Conflict of Interest

Policy on Conflict of Interest, Human and Animal Rights, and Informed Consent

Purpose
The International Journal of Health and Rehabilitation (IJHR_ORG) is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of scholarly integrity and transparency. Trust in published research requires that any factors which could potentially bias the work, its evaluation, or its interpretation are fully disclosed and managed. This policy establishes clear requirements for the declaration and handling of conflicts of interest, and mandates strict adherence to ethical standards for research involving human participants and animal subjects.

1. Conflict of Interest (COI) Policy

1.1 Definition
A conflict of interest exists when an individual's personal, financial, professional, or institutional relationships could be reasonably perceived as unduly influencing their objectivity, judgment, or actions related to the journal's publishing activities. This includes both actual conflicts and the appearance of a conflict.

1.2 Disclosure Requirements

  • For Authors: All authors must disclose any financial and non-financial interests or relationships that could be construed as a conflict of interest within the past 36 months. This includes, but is not limited to:

    • Financial: Employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patents, grants, and other forms of direct or indirect funding related to the subject of the work.

    • Non-Financial: Personal relationships, academic rivalries, intellectual beliefs, or affiliations with organizations with a direct interest in the outcomes.

    • A specific Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form must be completed by the corresponding author on behalf of all co-authors during submission.

  • For Reviewers and Editors: Upon invitation to review or handle a manuscript, individuals must declare any competing interests that could affect their impartiality. This includes close collaborative or competitive relationships with the authors, or a strong bias for or against the topic. Reviewers and editors must recuse themselves if a significant conflict exists.

1.3 Management of Disclosed Conflicts

  • Transparency: All disclosed author conflicts will be published in a dedicated section of the accepted article (e.g., "Competing Interests").

  • Editorial Action: The editorial team will assess disclosed conflicts. In cases of significant potential bias, actions may include: assigning an alternative editor, seeking additional independent reviews, publishing an accompanying editorial note, or, in rare cases, rejecting the manuscript if the conflict is deemed to fundamentally compromise the work's integrity.

  • Non-Disclosure: Failure to disclose a material conflict of interest may result in manuscript rejection, retraction of a published article, and notification of the authors' institutions.

2. Policy on Human and Animal Rights in Research

2.1 Research Involving Human Participants

  • Ethical Approval: Manuscripts reporting studies with human participants must include a statement confirming that the research was approved by an appropriate independent Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board (IRB), in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The approval number and the name of the committee must be provided.

  • Ethical Conduct: The research must have been conducted with respect for participants' autonomy, well-being, and privacy. Studies involving vulnerable groups require explicit justification and additional ethical safeguards.

2.2 Research Involving Animal Subjects

  • Ethical Approval: Manuscripts reporting experiments on animals must include a statement that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines for the humane care and use of laboratory animals (e.g., the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals). The name of the approving ethics committee and approval number must be provided.

  • Reduction, Refinement, Replacement: Authors should adhere to the "3Rs" principles: replacing animal use where possible, reducing the number of animals used, and refining procedures to minimize suffering.

3. Informed Consent Policy

3.1 Requirement for Participation
For all human subject research, voluntary informed consent must have been obtained from each participant (or their legal guardian) prior to their inclusion in the study. The manuscript must contain a statement to this effect within the Methods section.

3.2 Consent for Publication of Identifiable Information

  • Specific Consent: If the manuscript contains case details, personal information, or identifiable images (e.g., photographs, video, radiographs) of participants, specific, written consent for publication in this open-access journal must be obtained. The consent form must explicitly state that the details/images will be freely available on the internet and may be seen by the general public.

  • Anonymity: Where consent for identification cannot be obtained, all identifiable details must be removed or expertly anonymized to protect the individual's privacy. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve; authors must ensure that demographic and clinical details cannot be combined to identify an individual.

3.3 Documentation
Authors must be prepared to provide the journal with copies of the ethical approval letters and signed consent forms upon request at any stage of the editorial process.

4. Implementation and Verification

  • Submission: Compliance with these policies is a mandatory part of the submission process. The online system includes specific fields for uploading declarations and statements.

  • Editorial Screening and Review: The editorial team verifies the presence and adequacy of all required statements during initial screening. Peer reviewers are also asked to note any apparent ethical lapses.

  • Publication: All published articles will contain explicit statements regarding:

    1. Conflict of Interest disclosures.

    2. Ethical approval for human/animal studies.

    3. Informed consent for participation and publication (where applicable).
      This framework ensures that IJHR_ORG publishes research that is not only scientifically sound but also ethically robust and transparent, thereby upholding public trust and advancing responsible scholarship in health and rehabilitation.