JOURNAL of MULTISCALE NEUROSCIENCE

Conflict of Interest

Whenever a manuscript is submitted, the corresponding author must state in writing if any author has actual or perceived conflict of interest, he or she must disclose them in the form (Statement of Conflict). There may be conflict of interest arising from affiliations, financial holdings, personal relationships, or funding sources that can be viewed as affecting the reviewer’s objectivity when it comes to the content of a manuscript. In times when a scientist’s private interests are at odds with the researcher’s responsibilities to scientific community in terms of research publication activities, there is a “conflict of interest”. A potential bias does not mean that the work presented has been compromised, nor does it disqualify authors from publication, but potential conflicts must be presented to readers. A conflict of interest discovered after publication will be published in an erratum. There should be full disclosure of all relevant financial and personal interests that may have had an impact on the development of the manuscript by the authors. The Journal of Multiscale Neuroscience will avoid all conflict of interest between authors, reviewers, and members of the editorial board and international scientific committee. Conflict of interest disclosures will be published in the article.

It is also important for reviewers to disclose any conflict of interest and if necessary, decline the review of any manuscript they perceive to have a conflict of interest and if needed provide a statement of disclaimer. Moreover, editors should deter from considering any manuscript that may be tainted by any conflict of interest from being considered for publication.

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Human Subject Research

 
There should always be an expectation that all human subjects within the larger context of human rights law should be treated with utmost dignity and respect at all times, regardless of their age and status, and  whether they are alive or deceased. As a fundamental principle of ethical research practices, researcher must be vigilant in making sure that they mitigate risks and must ensure that that they avoid harm to their research participants.
 

A key ethical concept associated with human subjects’ research is called “informed consent.” There are three fundamental components of informed consent:

1. subjects being asked to participate in research should be adequately informed about the benefits and risks that may be associated with the research

2. subjects should not be coerced into making decisions about participating in the research, nor should they be forced to remain in the research if they decide to withdraw from it; and

3. subjects must be competent to make decisions regarding their participation in research, which is in part determined by their age and mental capacity.

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All research and clinical studies on humans (individuals, samples, or data) must have been performed in accordance with the ethical principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki.

The ethics of research also require researchers to be transparent in their research methods used in data collection - to allow editors, peer reviewers and readers fairly and accurately appraise their research activity. Researchers also have an ethical obligation to be transparent about their research methods in such a way that editors, peer reviewers, and readers may fairly and adequately evaluate their work.

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Informed Consent and Institutional Review Board Approval

Before the study began, investigators must obtain ethical approval for all protocols in advance from the local institutional review board (IRB) or an appropriate ethical committee should confirm that the study complies with national and international guidelines for human subjects’ research. There should be a statement in the manuscript to confirm that this has been done, along with the name of the ethics committee and reference or permit numbers where available. If necessary, the editor or reviewers may request copies of these documents to resolve questions about IRB approval and study conduct. In addition, for studies conducted with human subjects, the method by which informed consent was obtained from the participants (i.e., verbal or written) also needs to be stated in the Methods section.

      Ex 1) This study complies with the Declaration of Helsinki and was performed according to ethics committee approval.

      Ex 2) This study had institutional review board approval, and the need to obtain informed patient consent was waived.

      Ex 3) This study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki, and all patients provided written informed        consent prior to participation.

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Animal Rights

 

For animal subjects, research should be performed based on the National or Institutional Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The general opinion is that animals have a moral status, and that our treatment of them should be subject to ethical considerations. Such views are reflected in the following positions:

 

     1.  Animals have an intrinsic value which must be respected.

     2.  Animals are sentient creatures with the capacity to feel pain, and the interests of animals must therefore be taken into consideration.

     3.  Our treatment of animals, including the use of animals in research, is an expression of our attitudes and influences us as moral actors.

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Animal research studies must state that all work was conducted according to the National or Institutional Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the ethical treatment of all experimental animals must conform to the guidelines provided by the NIH Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). A statement of IRB status and IACUC must be included in the Methods section. The ethical treatment of all experimental animals should be maintained.

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