Publication Ethics / Publishing Policies

Annales Medicinae Urgentis is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, research integrity, editorial independence, transparency, and responsible scholarly communication.

The journal follows internationally recognised standards and recommendations for ethical publishing, including the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and relevant standards for transparent open-access publishing.

These policies apply to all authors, editors, reviewers, editorial board members, guest editors, and all persons involved in the submission, review, editing, publication, and post-publication handling of manuscripts submitted to Annales Medicinae Urgentis.

Editorial responsibility and independence

Editorial decisions are based solely on the scholarly merit, originality, methodological quality, ethical compliance, relevance to the journal’s scope, and clinical, scientific, educational, or public health importance of the submitted work.

Editorial decisions are not influenced by the publisher, sponsors, advertisers, institutions, professional societies, personal relationships, political considerations, or commercial interests.

The Editor-in-Chief has final responsibility for the editorial content of the journal. When appropriate, editorial decisions may be delegated to deputy editors, section editors, or other designated editors, provided that editorial independence and conflict-of-interest safeguards are maintained.

Responsibilities of authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their submitted work is original, accurate, ethically conducted, transparently reported, and not under consideration elsewhere unless this has been clearly disclosed and approved by the editors.

By submitting a manuscript to Annales Medicinae Urgentis, authors confirm that:

• the manuscript represents original work;
• the manuscript has not been published previously, except where clearly disclosed;
• the manuscript is not under simultaneous consideration by another journal;
• all listed authors meet the journal’s authorship criteria;
• all persons who contributed substantially but do not meet authorship criteria are appropriately acknowledged;
• all sources of funding and support are disclosed;
• all relevant conflicts of interest are disclosed;
• research involving humans, animals, or sensitive data has been conducted in accordance with applicable ethical standards;
• necessary ethics committee approvals, informed consent, patient consent, and institutional permissions have been obtained where applicable;
• all data, images, tables, and figures are accurate and have not been fabricated, falsified, manipulated, or misleadingly presented;
• permission has been obtained for any third-party material not covered by the article license.

Authors must cooperate with the editorial office during the review and post-publication process and provide additional documentation, data, ethics approvals, consent forms, or institutional confirmations if requested.

Authorship and contributorship

Annales Medicinae Urgentis follows the authorship principles of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the work and who accept responsibility and accountability for the published article.

Each author should meet all of the following criteria:

1. substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
2. drafting the work or critically revising it for important intellectual content;
3. final approval of the version to be published;
4. agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged in the manuscript with their permission.

Examples of contributions that alone do not justify authorship include general supervision, administrative support, technical assistance, language editing, funding acquisition, data collection without intellectual contribution, or routine clinical care.

Author contribution statement

The journal may require authors to provide a clear author contribution statement describing the role of each author in the preparation of the manuscript.

The use of a recognised taxonomy, such as the CRediT taxonomy, is encouraged where appropriate.

Corresponding author

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal during submission, peer review, production, and post-publication correspondence.

The corresponding author must ensure that:

• all authors have approved the submitted version;
• all authors have agreed to authorship order;
• all required declarations have been submitted;
• all authors are informed about editorial decisions and revisions;
• all post-publication queries are addressed appropriately.

The corresponding author is not solely responsible for the integrity of the work; all authors share responsibility for the published article.

ORCID policy

All authors are required to provide an ORCID ID during the article submission process.

Changes in authorship

Any change in authorship after submission, including addition, removal, or rearrangement of authors, must be requested in writing and must be approved by all authors, including any author being added or removed.

The request must include a clear explanation for the proposed change. The editorial office may require signed statements from all authors before considering the change.

Authorship changes after acceptance are permitted only in exceptional circumstances. Authorship changes after publication may require a formal correction.

Acknowledgements

Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria but contributed to the work should be acknowledged with their permission.

Acknowledgements may include individuals who provided technical assistance, language editing, administrative support, statistical advice, clinical support, or other non-author contributions.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from acknowledged individuals, as acknowledgement may imply endorsement of the work.

Conflicts of interest and competing interests

Authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial board members must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the submission, review, editorial decision, or interpretation of the work.

Conflicts of interest may be financial or non-financial and may include, but are not limited to:

• employment, consultancy, advisory roles, or paid expert testimony;
• honoraria, lecture fees, travel support, or gifts;
• stock ownership, patents, patent applications, or royalties;
• grants, institutional funding, or sponsored research;
• personal, academic, professional, or institutional relationships;
• direct academic competition;
• strong personal beliefs or public positions related to the manuscript topic.

All manuscripts must include a conflict-of-interest statement. If there are no conflicts of interest, this should be stated explicitly.

Editors and reviewers with relevant conflicts of interest must recuse themselves from handling or reviewing the manuscript.

Funding and role of the funder

Authors must disclose all sources of funding, sponsorship, institutional support, material support, or other financial support related to the submitted work.

Authors must describe the role of the funder or sponsor in:

• study design;
• data collection;
• data analysis;
• data interpretation;
• writing of the manuscript;
• decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

If the funder or sponsor had no role in the work, this should be stated explicitly.

Research involving human participants

Research involving human participants, human tissue, medical records, clinical data, images, or other identifiable or potentially identifiable information must comply with applicable ethical standards, institutional requirements, and national legislation.

Authors must state whether ethics committee or institutional review board approval was obtained, including the name of the approving body and approval number where available.

If ethics approval was waived, authors must state the name of the body that granted the waiver and provide the reason for the waiver.

The journal may request documentation of ethics approval or waiver at any stage of the editorial process.

Informed consent and patient privacy

Authors are responsible for protecting patient privacy and confidentiality.

Identifying information, including names, initials, hospital numbers, photographs, imaging, dates, or other details that could identify a patient, must not be published unless essential for scientific or educational purposes and unless appropriate written informed consent has been obtained.

For case reports, clinical images, videos, and other materials involving identifiable patients, authors must confirm that written patient consent for publication has been obtained.

If the patient is unable to provide consent, consent should be obtained from a legally authorised representative, in accordance with applicable laws and ethical standards.

The editorial office may request copies of consent documentation, while respecting confidentiality requirements.

Research involving animals

Research involving animals must comply with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines for the ethical care and use of animals.

Authors must state whether approval was obtained from an appropriate animal ethics committee or institutional review body.

The manuscript should include sufficient information to allow readers and editors to assess whether animal welfare standards were followed.

Clinical trials

Clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with applicable ethical and regulatory standards.

The journal encourages prospective registration of clinical trials in a publicly accessible clinical trial registry before enrolment of the first participant.

Manuscripts reporting clinical trials should include the trial registration number and name of the registry. If a trial was not registered prospectively, authors must provide an explanation.

Reporting guidelines

Authors are encouraged to follow recognised reporting guidelines appropriate to the study design.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• CONSORT for randomised trials;
• STROBE for observational studies;
• PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
• CARE for case reports;
• STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies;
• SQUIRE for quality improvement studies;
• ARRIVE for animal studies.

The journal may request completed reporting checklists during submission, peer review, or revision.

Data integrity, availability, and reproducibility

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and integrity of the data presented in their manuscript.

Data must not be fabricated, falsified, selectively reported, or manipulated in a misleading way.

Authors should retain original data, study documentation, analysis files, ethics approvals, and other relevant records for a reasonable period after publication, in accordance with institutional and legal requirements.

The journal may request access to anonymised or de-identified data, statistical code, study protocols, or other supporting materials when needed to assess the validity or integrity of the work.

Where appropriate, authors are encouraged to make data available in a suitable repository, provided that this does not compromise patient privacy, confidentiality, ethical approvals, legal requirements, or data protection regulations.

Image, figure, and table integrity

Images, figures, tables, graphs, and other visual materials must accurately represent the underlying data or clinical material.

Inappropriate manipulation, selective enhancement, duplication, removal, obscuring, or misleading alteration of images is not permitted.

Adjustments to brightness, contrast, or colour balance are acceptable only when applied to the entire image and when they do not obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent information.

Authors must clearly indicate when images are illustrative, adapted, modified, or composite.

The journal may request original image files or source data if concerns arise.

Plagiarism, similarity, and duplicate publication

Annales Medicinae Urgentis does not accept plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, redundant publication, text recycling without appropriate disclosure, or misappropriation of ideas, data, images, or text.

All submissions may be checked for similarity using plagiarism detection software or other editorial tools.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

• copying text, ideas, data, images, or tables without proper attribution;
• paraphrasing substantial parts of another work without appropriate citation;
• using another person’s work as one’s own;
• reusing substantial parts of the authors’ own previously published work without disclosure or citation;
• submitting the same or substantially similar manuscript to more than one journal.

If plagiarism, duplicate submission, or redundant publication is suspected, the editorial team may contact the authors, request clarification, reject the manuscript, contact the authors’ institution, or take post-publication action if the article has already been published.

Preprints

The journal may consider manuscripts that have previously been posted as preprints, provided that this is clearly disclosed at submission.

Authors must provide details of the preprint server, DOI or link, and date of posting.

Preprints do not replace peer review and are not considered prior formal publication. Authors are responsible for ensuring that preprint posting complies with funder, institutional, and journal requirements.

If the manuscript is accepted and published, authors are encouraged to update the preprint record with a citation and link to the final published article.

Use of artificial intelligence and automated tools by authors

Authors must disclose any substantive use of artificial intelligence, large language models, or other automated tools in the preparation of the manuscript.

Artificial intelligence tools must not be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, originality, or accountability of the work.

Authors are fully responsible for all content generated or assisted by artificial intelligence tools, including accuracy, originality, citation integrity, absence of plagiarism, and compliance with ethical and legal requirements.

Authors must not use artificial intelligence tools in a way that breaches patient confidentiality, data protection requirements, copyright, or research ethics approvals.

Use of artificial intelligence for language editing or formatting may be acceptable, but authors remain responsible for the final text.

The journal may request additional information about the use of artificial intelligence or automated tools when necessary.

Citation and reference integrity

Authors must ensure that references are accurate, relevant, and appropriately cited.

References should not be added solely to increase citation counts, satisfy inappropriate requests, or manipulate bibliometric indicators.

Citation manipulation, coercive citation, excessive self-citation, irrelevant citation, and citation cartels are not acceptable.

Reviewers and editors must not request citation of their own work or the journal’s work unless there is a clear scholarly reason.

Research misconduct

Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

• fabrication of data;
• falsification of data or methods;
• plagiarism;
• image manipulation;
• duplicate or redundant publication;
• undisclosed conflicts of interest;
• unethical research involving humans or animals;
• lack of required informed consent;
• authorship manipulation;
• peer review manipulation;
• citation manipulation;
• data suppression or selective reporting;
• misrepresentation of methods, results, or conclusions.

When misconduct is suspected, the journal will assess the concern carefully and may request an explanation, original data, ethics documentation, consent forms, or institutional confirmation.

The journal may contact authors, reviewers, institutions, ethics committees, funders, or other journals when appropriate.

Editorial actions may include rejection, correction, expression of concern, retraction, notification of institutions, or other measures appropriate to the nature and severity of the concern.

Peer review integrity

The journal’s peer review process is described in the journal’s Peer Review Policy.

Authors, reviewers, and editors must not attempt to manipulate the peer review process.

Peer review manipulation includes, but is not limited to:

• submission of false reviewer identities;
• use of fabricated reviewer email addresses;
• impersonation of reviewers;
• inappropriate influence on reviewers or editors;
• undisclosed conflicts of interest;
• attempts to access confidential review information.

Any suspected peer review manipulation will be investigated and may result in rejection, retraction, notification of institutions, or other editorial action.

Editorial handling of manuscripts submitted by editors or editorial board members

Manuscripts submitted by editors, editorial board members, reviewers, or persons closely associated with the journal are handled with additional safeguards.

The submitting editor or editorial board member is excluded from all stages of editorial handling, reviewer selection, decision-making, and access to confidential review information related to the manuscript.

Such manuscripts are assigned to an independent editor with no relevant conflict of interest and undergo the same peer review and editorial standards as all other submissions.

Confidentiality

Editors, reviewers, editorial staff, and editorial board members must treat submitted manuscripts and related correspondence as confidential.

Unpublished material must not be shared, disclosed, discussed, or used for personal, academic, financial, or professional advantage.

Confidentiality applies before, during, and after the peer review process.

Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions

Annales Medicinae Urgentis is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.

If an error or concern is identified after publication, the journal will evaluate the issue and determine the appropriate action.

Possible post-publication notices include:

• Correction: issued when an error affects the accuracy, clarity, or completeness of the article but does not invalidate the main findings.
• Expression of concern: issued when serious concerns exist but the available evidence is inconclusive or an investigation is ongoing.
• Retraction: issued when findings are unreliable due to misconduct, major error, unethical research, plagiarism, duplicate publication, compromised peer review, or other serious integrity concerns.
• Removal: used only in exceptional circumstances, such as legal requirements, serious privacy breaches, or risk of harm.

Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions will be clearly linked to the original article and will explain the reason for the editorial action.

Authors should notify the editorial office promptly if they discover a significant error in their published work.

Complaints and appeals

Authors, readers, reviewers, or other stakeholders may submit complaints or appeals concerning editorial decisions, peer review, publication ethics, conflicts of interest, or journal processes.

Complaints and appeals should be submitted in writing to the editorial office and should include a clear description of the concern and any relevant evidence.

Appeals against editorial decisions must explain why the authors believe that a significant procedural error, factual misunderstanding, conflict of interest, or ethical issue affected the decision.

The journal will review complaints and appeals fairly, confidentially, and in a timely manner. When appropriate, an independent editor, editorial board member, or external expert may be consulted.

Appeals that simply express disagreement with editorial judgment without new evidence or a clear procedural concern will not usually be considered.

The decision after appeal is final.

Post-publication discussion

The journal welcomes legitimate post-publication discussion, scholarly critique, and correspondence related to published articles.

Concerns about published articles should be submitted to the editorial office. The journal may publish letters, responses, corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or other notices when appropriate.

Authors of the original article may be invited to respond to substantive post-publication comments.

Advertising, sponsorship, and commercial influence

Editorial decisions are independent from advertising, sponsorship, institutional interests, commercial relationships, or financial considerations.

Any sponsored content, advertising, or externally funded material must be clearly identified as such and must not influence editorial decisions.

The journal does not allow commercial interests to compromise editorial independence, peer review, or publication ethics.

Special issues, supplements, and conference materials

Special issues, thematic sections, conference supplements, and invited content are subject to the same standards of publication ethics, editorial independence, peer review, conflict-of-interest disclosure, and transparency as regular submissions.

Guest editors, if appointed, must follow the journal’s editorial policies. Final responsibility for editorial standards remains with the Editor-in-Chief or designated senior editor.

Conference abstracts, proceedings, or supplement materials must be clearly identified as such.

Archiving and preservation

The journal is committed to the long-term availability and preservation of published content.

Published articles are made available through the journal website and may also be deposited or archived in appropriate repositories, indexing services, digital archives, or national and institutional platforms.

The journal’s archiving and preservation arrangements are described in the journal’s Archiving Policy.

Open access, copyright, and licensing

The journal’s open access, copyright, and licensing terms are described in the journal’s Open Access, Copyright and Licensing Policy.

All articles are published under the license stated on the article page and in the published article file.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that any third-party material included in their article may be published under the applicable license or is accompanied by an appropriate permission statement.

Fees and charges

The journal’s fees and charges are described in the journal’s author guidelines and fee policy.

Any submission fees, article processing charges, publication fees, colour charges, or other author-side charges must be clearly stated on the journal website before submission.

If no fees are charged, this is stated explicitly.

Ethical oversight and policy updates

The journal may update these policies to reflect changes in international standards, legal requirements, editorial practice, or publication ethics guidance.

The version of the policy available on the journal website applies to manuscripts under consideration unless otherwise specified.

Questions about publication ethics or publishing policies should be directed to the editorial office:

Editorial office: visnja.nesek@hotmail.com

Last updated: 22.6.2026.