Policy on Ethical Violations

Preventing unethical practices in scholarly publishing is crucial for maintaining academic integrity and ensuring the reliability of published content. The Cardiovascular Academy Society upholds a zero-tolerance policy toward ethical violations and requires its official journal to fully comply with international publication ethics standards.

This policy systematically outlines the definitions of ethical violations, preventive mechanisms, and procedures to be followed when necessary.

Definition: Major Types of Ethical Violations
The Association considers the following practices to constitute serious ethical misconduct:

- Plagiarism: Using text, data sets, or images from other works without proper attribution.
- Fabrication: Presenting data, experiments, observations, or analyses that were never actually conducted.
- Falsification: Manipulating, omitting, or distorting data with the intent to mislead.
- Redundant/Duplicate Publication: Republishing previously published content (including translations) as if it were original.
- Salami Slicing: Fragmenting one research output into multiple publications by artificially dividing findings.
- Misleading Citations and Gift Authorship: Referencing unrelated sources or listing individuals as authors who did not make a substantial contribution.

Practices to Prevent Ethical Violations
To prevent unethical publication practices, the journal implements the following measures:

- Mandatory disclosure: Authors must clearly disclose the reuse of previously published materials (e.g., conference papers, data sets, posters) both in the cover letter and within the manuscript.
- Originality statement: All authors must declare that the submitted work is original and complies with ethical standards.

Editorial Responsibility and Authority
Editors are expected to follow established guidelines when dealing with suspected ethical violations, including:

- Suspending the review process
- Requesting clarification from the author(s)
- Issuing a correction, rejection, or retraction when necessary
- Notifying the authors’ affiliated institutions in severe cases

Sanctions
In the event of confirmed ethical violations:

- Before publication: The manuscript will be rejected, and the author’s institution may be informed if necessary.
- After publication: The article will be retracted, a public correction or retraction notice will be issued, and the relevant institutions will be notified.

Process Principles: Transparency, Neutrality, Confidentiality
All reports and evaluations of ethical violations must be conducted transparently, with documentation, and while protecting the confidentiality of all parties involved. Communication throughout the process must be well-reasoned, impartial, and clear to all stakeholders.

The Cardiovascular Academy Society regards the protection of ethical integrity in scholarly publishing not merely as a technical requirement but as an essential component of its editorial responsibility.