Ethical standard and policies

ETHICAL STANDARDS & POLICIES:

INFORMED CONSENT & HUMAN/ANIMAL RIGHTS POLICY

The LUMHS Undergraduate Medical Research Journal (LUMHS-UMRJ) strictly adheres to the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki, ICMJE Recommendations, and WHO guidelines for biomedical research.

Authors submitting manuscripts involving human participants must confirm that:

Ethical approval was obtained from an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethical Review Committee (ERC) prior to the initiation of the study.

Written informed consent was obtained from all participants, or from their legal guardians in the case of minors or individuals unable to provide consent.

The manuscript does not include any identifying personal information or photographs unless explicit written permission has been obtained.

For studies involving animals, authors must state that all procedures complied with relevant national and institutional guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals, and were approved by an Animal Ethics Committee where applicable.

LUMHS-UMRJ reserves the right to request proof of ethical approval or consent forms at any stage of the review or publication process.

Data Availability and Reproducibility Statement: LUMHS-UMRJ is committed to promoting transparency, reproducibility, and integrity in scientific research. Authors are required to provide a clear statement regarding the availability of data supporting their findings.

Datasets generated and/or analyzed during the study should be made available in a publicly accessible repository (where feasible) or upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Authors should describe how others can access the data, software, or materials necessary to reproduce their results.

Any limitations on data sharing, such as patient confidentiality or institutional restrictions, must be clearly stated in the manuscript.

This policy ensures that published research remains verifiable, reproducible, and beneficial to the wider scientific community.

Retraction and Correction Policy: LUMHS-UMRJ follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines for handling cases of corrections, retractions, and ethical concerns.

Corrections (Errata): Minor errors that do not affect the overall findings, interpretations, or conclusions of an article may be corrected through an official “Corrigendum” or “Erratum” published in a subsequent issue.

Retractions: Articles may be retracted in cases of major errors, scientific misconduct (such as plagiarism, data fabrication, or falsification), duplicate publication, or unethical research practices. Retraction notices will remain permanently accessible and linked to the original article to maintain the integrity of the scientific record.

Editorial Expressions of Concern: The journal may issue an expression of concern if a manuscript is under investigation but sufficient evidence for retraction is not yet available.

All retraction and correction decisions are made jointly by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board, in consultation with the COPE guidelines to ensure fairness and transparency.