Publication ethics

Scholix journals are committed to the integrity of the scholarly record. Editors, reviewers, authors and publishing staff are expected to follow the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), including the COPE Core Practices and its flowcharts for handling concerns.

This policy applies to every journal we publish. Journal-specific requirements, such as the reporting guidelines for each article type, are listed on the author page of each journal.

Authorship is limited to people who made a substantial contribution to the work and who accept responsibility for it. Medical and health journals follow the ICMJE criteria; other journals apply equivalent standards for their fields.

• Every author approves the final manuscript and agrees to its submission.
• Contributions are described in an author contributions statement, using the CRediT roles where helpful.
• Changes to the author list after submission need a written explanation signed by all authors.
• People who contributed without meeting the authorship criteria are named in the acknowledgments.

Manuscripts must be original, unpublished and not under consideration by another journal. Every submission is screened with similarity-checking software before peer review. Reuse of the authors' own earlier text must be disclosed and cited, and any preprint must be declared in the cover letter.

Studies involving human participants, identifiable data or human material need approval from an appropriate ethics committee and, where applicable, informed consent. The committee and its reference number must be stated in the manuscript, and the research must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Animal research must follow the ARRIVE guidelines and national regulations. Case reports need written consent for publication from the patient or a legal guardian.

Authors, reviewers and editors must disclose any financial or non-financial interest that could be seen to influence their work, including funding, employment, consultancies, patents and personal relationships. Editors never handle a manuscript in which they have an interest; it is assigned to another member of the board.

Authors must be able to provide the data behind their results on request, and every research article includes a data availability statement. Images must not be altered in ways that obscure, remove or introduce information. Adjustments to brightness or contrast must apply to the whole image and be described in the methods.

Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors, because they cannot take responsibility for the work. Authors who use such tools to draft or edit text, analyze data or create figures must describe that use in the methods or acknowledgments, and remain fully responsible for the content. Reviewers and editors must not upload manuscripts to AI tools, because this breaks confidentiality.

Correction

Published when an error affects part of an article but not its conclusions. The article is updated and linked to the correction notice.

Expression of concern

Issued while an investigation is under way, when there are serious doubts about the reliability of a publication.

Retraction

Issued when the findings are unreliable through misconduct or honest error, or in cases of plagiarism or duplicate publication. Retracted articles stay online, clearly marked.

Concerns about a published article, a manuscript under review or the conduct of an editor can be raised in confidence with the editorial office at info@scholixonline.org. We follow the COPE flowcharts, may contact the institutions involved, and act on our findings.

Authors may appeal an editorial decision once, in writing. The process is described in the peer-review policy.