Clinical Nutrition Research (CNR) follows the ethical guidelines for research and publication outlined in the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Guidance (https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations (https://www.icmje.org), and the Good Publication Practice Guideline for Medical Journals (https://www.kamje.or.kr/board/view?b_name=bo_publication&bo_id=13). All procedures for addressing research and publication misconduct adhere to the COPE flowcharts (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). Any instances of duplicate publication or plagiarism will result in immediate rejection and may negatively impact the acceptance of future submissions.
All authors must have participated sufficiently in the research to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. The authors should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, from inception to published article. According to the guidelines of ICMJE, authorship credit must meet all of the following qualifications: (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) 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. Individuals who do not meet these criteria may be acknowledged as contributors in the Acknowledgments section. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, and general supervision of the research group, by themselves, does not justify authorship.
All submitted manuscripts should be original and should not be considered by other scientific journals for publication at the same time. Posting on a preprint server is not considered duplicate publication by the journal and will not affect the manuscript's consideration for publication. No part of the accepted manuscript should be duplicated in another scientific journal without permission by CNR Editorial Board. If duplicate publications related to the papers of this journal are detected, sanctions against authors range from requesting their institutions to assess the facts, requesting a Letter to the Editor-in-Chief acknowledging the error and voluntarily withdrawing a paper, to a ban on publication in CNR up to 3 years and their institutions may be notified as appropriate.
Plagiarism: Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate) is used to screen manuscripts for plagiarism or duplicate publication. Authors must obtain permission to reproduce any copyright material, and include an acknowledgement of the source in their articles. Authors should be aware that the unreferenced use of the published and unpublished ideas, writing or illustrations of others, from whatever source (including research grant applications), constitutes plagiarism or duplicate publication, depending on the circumstances. If plagiarism is detected before or after acceptance, or after publication, the author will have a chance for rebuttal. Unsatisfactory rebuttals will result in retraction and a publication ban for a period determined by the editor(s). Authors must resolve any copyright issues when citing figures or tables from non-open access journals.
Manuscripts may be republished if they meet the ICMJE Recommendations for secondary publication available from https://www.icmje.org/:
(1) Certain types of articles, such as guidelines from governmental agencies and professional organizations, may be published in multiple journals to reach a broader audience with the consent of the authors and the editors.
(2) Secondary publication in another language or country is permissible if: both journals' editors approve (the editor concerned with the secondary publication must have access to the primary version), and publication interval of at least 1 week is maintained, unless otherwise agreed by the editors (or by both editors).
(3) The secondary version targets a different readership and may be abbreviated. It must accurately reflect the primary version's data and interpretations. The title page of the secondary version must indicate its secondary nature and cite the primary publication, e.g., “This article is based on a study first reported in [journal title, full reference].”
The corresponding author must ensure and take responsibility for the disclosure of any conflicts of interest related to the submitted manuscript. A conflict of interest may exist when an author has financial or personal relationships or affiliations that could influence the author's decisions, work, or manuscript. Financial relationships with industry are usually considered to be the most important conflicts of interest. However, conflicts can occur for other reasons, such as personal relationships or academic competition. All authors are required to disclose all potential conflicts of interest. Authors without conflicts of interest should include a statement of no such interests. For submission, the conflict of interest must be included in the cover letter and a completed conflict of interest form should be submitted. Authors must disclose any possible conflicts of interest (including financial support) in the paper clearly and specifically. If a conflict of interest exists, the corresponding author must identify such in the Conflict of Interest section. Failure to include this information in the manuscript may delay the review of the manuscript.
Investigations involving humans must be conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/). Clinical studies not adhering to the Helsinki Declaration will not be considered for publication. For animal research, studies must comply with the National or Institutional Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, ensuring the ethical treatment of all experimental animals.
All research involving human participants or animals must be approved by the authors’ institution’s Research Ethics Committee (REC), Institutional Review Board (IRB), or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). The name of the approval board must be clearly stated in the manuscript. For human studies, written informed consent must have been obtained from the subjects (or from a parent or guardian if the subject is not capable), unless waived by the IRB (e.g., the data were analyzed anonymously), and all clinical investigations must have been conducted according to the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki. For animal studies, approval from the IACUC is required. The fact of IRB/IACUC approval and appropriate informed consent must be explicitly stated in the Methods section. Authors must retain copies of the documents (written consent form, approval statement) and be able to submit them upon request.
Patients have a right to privacy that must not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information, such as names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published unless essential for scientific purposes and with written informed consent from the patient (or parent or guardian). Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. If there is any doubt about maintaining anonymity, informed consent is necessary, as masking the eye region in photographs is inadequate. If identifying characteristics are deidentified, authors must assure, and editors must confirm, that these changes do not distort scientific meaning.
Any research involving a clinical trial should be registered with the primary national clinical trial registry site, such as the Korea Clinical Research Information Service (CRiS; https://cris.nih.go.kr), any other primary national registry site accredited by the World Health Organization (https://www.who.int/clinical-trials-registry-platform/network), or ClinicalTrials.gov (https://clinicaltrials.gov/), a service of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH).
When the journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct, such as redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fabricated data, changes in authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, ethical problems with the submitted manuscript, a reviewer appropriating an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and other issues, resolution processes will follow the applicable Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) flowchart (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). Suspected cases will be discussed and decided upon by the Editorial Board of CNR.
The Editorial Board is committed to upholding publication ethics by continuously monitoring and safeguarding ethical standards. This includes retracting articles when necessary, maintaining the integrity of the academic record, and ensuring that business needs do not compromise intellectual and ethical standards. The Board is also responsible for publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed, and for preventing plagiarism and fraudulent data in publications. Editors have the responsibility and authority to accept or reject articles. They must avoid any conflicts of interest with respect to the articles they evaluate and ensure the accuracy of accepted papers. Additionally, editors are responsible for promoting the publication of corrections or retractions when errors are found and for preserving the anonymity of reviewers. The following outlines the structure and obligations of the editorial board.
(1) Composition of the editorial board
(2) Obligations and roles
The journal operates a Research Ethics Council (the Council) to ensure the highest standards of research integrity and to address any ethical misconduct effectively.
(1) Composition
Chairmanship: The Chairperson of the Publication Committee of the CNR shall serve as the Chair of the Council.
(2) Roles and responsibilities
The Council is responsible for the following:
(1) When research ethics violations occur, the Chair of the Council must convene a meeting immediately to review the situation and report the findings to the Executive Committee.
(2) The Council must keep any investigation of ethics violations confidential and ensure that the investigation does not conflict with the interests of the journal.
(3) Upon completing the investigation, the Council will decide on the appropriate level of punishment for the violator (author or corresponding author) based on the severity of the violation. The Council may prohibit the violator from publishing in the journal for a specified period or exclude them permanently.
(4) The Council will keep a record of the investigation and the results of any ethical misconduct.
(5) If the Council confirms ethical misconduct in a paper, the Executive Committee will announce the case and disapprove the publication of the paper in the journal. If the paper has already been published, it will be removed from the journal’s list of papers, and this action will be announced to the journal's members and related academic institutions.
