Publication Ethics and Policies

The Journal of Radiology and Clinical Research (JRCR), published by Read and Research Publications is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. The journal supports the principles of academic freedom, editorial independence, and responsible research publishing.

All editorial decisions are made impartially and are based solely on the scientific quality, originality, and relevance of the submitted work. These decisions are made independently of any influence from sponsors, institutions, funding agencies, or other external parties.

The journal strictly follows recognized ethical guidelines to ensure transparency, accountability, and integrity in scholarly publishing. All participants in the publication process including authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher are expected to adhere to these ethical standards.

Authors must ensure that their work is original, properly cited, and conducted in accordance with accepted research and ethical practices. Reviewers are expected to provide objective, confidential, and constructive evaluations of submitted manuscripts. Editors are responsible for maintaining fairness, confidentiality, and transparency throughout the peer-review and publication process.

These policies apply uniformly to all submissions and contributors to safeguard the credibility, reliability, and integrity of the scientific record published in the Journal of Radiology and Clinical Research (JRCR).

Editorial Policies

The Journal of Radiology and Clinical Research is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, transparency, and ethical responsibility in scholarly publishing. The Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board ensure that all editorial decisions are guided by fairness, scientific merit, and alignment with the journal’s aims and scope.

The Journal adheres to internationally recognized ethical frameworks and publishing standards, including the best practice recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA.

Handling Allegations of Misconduct

The Journals treat all allegations of academic or scientific misconduct with the utmost seriousness. We are committed to safeguarding the integrity of the scholarly record and take appropriate action in accordance with internationally recognized ethical guidelines, including those of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All allegations are assessed carefully, and investigations are conducted in a fair, impartial, and confidential manner.

The journal adopts the widely accepted definition of scientific misconduct as outlined by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), which includes:

“Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, or other practices that represent a significant deviation from accepted standards in proposing, conducting, or reporting research.”

Where misconduct is identified, the journal will take necessary corrective measures, which may include rejection of the manuscript, publication of corrections or retractions, notification to relevant institutions, or other appropriate actions to maintain transparency and trust in the scientific record.

Types of misconduct

• Plagiarism
• Text recycling or self-plagiarism
• Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication
• Falsification or fabrication of data
• Citation manipulation
• Peer Review manipulation
• Authorship misconduct

AI & Authorship

The Journal does not accept manuscripts generated primarily by Artificial Intelligence (AI) or machine learning tools, as such technologies cannot assume responsibility or accountability for scholarly work and therefore cannot be listed as authors.

If AI tools are used in data analysis, study design, language editing, or other aspects of the research process, their use must be clearly disclosed in the acknowledgments section. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the submitted work.

Anonymous Authorship

The Journal expects all scholarly publications to clearly identify their authors to ensure proper attribution and accountability. However, in rare and exceptional cases, anonymous authorship may be considered where disclosure of identity poses a genuine risk to personal safety, liberty, or security.

Requests for anonymity must be submitted prior to manuscript acceptance and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the Editor-in-Chief in consultation with the Publisher. Authors must provide written justification and disclose their legal identity confidentially to the journal.

If approved, the author’s identity will remain known to the journal but withheld from publication, with an appropriate editorial note indicating that anonymity has been granted for safety reasons. While every effort will be made to protect confidentiality, absolute anonymity cannot be guaranteed.

Conflicts of Interest and Competing Interests

A conflict of interest exists when personal, professional, or financial relationships could influence or be perceived to influence the objectivity of research, peer review, or editorial decisions.

All authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any actual or potential competing interests. Authors are required to include a clear Conflict of Interest statement in their manuscript, declaring all relevant relationships or stating explicitly that no conflicts exist. If uncertain, authors should consult the Editor prior to submission.

Competing interests may include personal relationships, financial support, grants, patents, institutional affiliations, or professional commitments that could affect the research. All sources of funding must be disclosed in the acknowledgments section.

Editors and reviewers with conflicts related to a submitted manuscript will not participate in its evaluation. The journal reserves the right to decline publication if disclosed conflicts are deemed to compromise the integrity or objectivity of the work.

 

Studies Involving Human

For studies involving human participants, authors must ensure that the research is conducted in full compliance with the ethical principles outlined in the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki. Manuscripts should adhere to internationally accepted recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals. Authors are encouraged to include representative human populations with respect to sex, age, and ethnicity, and to use the terms sex and gender accurately and appropriately.

Each manuscript must include a clear ethics statement confirming that all study procedures complied with relevant laws, institutional policies, and regulatory guidelines, and that approval was obtained from the appropriate institutional ethics committee(s). The statement should specify the approval date and reference number. Authors must also confirm that informed consent was obtained from all participants and that the privacy and confidentiality of human subjects were strictly maintained.

Informed Consent and Patient Details

Studies involving patients or volunteers, including organ or tissue donors, must be conducted with prior informed consent, and this should be clearly stated within the manuscript. When details, personal information, images, or any identifiable data of patients or other individuals are included, authors must obtain all necessary consent, permissions, and releases in advance. Written consent forms should be securely retained by the authors; however, copies should not be submitted to the journal.

In exceptional circumstances, such as legal requirements, authors may be asked by the journal to provide evidence that appropriate consent has been obtained. Authors are encouraged to follow established guidelines on the ethical use of patient images and personal information. Unless explicit written permission is granted by the patient or, where applicable, the next of kin, all personal identifiers must be removed from the manuscript and any supplementary materials, including figures, images, and videos, prior to submission.

Special Issues & Thematic Issues

From time to time, the Editor-in-Chief may appoint one or more Guest Editors to oversee a Special or Thematic Issue focused on a specific topic of scientific importance.

Guest Editors are generally responsible for proposing the theme, inviting submissions, and coordinating the peer-review process for manuscripts submitted to the Special Issue. All proposals for Special Issues are subject to review and approval by the Editor-in-Chief.

Manuscripts submitted to Special Issues are evaluated under the same rigorous double-blind peer-review standards as regular submissions. While Guest Editors may provide recommendations regarding acceptance, the final publication decision rests solely with the Editor-in-Chief.

 

Plagiarism policy

The JRCR is committed to upholding the maximum plagiarism standards for academic integrity and ethical publishing. All submitted manuscripts must be original works and must not contain any form of plagiarism, not more than 10%.

• Plagiarism includes direct copying substantial materials or close paraphrasing of text, ideas, data, figures, or tables from previously published or unpublished sources without proper acknowledgment.
• This policy also applies to self-plagiarism, including redundant or duplicate publication, where authors reuse significant portions of their own previously published work without appropriate citation.
• All manuscripts submitted to the journal are subject to plagiarism screening using standard plagiarism detection software (Turnitin).
• Manuscripts found to contain unacceptable levels of similarity or unethical practices will be rejected.

Generative AI Policy

Authors are required to declare any use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in the preparation of their manuscript at the time of submission. The journal acknowledges the growing role of generative AI and AI-based tools when used responsibly and transparently. Such tools may assist researchers in efficiently synthesizing complex literature, gaining an overview of a research area, identifying knowledge gaps, generating ideas, and supporting tasks such as content organization, language refinement, and improving readability.

While authors may use AI tools during manuscript preparation, these technologies must not replace human judgment, critical thinking, or scholarly expertise. All AI-assisted outputs must be carefully reviewed, validated, and controlled by the authors, who remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the submitted work.

• Carefully review and verify all AI-generated content for accuracy, completeness, and impartiality, including checking sources.
• Thoroughly edit and adapt the content to ensure it reflects the author’s original analysis, ideas, and scholarly contribution.
• Clearly and transparently disclose the use of any AI tools at the time of manuscript submission.
• Ensure data privacy, intellectual property, and related rights are protected by complying with the terms and conditions of the AI tools used.

Sharing Your Research Data

The JRCR strongly encourages authors to share research data that supports the findings of their published articles. Data sharing enhances transparency, reproducibility, and scientific integrity, while enabling other researchers to validate results and advance further studies. It also increases the visibility and impact of the author’s work.

We support responsible data sharing in collaboration with research institutions, funding bodies, and data repositories. Our policies align internationally recognized best practices for research data management and promote standardization, accessibility, and ethical use of shared data.

Ethics Approval

All research involving human participants must obtain prior approval from an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethics Committee, and the approval number must be clearly stated in the manuscript. Clinical trials must include evidence of registration and regulatory authorization (e.g., FDA or equivalent national authority) where applicable.

Studies involving animals must receive approval from the relevant Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) or equivalent regulatory body, in accordance with national and international animal welfare guidelines.

Research involving human subjects must comply with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and applicable national ethical regulations. Authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained from participants (or their legal guardians), including consent for publication of identifiable data or images where relevant.

Where applicable, manuscripts should also include:

• Clinical Trial Registration Number (e.g., CTRI, ClinicalTrials.gov)
• Biosafety or Institutional Biosafety Committee approval for studies involving hazardous biological materials
• Radiation Safety Committee approval for studies involving ionizing radiation
• Data Protection or Privacy Approval for studies involving sensitive personal data
• Institutional Scientific Review Committee approval, if required

Authors are advised to retain copies of all relevant ethical approval documents and be prepared to submit them to the journal upon request. The Editorial Office reserves the right to request supporting documentation at any stage of the review or publication process to ensure compliance with ethical standards.

Informed Consent Policy

The Journal requires that all research involving human participants complies with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and applicable national and institutional regulations.

 

Informed Consent Requirement

Authors must obtain written informed consent from all participants (or their legal guardians) prior to inclusion in the study. Consent must cover participation in the research and, where applicable, permission to publish identifiable information.

Protection of Participant Identity

Manuscripts containing photographs, videos, imaging studies, or case details that may reveal a participant’s identity require specific written consent for publication. All identifying information—including names, initials, hospital numbers, or institutional details—must be removed from images and text. Clinical photographs should ensure adequate anonymization.

The Journal reserves the right to request copies of consent documentation at any stage. Non-compliance may result in rejection or retraction of the manuscript in accordance with COPE Core Practices.