Publication Ethics
Vestnik KazNMU is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics and integrity in scholarly publishing. All participants in the publication process - authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher - are expected to act in accordance with internationally recognized principles of transparency, accountability, confidentiality, and research integrity.
This policy is informed by the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.
1. Authorship and Contributions
1.1 Authorship must be based on substantial intellectual contribution to the conception or design of the work, data acquisition, analysis or interpretation, and participation in drafting or critically revising the manuscript.
1.2 All listed authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and accept responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the work.
1.3 Contributions that do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately.
1.4 Authorship disputes will be handled in accordance with the journal’s editorial procedures and relevant COPE and ICMJE guidance.
2. Conflicts of Interest
2.1 Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest, whether financial, professional, institutional, or personal, that could influence the objectivity of the publication process.
2.2 Authors must provide a conflict of interest statement at the time of submission; relevant disclosures may be published with the article.
2.3 Editors and reviewers must withdraw from the evaluation or handling of a manuscript where a disqualifying conflict of interest exists.
3. Funding and Sponsorship
3.1 All sources of financial support must be declared in the manuscript.
3.2 The role of the funder or sponsor in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing, or the decision to submit for publication must be stated where applicable.
4. Research Ethics
4.1 Research involving human participants, human biological materials, identifiable human data, animals, clinical trials, and evidence synthesis must comply with internationally recognized ethical standards and with the journal’s Research Ethics Policy.
4.2 Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research has received appropriate ethical approval, informed consent has been obtained where applicable, and all relevant ethical and legal requirements have been met.
4.3 Manuscripts must include the relevant ethics statements, approvals, registrations, and disclosures required by the journal for the specific study design.
4.4 Detailed requirements for human research, clinical trials, animal studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and reproduced materials are set out in the journal’s Research Ethics Policy.
5. Privacy, Confidentiality, and Identifiable Information
5.1 Authors must protect the privacy and confidentiality of research participants and patients.
5.2 Identifiable personal information, including recognizable photographs or clinical details that may permit identification, must not be published unless publication is scientifically essential and explicit written consent for publication has been obtained from the participant or legal representative.
5.3 Authors must ensure appropriate anonymization of submitted materials where required for publication or peer review.
6. Confidentiality in Peer Review
6.1 Manuscripts are treated as confidential during peer review.
6.2 Reviewers must not share, distribute, upload, or otherwise use manuscript content outside the peer review process.
6.3 Authors are expected to remove identifying information from manuscripts where necessary in order to preserve the integrity of double-blind peer review.
6.4 Detailed procedures for manuscript evaluation, reviewer selection, editorial decisions, and appeals are set out in the journal’s Peer Review Policy and Process.
7. Plagiarism and Research Misconduct
7.1 All submissions undergo plagiarism and similarity screening prior to or during editorial assessment.
7.2 Manuscripts with similarity above 20% may be returned to the authors for clarification or revision, or rejected at the editors’ discretion.
7.3 Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate submission, duplicate publication, manipulated peer review, copyright infringement, and other forms of research or publication misconduct are regarded as serious violations of publication ethics.
7.4 Where misconduct is identified or strongly suspected, the journal may reject the manuscript, suspend or terminate editorial consideration, issue a correction or retraction, or contact the relevant institution or authority where appropriate.
8. Data Sharing, Transparency, and Reproducibility
8.1 Authors are expected to present their methods, data sources, analyses, and results in a transparent and sufficiently detailed manner to permit evaluation and, where appropriate, reproducibility.
8.2 Authors of original research must include a Data Availability Statement describing whether and how underlying data, code, or supporting materials can be accessed, or explaining any justified restrictions.
8.3 Authors are expected to follow relevant international reporting guidelines appropriate to the study design.
8.4 Detailed requirements relating to reporting standards, protocol registration, and methodological transparency for specific study types are described in the journal’s Research Ethics Policy.
9. Complaints and Appeals
9.1 Authors may appeal editorial decisions by submitting a reasoned justification to the journal.
9.2 Complaints and appeals are handled fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with the journal’s editorial procedures and relevant COPE guidance.
9.3 Detailed procedures are described in the journal’s Peer Review Policy and Process and other relevant policy sections where applicable.
10. Post-Publication Corrections and Retractions
10.1 Minor errors that do not invalidate the overall findings of a publication may be corrected through an erratum or corrigendum.
10.2 Serious errors, unreliable findings, or misconduct may result in retraction, an expression of concern, or other appropriate editorial action.
10.3 Corrections, retractions, and related notices are linked to the original publication and form part of the permanent scholarly record.
10.4 Detailed procedures are set out in the journal’s Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern Policy.
11. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools
11.1 Generative AI tools do not meet authorship criteria and cannot be listed as authors.
11.2 Authors must disclose the use of AI-assisted tools where relevant, particularly in relation to writing, content generation, image generation, or data-related tasks.
11.3 Reviewers must not upload manuscripts or confidential editorial materials into AI systems in a manner that compromises confidentiality or data protection.
11.4 Detailed rules are described in the journal’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy.
12. Intellectual Property and Copyright
12.1 Authors retain copyright to their published work, subject to the journal’s publication and licensing terms.
12.2 Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for any third-party copyrighted material included in their manuscripts.
12.3 Licensing, reuse, and archiving conditions are described in the journal’s Copyright, Licensing, and Archiving Policy.
13. Editorial Responsibility
13.1 The editorial team is responsible for making fair, impartial, and timely decisions based on scholarly merit, ethical compliance, and relevance to the journal’s scope.
13.2 Editorial decisions are made independently of advertising, sponsorship, or commercial considerations.
13.3 The journal reserves the right to update its ethical standards and editorial procedures in response to evolving international best practices.