Publication Ethics and Handling of Research Misconduct
Fernando Martins De Bulhão Publishing (FMDB) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, research integrity, editorial independence, and responsible scholarly publishing. FMDB develops its editorial and publication policies in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices, the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and internationally recognized standards for scholarly publishing. All participants in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, editors, and publisher staff, are expected to adhere to these ethical principles throughout the submission, peer review, publication, and post-publication stages.
Conflicts of Interest
Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived to influence the research, its interpretation, or publication. Reviewers and editors are likewise required to disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest and must decline or withdraw from handling manuscripts where impartiality could be compromised.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
Funding Disclosure
Authors must disclose all sources of financial support for the research, including funding agency names, grant numbers (where applicable), and the role of the funder in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and publication decision.
Research Misconduct
FMDB considers the following practices to constitute research or publication misconduct:
All submitted manuscripts are screened using Crossref Similarity Check powered by iThenticate. Similarity reports are evaluated by the Editor, who considers the context, extent, and nature of any overlap before making an editorial decision. Any suspected misconduct may result in editorial investigation and appropriate actions, including manuscript rejection, publication of corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, removal of published content where legally required, notification of institutions or funding agencies where appropriate, and other actions consistent with FMDB's publication ethics policies.
Authorship and Contributorship
All listed authors must have made substantial scholarly contributions to the work and must approve the final version before submission. Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the authorship criteria should be appropriately acknowledged. Changes to authorship after submission require the written consent of all authors and approval by the Editor. Ghost authorship, guest authorship, honorary authorship, and purchased authorship are considered unethical and are not permitted.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): Authors must disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools where such tools have materially assisted manuscript preparation. AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the integrity, originality, or accuracy of scholarly work. Authors remain fully responsible for all submitted content, including any material generated or assisted by AI technologies.
Research Involving Human Participants: Research involving human participants must comply with internationally recognized ethical standards, including approval by an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board where required. Authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained from participants when applicable and that patient privacy and confidentiality have been protected.
Research Involving Animals: Studies involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international regulations governing animal welfare and ethical research. Authors should identify the approving ethics committee and confirm compliance with recognized animal research guidelines where appropriate.
Clinical Trials: Clinical trials should be registered in a publicly accessible clinical trial registry before participant recruitment where registration is required by applicable standards or regulations. Registration details should be provided within the manuscript.
Data Availability and Reproducibility: FMDB encourages authors, subject to ethical, legal, and disciplinary requirements, to share research data, software, code, protocols, and supplementary materials that support the reproducibility and verification of published findings. Authors are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement describing where supporting data may be accessed or explaining any legitimate restrictions on availability.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: FMDB is committed to providing an inclusive scholarly publishing environment. Editorial decisions are made without discrimination based on age, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics.
Corrections, Expressions of Concern, Retractions and Removals
FMDB is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. Where appropriate, the journal may publish:
Post-publication actions are undertaken in accordance with FMDB's publication ethics policies and the relevant COPE guidance.
Appeals and Complaints: Authors may submit a reasoned appeal against an editorial decision by contacting the Editorial Office. Appeals are considered independently by the Editor-in-Chief or an appropriately designated editor. Authors, reviewers, readers, and other stakeholders may also submit complaints regarding editorial procedures, peer review, publication ethics, or research misconduct. All appeals and complaints are handled confidentially, fairly, and in accordance with FMDB's established procedures.
Reporting Research Misconduct: Anyone who suspects research or publication misconduct involving an FMDB publication is encouraged to contact the Editorial Office. Reports will be treated confidentially, investigated objectively, and managed in accordance with FMDB's publication ethics policies and the relevant COPE guidance.
Editorial Independence: Editorial decisions are made independently of commercial interests, advertising, sponsorship, and Article Processing Charges (APCs). Manuscripts are evaluated solely on scholarly merit, originality, scientific quality, ethical compliance, relevance to the journal's scope, and the recommendations of independent peer reviewers.