obtained. For minors or individuals unable to provide consent, authorization must be obtained from a parent, guardian, or legally authorized representative.

Consent to participate in research is distinct from consent to publish identifiable information or images. Where publication includes clinical photographs, wound images, anatomical features, tattoos, rare conditions, dates, locations, or contextual information that could permit recognition, explicit written consent for publication is required.

Removing names, covering the eyes, or deleting direct identifiers may not be sufficient to ensure anonymity. Authors and editors must consider whether a patient could still be recognized by the patient, family members, healthcare professionals, or others familiar with the case.

Consent documentation must be retained by the authors or their institution and made available to the journal upon request. Consent forms should not normally be uploaded as publicly accessible supplementary material.

When organ transplantation is described, authors should confirm adherence to the Declaration of Istanbul.

Clinical Images and Wound Photography

Clinical wound photographs must be scientifically or educationally necessary, accurately represent the clinical condition, and comply with the journal’s requirements for patient confidentiality and written consent for publication.

Authors should ensure consistency in image acquisition where photographs are used to document wound progression or treatment outcomes. Relevant information may include, where appropriate, lighting conditions, camera position, distance, scale, orientation, calibration, anatomical site, and timing of image acquisition.

Images must not be misleadingly cropped, enhanced, reconstructed, or selectively presented. Original unmodified files must be retained and may be requested during peer review or after publication.

Any permitted technical adjustment must be disclosed where it could be relevant to interpretation. The use of AI-assisted technologies must comply with the journal’s Artificial Intelligence Policy.

Sex and Gender

Authors are encouraged to follow the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) Guidelines and to use the terms sex and gender accurately and consistently where relevant.

Where appropriate, authors should report whether sex and gender were considered in the research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and reporting. Where these factors were not considered, authors should explain why they were not relevant to the study.

Research on Human Embryos, Gametes, and Stem Cells

Research involving human embryos, gametes, stem cells, and related material must comply with recognized ethical standards, institutional requirements, and applicable national and international regulations. Authors must provide information concerning ethics approval, consent, provenance, and relevant permissions where applicable.

Research Involving Human Biological Materials

Research involving human blood, plasma, platelets, tissues, cells, biopsies, biological specimens, platelet-rich plasma, platelet-rich fibrin, extracellular vesicles, exosomes, or other human-derived materials must comply with applicable ethical, institutional, and legal requirements.

Authors must state the source of the material, the method of collection, the relevant ethics approval or exemption, and whether informed consent was obtained where required.

Where materials are obtained from biobanks, commercial suppliers, healthcare institutions, or third parties, authors must identify the source and confirm that the material was obtained and used in accordance with applicable permissions, consent conditions, and governance requirements.

Research Involving Animals

Research involving animals must comply with applicable ethical requirements and internationally accepted standards. Authors must confirm approval by an appropriate ethics committee or institutional body and should follow the ARRIVE Guidelines where relevant.

The manuscript should provide sufficient information regarding the species, number of animals, procedures, anaesthesia or analgesia, humane endpoints, and measures taken to minimize suffering.

Research Involving Plants

Research involving cultivated or wild plants must comply with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines and legislation. Where applicable, authors should provide information on permits, permissions, identification, collection, and use of plant material.

Clinical Trial Registration

Clinical trials must be prospectively registered in a publicly accessible, electronically searchable registry that meets internationally recognized requirements, preferably before enrolment of the first participant.

The manuscript must include the registry name, registration number, registration date, and direct URL to the public trial record.

If registration occurred after participant enrolment began, the authors must provide a clear explanation. Retrospective registration does not guarantee that the manuscript will be considered for publication.

Any material discrepancy between the registered protocol and the submitted manuscript, including changes to outcomes, sample size, interventions, or analysis plans, must be transparently disclosed and justified.

Funding Policy

International Journal of Wound Research requires full transparency regarding all sources of financial and material support for submitted research.

Authors must disclose all support received for the conduct of the study and the preparation of the manuscript, including:

  • research grants from public or private institutions;
  • institutional or departmental support;
  • industry funding or sponsorship;
  • provision of dressings, medical devices, equipment, pharmaceuticals, biological products, software, wound-imaging systems, or other materials;
  • funding or support for data collection, analysis, statistical services, medical writing, language editing, or manuscript preparation.

If no funding has been received, authors must explicitly state:

“This research received no external funding.”

All funding information must be included in a dedicated Funding Statement and will be published in the final article.

The Funding Statement must identify the funding body and, where applicable, the grant number. Editors may request additional information regarding funding at any stage of the editorial process.

The Funding Statement must describe the role of the funder or sponsor, if any, in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, approval of the final manuscript, and the decision to submit for publication.

If the funder had no role in these activities, the manuscript should state this explicitly.

Provision of products or services free of charge, at a discount, or through an unrestricted educational or research grant must be disclosed even where the provider had no role in the study or publication decision.

Failure to disclose relevant funding or material support may result in rejection, correction, retraction, or notification of the relevant institution or funding body.

Appeals Policy

International Journal of Wound Research recognizes the right of authors to appeal an editorial decision when they believe that the decision may have resulted from a misunderstanding of the manuscript, a factual error in the review process, or a material departure from the journal’s editorial procedures.

Appeals must be submitted in writing to ijwr@ieditore.com.

The appeal must identify the manuscript, including its submission ID, and provide a detailed and reasoned explanation addressing the relevant points in the editorial decision and, where applicable, the reviewers’ comments.

All appeals are handled impartially and are evaluated by an editor who was not involved in the original decision.

Where the original decision was made by the Editor-in-Chief, or where the appeal concerns the conduct or judgment of the Editor-in-Chief, the appeal will be assigned to an independent senior editor, an uninvolved member of the Editorial Board, or an external expert appointed for that purpose.

The appeal process assesses whether the original editorial procedure was fair, accurate, and consistent with journal policy. An appeal does not automatically result in a new round of peer review. Additional expert opinions may be obtained where necessary.

The journal aims to communicate the outcome of an appeal within 30 days. Where more time is required, the author will be informed. The outcome will include an explanation of the decision. Decisions reached following an appeal are final, and the journal may decline repeated or unsubstantiated appeals.

Complaints Policy

International Journal of Wound Research is committed to a fair, transparent, and accountable editorial process. The journal accepts complaints concerning any aspect of its editorial or publishing activities and will address them in accordance with applicable COPE principles.

Complaints may concern editorial procedures, peer review, ethical issues, conflicts of interest, delays, published content, advertising, or the conduct of authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, or editorial staff.

Complaints must be submitted in writing to ijwr@ieditore.com and should include a clear description of the issue and any relevant supporting documentation.

Upon receipt, the journal will acknowledge the complaint and initiate an impartial review. The complaint will be evaluated by a person who was not directly involved in the matter concerned.

Complaints involving an editor, reviewer, member of the Editorial Board, or member of the Editorial Office will be assigned to an independent and uninvolved person. Complaints concerning the Editor-in-Chief will be referred to the Publisher, who will appoint an independent senior editor or external expert to assess the matter. The Publisher will not determine the scientific merits of a manuscript or override an editorial decision for commercial reasons.

Where appropriate, the journal may seek external advice or involve relevant institutions, ethics committees, funders, or other competent bodies.

The journal aims to provide an initial substantive response within 30 days. Where additional time is required, the complainant will be informed.

IJWR is committed to resolving complaints consistently, fairly, and in a manner that protects the integrity of the scholarly record.

Post-Publication Discussion

International Journal of Wound Research encourages responsible scholarly discussion concerning articles published in the journal.

Readers may submit a Letter to the Editor concerning a published article or contact the Editorial Office to report possible errors, ethical concerns, undisclosed conflicts of interest, methodological issues, image-related concerns, data inconsistencies, or other matters that may affect the accuracy or reliability of the scholarly record.

Letters, comments, and concerns must be evidence-based, relevant, respectful, and free from defamatory, discriminatory, or inappropriate content.

Where appropriate, the authors of the original article will be invited to respond. Accepted Letters to the Editor and author responses may be published and linked to the original article.

Concerns involving suspected misconduct will be evaluated in accordance with the journal’s Research Misconduct Policy and relevant COPE principles.

Where post-publication evaluation identifies an error or concern affecting the scholarly record, the journal may publish a correction, Expression of Concern, retraction, or other editorial notice.