The journal adheres to the guidelines and best practices published by professional organizations, including ICMJE Recommendations and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by the Committee on Publication Ethics [COPE], Directory of Open Access Journals [DOAJ], World Association of Medical Editors [WAME], and Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association [OASPA]). Furthermore, all processes of handling research and publication misconduct will follow the applicable COPE flowchart (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts).

1. Human & Animal Rights

Clinical research should be conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki (https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/) and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the institution where the experiment was performed. Animal experiments should also be reviewed by an appropriate committee (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee; IACUC) for the care and use of animals. Studies involving pathogens requiring a high degree of biosafety should pass review by a relevant committee (IBC: Institutional Biosafety Committee). Clinical studies that do not meet the Helsinki Declaration will not be considered for publication.

2. IRB & Informed Consent

The editor of JSIE may request authors to submit copies of informed consent forms from human subjects and IRB approval documents in appropriate studies. Articles where human subjects can be identified in descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees must be accompanied by a signed statement of informed consent for publication (in print and online) and must be approved by the relevant review committee. The requirement for IRB approval for each study is determined by the respective institution's IRB committee. Articles involving the use of animals in experiments must be approved by the relevant authorities. IRB approval can be waived for studies that only describe surgical techniques or procedures and include no clinical information or photos that could identify specific patients.

3. Originality

Manuscripts are considered with the understanding that no part of the work has been published previously in print or electronic format and the paper is not under consideration by another publication or electronic medium.

4. Secondary Publication

It is possible to republish manuscripts if the manuscripts satisfy the conditions for secondary publication according to the ICMJE Recommendations (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/).

5. Plagiarism and Duplicate Publication

Attempting to publish substantially similar work more than once without attribution of the original source(s) is considered a redundant publication. The term “substantially similar” is defined as follows: (1) at least one of the authors is common to all reports (it is likely to be plagiarism if there are no common authors); (2) the subject or study populations are same or similar; the methodology is typically identical or nearly so; and (3) the results and interpretation vary little or not at all.
If all or part of the subject population has been reported previously, this should be declared in the Materials and Methods and must be appropriately referenced. In cases where authors are concerned with any potential overlap with published manuscripts or manuscripts being reviewed, the authors must include a letter explaining how the manuscript submitted to JSIE significantly differs from other materials. For more information, please refer to the ICMJE Recommendation (Available at: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/).

6. Authorship and Author’s Responsibility

Authorship credit must be based on (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, 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) agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that the questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. The authors should meet these four conditions. If the number of authors exceeds three, the specific role(s) of authors should be described at the end of the main text.

• Correction of authorship: Any requests for changes in authorship (adding author(s), removing author(s), or re-arranging the order of authors) after the initial manuscript submission and before publication should be explained in writing to the editor in a letter or e-mail from all authors. This letter must be signed by all authors of the paper. Every author must complete a copyright assignment form.

• Role of the corresponding author: The corresponding author takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process. The corresponding author typically ensures that all of the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing the details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and conflict of interest forms and statements, are properly completed, although these duties may be delegated to one or more co-authors. The corresponding author should be available throughout the submission and peer review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely manner, and after publication, should be available to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information or questions about the article.

• Contributors: Any researcher who does not meet all four ICMJE criteria for authorship discussed above but contributed substantively to the study in terms of idea development, manuscript writing, conducting research, data analysis, and financial support should have their contributions listed in the Acknowledgments section of the article.

7. Conflict of Interest Statement

The corresponding author must inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the authors’ interpretation of the data. Examples of potential conflicts of interest are financial support from or connections to companies, political pressure from interest groups, and academically related issues. In particular, all sources of funding applicable to the study should be explicitly stated.

8. Role of the Funding Source

Authors are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then, this should be stated.

9. Artificial Intelligence Guideline

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), exemplified by Chat GPT’s announcement in 2022, has brought about significant transformations in the academic landscape. AI has proven its capacity to perform tasks at an exceptionally high level in scholarly paper writing, challenging the traditional belief that academic writing is solely within the realm of human intellectual abilities. This shift is positive as it brings us closer to uncovering truths that may have been overlooked. It is also helpful to enhance the overall readability of academic papers and overcome the language barrier.
However, it is crucial to acknowledge that AI still grapples with unresolved issues, with hallucination being a prominent concern. The reliability of AI is not yet definitive. Copyright-related concerns arising from creative processes facilitated by AI necessitate societal consensus. It is imperative to evaluate this technology not solely for its convenience but also considering its broader implications. We highly respect the creative process of researchers and acknowledge its intrinsic value. Therefore, the editorial board of JSIE earnestly requests authors to adhere to the following guidelines when submitting papers to the journal:

• 1) Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed or cited as one of the authors due to its inability to take responsibility for errors.
• 2) Authors should exert every effort to ensure the reliability of their papers when utilizing artificial intelligence, holding responsibility for any plagiarism or false information generated using AI.
• 3) Authors must provide detailed information, including prompts, AI tools used, and their versions, in the Materials and Methods or Acknowledgment section when employing AI tools.
• 4) Images or videos created using AI, without societal consensus on copyright, cannot be included in papers at the moment.
• 5) Reviewers are cautioned against sharing the manuscript outside during the peer-review process. Even simple uploading papers to external AI tools can break confidentiality.
• 6) The editor may refuse to proceed with review of the paper if inappropriate use of AI is detected.
  We recognize that technology’s rapid evolution continually shapes the academic writing process, and the points mentioned above may evolve based on future societal agreements.