The Journal of Sulaimani Medical College (JSMC) is committed to maintaining high standards of research ethics, participant protection, laboratory safety, and biosecurity. All submitted research must comply with applicable national and institutional requirements and with internationally recognized ethical standards relevant to the type of research conducted.
Research involving human participants must have received appropriate ethical approval from an independent Institutional Review Board (IRB), Research Ethics Committee, or equivalent recognized body before the research begins.
Authors must:
Where applicable, human research should comply with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and relevant national and institutional requirements.
Authors must protect the privacy and confidentiality of research participants.
Written informed consent for publication must be obtained when a manuscript contains information, photographs, images, clinical details, or other material that could reasonably identify an individual.
Identifying information should be removed whenever it is not essential for scientific purposes.
When identifiable information is essential for publication, authors must confirm that appropriate written consent for publication has been obtained and retained in accordance with applicable requirements.
Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international standards for the care and use of laboratory animals.
Authors must:
Manuscripts should provide sufficient information to demonstrate compliance with applicable animal-research standards and reporting guidelines, including the ARRIVE guidelines, where relevant.
Research involving biological agents, infectious materials, genetically modified organisms, toxins, or other potentially hazardous biological materials must comply with applicable institutional and national biosafety requirements.
Authors must ensure that:
Where applicable, authors should identify the relevant biosafety or regulatory requirements governing the research.
JSMC requires the prospective registration of clinical trials in a publicly accessible clinical-trial registry before enrollment of the first participant.
Acceptable registries include ClinicalTrials.gov and primary registries recognized by the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (WHO ICTRP).
The trial registration number must be clearly reported in the manuscript, preferably in the Abstract and Methods section.
Ethics approval does not replace the requirement for prospective clinical-trial registration.
Authors are responsible for protecting the confidentiality and privacy of research participants.
Personal and sensitive research data must be collected, stored, processed, and shared in accordance with applicable laws, institutional requirements, and ethical standards.
Where research data are shared publicly or with other researchers, authors must ensure that participants cannot be identified unless appropriate consent for identifiable disclosure has been obtained.
JSMC recognizes that some biological or biomedical research may have potential dual-use implications, meaning that legitimate scientific findings could potentially be misused in ways that may cause harm to individuals, populations, animals, or the environment.
Authors should disclose relevant biosecurity or dual-use concerns when submitting a manuscript.
Where appropriate, the journal may seek additional expert advice or independent ethical or biosecurity assessment before making an editorial decision.
JSMC may request modification, restriction, or additional safeguards regarding the presentation of information when necessary to address legitimate ethical, safety, or biosecurity concerns.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research complies with applicable ethical, legal, and institutional requirements.
JSMC may request supporting documentation, including ethics approval, informed-consent documentation, trial registration information, or other relevant records.
Where serious ethical or biosafety concerns are identified, the journal may: