- Articles submitted to Our Dermatol Online must not contain any results that have been reported in any journals or books in any form. The articles must be authentic and should not contain manipulated data or fraudulent information and must not contain any results that have been, or will be, submitted to other journals. This also applies to direct translation between different languages.
- Our Dermatol Online requires that the submitted manuscript is solely from the author’s own work and not from the work of others, unless explicit permission has been granted. This includes text, figures and tables. Information from published articles must always be cited explicitly. Proper citation is to give the credit to the work that is originally published, not to follow-up work or reviews. Citations should be given close to the information within the sentences or at the end of the sentence, not after several sentences or near the end of the paragraph. Even when citations are given, exact copying of a whole sentence or paragraphs should be indicated by quotation marks. Furthermore, re-use of part of a published figure or table requires a copyright permission from the publishers that hold the rights. All re-published figures and tables should explicitly indicate the original source.
- Articles should describe results as accurately as possible, and avoid using statements of opinions as if they are facts. The manuscript format should present the results in a direct way and avoid misleading or misunderstanding. It is important to discuss the significance of the results; at the same time, it is crucial not to over-interpret the results. Excessive or biased interpretation will not contribute to scientific progress and will mislead readers.
- Articles should present a balanced perspective through proper citation of relevant literature in the field, rather than a biased view. Although it is reasonable to favor a specific interpretation over others, it is important to consider opposing or competing hypotheses. Even when a postulate is supported by more convincing evidence or greater amount of data than others, alternative possibilities that cannot be eliminated should be discussed. Consideration of various possibilities does not weaken the conclusions, but offer the readers a more comprehensive understanding of the issue.
- To be considered an author, the person in question should have made direct and meaningful contributions to the article, should have contributed to one or more of the following aspects: (1) coordination of the research project, (2) design of the research plan, (3) carrying out experimentation and (4) data analysis. It is the corresponding authors’ responsibility to seek the permission from each author to publish the materials and to get consensus on the authorship before submitted to Our Dermatol Online.
In summary, academic misconduct in any form will not be tolerated in Our Dermatol Online. In cases of suspected misconduct (plagiarism, fraud, breached intellectual property rights, etc.) a panel will be formed to evaluate the substance of the claim. If the claim is supported by evidence, the paper in question will be rejected for consideration in Our Dermatol Online and all authors and their affiliations will be informed. In cases where the paper has already been published before the misconduct was discovered, a retraction by authors or by Our Dermatol Online board will have to take place and the case will be made public. Evident cases of misconduct may result in a three-year or longer ban from future submission to Our Dermatol Online. All appeals regarding the panel’s decisions have to go via Editor-in-Chief and should be submitted within 30 days from the decision date.
Editorial Policies
Scientific Scholar and Our Dermatology Online rely on the integrity and honesty of their Editors to publish the best manuscript that conforms to the ethical standards and meets all the requirements as per the mission of the journal for publication. Scientific Scholar and Our Dermatology Online encourages its editors to follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) „Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors”.
Scientific Scholar expects Our Dermatology Online to conform with professional and industry guidelines and best practices in scientific publications, including the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE) and Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA)
Plagiarism
„To steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s own,” „use another’s production without crediting the source,” or „present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.” The Scientific Scholar also considers „self-plagiarism” as a form of plagiarism. An example of self-plagiarism would be when an author borrows from his or her own previously published work without the proper citation within the newly submitted manuscript. We have plagiarism check software available on our Editors and Reviewer’s panel in the manuscript management system. We encourage our editors and reviewers to use the plagiarism check. The manuscript’s found to have plagiarism is rejected.
Peer Review
Scientific Scholar and Our Dermatology Online rely on the double-blind peer review process to assess the quality of the manuscript to be published. Our Dermatology Online follows a double-blind review process, in which the author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on the peer review process can be found here and Guidelines for the reviewers can be found here.
Retraction Policy
Scientific Scholar and Our Dermatology Online abide by COPE Retraction Guidelines.
Conflicts of Interest
The Our Dermatology Online requires the authors to sign a disclosure form at the time of manuscript submission. Author/authors are expected to disclose any conflicts or financial interests impacting the outcome of the study in which he/she or they are involved. If the manuscript is accepted, the Conflict of Interest information will be communicated in a published statement. COPE guidelines on conflict of interest can be found here.
Journal policy on In-House Submissions
In-house submissions that contain the work of any editorial board member, are not allowed to be reviewed by that editorial board member and all decisions regarding this manuscript are made by an independent editor. In addition, these manuscripts are reviewed by the two external reviewers.
Permissions To Reproduce Previously Published Material
Permission is required to reproduce material (such as illustrations) from the copyright holder. Articles cannot be published without these permissions.
Patient Consent Forms
Potential participants should make their own decision about whether they want to participate or continue participating in research. This should be done through a process of informed consent in which individuals (1) are accurately informed of the purpose, methods, risks, benefits, and alternatives to the research, (2) understand this information and how it relates to their own clinical situation or interests, and (3) make a voluntary decision about whether to participate. A statement to the effect that such consent had been obtained must be included in the 'Methods’ section of your manuscript. If necessary the Editors may request a copy of consent forms.
Ethics committee approval
All studies that involve the humans need to have approval for the study from the respective institutional review Board (IRB) for the human studies. These guidelines may vary from country to country and country specific guidelines need to be followed. The IRB number and protocol number should be stated in the manuscript.
If World Medical Association (WMA) the Declaration of Helsinki ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects were followed, they should be stated in the method section of the manuscript. (See here for more information.)
If the study involves a Drug under investigation such as in clinical trial, its approval by the FDA or equivalent authority be obtained and stated in the manuscript. (See here for more information.)
Any study involving the animals for research should have approval of the protocol from the Institutional committee on the animal resources.
We follow the latest Core Practice Guidelines for Editors and Journal publishers as outlined by the COPE.
Allegations of misconduct
Authorship and contributorship
Complaints and appeals
Conflicts of interest / Competing interests
Data and reproducibility
Ethical oversight
Intellectual property
Journal management
Peer review processes
Post-publication discussions and corrections
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