Ethical Oversight

Human/Animal Rights and Ethical Oversight

The research being reported should have been conducted ethically and responsibly, complying with all relevant legislation.

• Human research: For studies involving human participants, authors must certify that the research aligns with the ethical standards of the Helsinki Declaration and domestic or foreign governing committees. The authors must provide a statement identifying the ethics committee that approved the study.
• Patient privacy: Authors must ensure no personal information makes a patient’s identity recognizable (in descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees). If photographs are essential, written consent must be obtained and clearly stated.
• Animal research: Research involving animals should implement the 3R principles (replacement, reduction, and refinement) and follow relevant institutional or national guidelines. Authors must describe husbandry details and state the approving body.
• Ethical oversight & hazards: If the research involves chemicals, procedures, or equipment with unusual inherent hazards, the author must clearly identify these hazards. If the research involves confidential data or business practices, authors should clearly justify whether the data will be classified.

Funding, Conflicts of Interest, and Bias Mitigation

Funding and Authors' Conflicts of Interest (CoI)
All authors should disclose any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. On the ICMJE disclosure form, authors must clarify anything that may cause conflicts of interest, such as work, research expenses, consultant expenses, and intellectual property. The author’s conflict-of-interest statement should be stated in the authors' statement form.

Editorial Submissions and Bias Mitigation
When a submitting author and the editors of JKI have a professional or personal relationship that could create a perception of bias, a different editor from another institution will be assigned to manage the manuscript. This independent editor will select peer reviewers and hold exclusive responsibility for the final decision. The original editor will be excluded from the process entirely.

Reviewers' Conflicts of Interest
To ensure an impartial review process, reviewers are instructed to declare immediately if they know the author’s identity or perceive any conflict of interest (e.g., personal friendship, professional rivalry, or shared institutional affiliation). If a conflict is declared, an alternative reviewer will be appointed.