Ethical Considerations

RB is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and to ensure high-quality scientific publications uses COPE's flowcharts and guidelines in approaching any ethical misbehavior. This Journal also follows the guidelines mentioned in the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (http://www.icmje.org/#privacy).
The research that involves human beings (or animals) must adhere to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.(http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html).

Authorship Criteria and Contributions
Based on the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, by the ICMJE, Authors should have made significant conceptual, intellectual, experimental, and analytical contributions to the research, as well as having participated in writing and revising the manuscript. Also each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to be responsible for its content.
Each author should meet all criteria (A,B,C, and D) that recommended by the ICMJE as following conditions:
1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
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.
Each author should be accountable for the parts of the work he or she has done. In addition, each author should be able to identify which coauthors are responsible for specific other parts of the work and should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of any coauthors.
The authors also must certify that the manuscript represents valid data and has not been published in any form and is not being submitted for in the form of scientific presentations for publication elsewhere.
If requested, authors should be prepared to provide the data and must cooperate fully in obtaining and providing the data on which the manuscript is based for examination by the editors or their assignees.
All authors must sign the RB Authorship Form (typed or printed name is not acceptable) and include the form on initial submission.
Changes in Authorship: The authors should be agreed the order of authorship among themselves before submitting the manuscript. Changes in authorship (ie, order, addition, and deletion of authors) should be discussed and approved by all authors. Any requests for such changes in authorship after initial manuscript submission and before publication should be explained in a letter to the editor signed by all the authorsor email from all authors.

Ethics of studies involving humans and animals
The research that involves human beings (or animals) must adhere to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html).
All research participants should be informed about the aims of the study and any possible side effects of the drugs and intervention. Written informed consent under protocols approved by an institutional or local review board or approved animal protocols are essential if the research involves human or animal subjects, respectively. This information should be stated in the manuscript and the protocol number or exempt status of approved protocols should be stated in the manuscript at the time of submission for review.

Ethical considerations must be clearly addressed in the Materials and Methods section. Also the name of the appropriate institutional review board that approved the project should be mentioned. The Journal reserves the right to request the related documents.

Conflicts of interest

All authors must inform us about any kinds of financial, personal, political, or academic "Conflict of Interest that would potentially affect their judgment. Authors are preferably asked to fill the uniform disclosure form available through: (http://www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf)
Clinical Trial Registration
According to the International Committee of Medical journal Editors (ICMJE) a Clinical Trial is any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes.
Authors of clinical trials are required to prospectively register their trial with one of the ICMJE-recognized trial registries. The registration number of the trial and the name of the trial registry must be mentioned at the end of the abstract.
All of Iranian Clinical Trials must be registered in Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (www.IRCT.ir), in order to be considered for publication. The clinical trials performed abroad, could be considered for publication, if they register in a registration site approved by W.H.O. such as:
- http://rctregistry.tums.ac.ir
-http://www.clicicaltrials.gov
- http://www.anzctr.org.au
- http://isrctn.org
- http:// www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp
- http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr

Ethics of scientific publishing

Duplicate submission: Submission of a paper implies that it reports unpublished work and that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts that are found to have been submitted elsewhere, or to be under review elsewhere, will incur duplicate submission sanctions. If previously published tables, illustrations or text are to be included, then this should be clearly indicated in the manuscript and the copyright holder's permission must be obtained. Previously published material can be cited in a later review or commentary article, but it must be indicated using quotation marks if necessary.

Duplicate publication: Manuscripts that have been published elsewhere with the same intellectual material will refer to duplicate publication. If authors have used their own previously published work, or work that is currently under review, as the basis for a submitted manuscript, they are required to cite the previous work and indicate how their submitted manuscript offers novel contributions beyond those of the previous work.
Selective reporting of data: Selective reporting of data is inappropriate, especially if unreported data are in disagreement with the findings of the selectively reported data. In accordance with the ICJME, the RB supports publication of negative studies. Authors should cite publications in the literature that are relevant to the uniqueness of the research and should including publications by others, as well as of their own research group. Previous publication of a preliminary report on the data is permissible, if this is stated clearly in a footnote in the manuscript.
Conflicts of interest: Authors must acknowledge and declare any sources of funding and potential conflicting interest, such as receiving funds or fees by, or holding stocks and shares in, an organization that may profit or lose through publication of your paper.

Scientific misconducts

Fabrication: Fabrication is the intentional misrepresentation of research results by making up data, such as that reported in a journal article. As with other forms of scientific misconduct, it is the intent to deceive that marks fabrication as highly unethical and different from scientists deceiving themselves. In some jurisdictions, fabrication may be illegal
Falsification: Falsified evidence could be created by either side in a case (including the police/prosecution in a criminal case), or by someone sympathetic to either side. Misleading by suppressing evidence can also be considered a form of false evidence (by omission).
Plagiarism: Plagiarism of text from a previously published manuscript by the same or another author is a serious publication offence. Small amounts of text may be used, but only where the source of the material quoted is clearly acknowledged. Fraudulent data or data stolen from other authors is also unethical and will be treated accordingly. Any alleged offence is considered initially by the Editorial Team.
Retraction Policy: The RB for retraction of a published article and expression of concern uses the COPE flowchart (http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines)