Policies

IJCI expects authors, reviewers, and editors to adhere to internationally recognized standards of publication ethics. Submission of a manuscript implies that the work is original, has not been published elsewhere, and is not under simultaneous consideration by another journal. Allegations of ethical misconduct are investigated by the editorial office, and authors are given an opportunity to respond before any action is taken.

Authorship is limited to individuals who made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; who drafted or critically revised the manuscript; who approved the submitted version; and who agree to be accountable for the work. Contributors who do not meet all criteria should be recognized in the acknowledgements. Changes to the author list after submission require written agreement from all authors.

All authors must disclose financial and non-financial relationships that could be perceived to influence the reported work, including employment, consultancies, honoraria, patents, grants, equity, and institutional relationships. Disclosures are published with the article. Where no conflicts exist, a statement to that effect is required.

Studies involving human participants must have been conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and reviewed by an appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee. Animal studies must comply with applicable institutional and national requirements for the care and use of laboratory animals. Manuscripts must state the reviewing body and approval reference, or explain why review was not required.

Manuscripts reporting human subjects research must describe recruitment, eligibility, and consent procedures, and must protect participant privacy. Identifying details should be omitted unless essential for scientific purposes and covered by explicit consent.

Written informed consent is required for all case reports, case series, and any material containing potentially identifiable data, including images, videos, and clinical descriptions. Authors must confirm that consent was obtained and retain documentation; the journal may request evidence of consent.

Each article must include a data availability statement describing whether the underlying data are publicly available, available on reasonable request, or restricted, and the reason for any restriction. Authors are encouraged to deposit de-identified datasets, analysis code, and study protocols in recognized repositories where ethically and legally permissible.

Submissions are screened for textual overlap. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, redundant publication, image manipulation, and data fabrication or falsification are grounds for rejection or, if identified after publication, retraction. Prior related publications by the same authors must be cited and explained in the cover letter.

The published record is corrected transparently. Errors that do not affect the conclusions are addressed by a linked correction notice; substantial errors that invalidate the findings, or confirmed misconduct, result in a retraction notice stating the reason. Correction and retraction notices are permanently linked to the original article and remain freely accessible.

Generative artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors, because they cannot take responsibility for the work. Authors must disclose in the methods or acknowledgements any use of generative AI in study design, data analysis, image generation, or manuscript preparation, naming the tool and describing its role. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all content, including references. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts or review content to generative AI systems, as doing so breaches confidentiality.

Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential, declare conflicts of interest, decline invitations they cannot assess competently or impartially, and provide constructive, evidence-based assessments. Reviewers may not use unpublished material for personal or professional advantage.

Editorial decisions are made independently by IJCI's editors on scientific grounds. No sponsor, institution, or commercial interest influences the evaluation or publication of submitted work. Institutional affiliations of editors are provided for identification purposes only. IJCI is an independent journal and is not an official publication of the University of Southern California.