Research and Publication Ethics

Chapter 1 : General Provision

Article 1 : Purpose

This set of regulations is titled "The Society of Korean Medical Classics Regulations on Research Ethics," and the purpose of document is to: establish a guideline of ethics and truthfulness for research activities; establish a course of action by the institution with regards to any activity that fails to adhere to the aforementioned guideline; and define the role of the office of the institution which will oversee adherence to the guideline, named The Committee of Research Ethics (hereafter "The Committee"). The research activity related to the Society includes presenting a work in any conference of which the Society is the host or a co-host, whether the presentation is given verbally, through posters, or publishing a dissertation for the said conference, and includes publishing papers in a journal published by the Society (hereafter "The Research Activity").

Article 2 : Researcher's Ethics Regulation

1. In case a subject of research is a human being, the researcher, in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, shall, in principle, make a clear statement that he received the consent of the subject and his guardian(s) after providing adequate information regarding the purpose of the research and the mental and physical risks involved.

2. In case a subject of the research is an animal, the researcher, in line with the ARVO Statement for Use of Animals in Ophthalmic and Vision Research, shall, in principle, make a clear statement that he did his best to minimize the discomfort and pain inflicted upon the subject animal.

3. The researcher shall, in his Research Activities, uphold the fundamental principles of honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy, and denounce wrongful actions such as fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism.

Article 3 : Definitions

This Regulation will define the following words.

This Regulation will define the following words.

1. "Authorship" refers to have met all four criteria for authorship listed below: (1) Substantial contributions to the concept and design, or acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data; (2) Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) Final approval of the version to be published; (4) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Group members who do not meet all four criteria for authorship should be listed, with their permission, under ʻAcknowledgments.ʼ Qualifications and conditions for authorship follow the criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)

2. "Wrongful Research Activities" comprehensively refers to any action that, regardless of the purpose of the research and whether knowingly or unknowingly, violates the principle of truthfulness through the means of fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, untruthful statement about authors, or multiple use of data. Such actions include, but not limited to, the following.

3. "Fabrication" refers to any action of falsely creating or recording data or research results.

4. "Falsification" refers to any action that renders the research untruthful by manipulating or omitting any data, procedure, or result related to the research.

5. "Plagiarism" refers to any action of using another person's idea, research procedure, or research result without appropriate accreditation.

6. "Untruthful Statement about Authors" refers to the failure of providing just accreditation to a person who made an academic contribution to the research, or to the action of bestowing authorship, whether as an expression of gratitude or courtesy, to a person who has not made any contribution to the research.

7. "Multiple Use of Data" refers to an action of re-publishing the researcher's past published data or research result without any proper approval or citation.

8. "Multiple Publication" and "Redundant Publication": Multiple Publication refers an action of publishing a paper with the same content to two or more journals, and a paper with the same content refers to papers that share 50% or more of their contents. Redundant Publication refers to an action of publishing a paper in a journal even though the said paper has already been published in another journal. These actions are distinguished from Secondary Publication.

※ Secondary Publication refers an action of publishing a paper to two or more journals. It is not a fraudulent activity and it is considered acceptable and even encouraged provided the action meets the following requirements.

1) All of the journal's editors produce a written consent and the editors of the secondary journal have read the paper published in the primary journal.

2) It is stated in the secondary journal that the paper is firstly published in the primary journal and that this is the secondary publication.

3) The paper's content and conclusion must be the same, and the secondary paper, if possible, will take a summarized form of the original.

4) The readers of both journals shall not be identical, and the secondary publication shall take place at least one week after the primary publication.

5) The authors of the papers shall be identical.

9. "Inappropriate Research Activities" (hereafter Inappropriate Activities) refers to an action of bestowing authorship to a person without contribution or an action of remaining silent while knowing that the aforementioned Inappropriate Activity was taking place for the paper of which he is one of the authors.

10. "Informant" refers to a person who raises a suspicion of fraudulent or inappropriate activity through using an universal common sense and reasoning.

11. "Suspect" is either a person who is a subject of the first reporting of fraudulent or inappropriate research activity, or a person who becomes the subject of an investigation when the investigation has revealed that he may have taken part in the inappropriate activity in question.

12. "Preliminary Investigation" refers to an action of collecting information regarding the reported inappropriate act and carrying out a set of preliminary actions to confirm the truth, all in order to determine whether the report requires a full investigation. If it is determined after a preliminary investigation that a full investigation is unnecessary, it will mean that the report in question is groundless.

13. "Full Investigation" is an action of carrying out an in-depth investigation and report if the preliminary investigation deems such an action necessary in order to make the final judgement on whether the reported behavior is truly fraudulent or inappropriate. At this time, the Ethics Committee, in its own discretion, may appoint researchers with expert academic knowledge on the subject matter as expert advisors to receive and utilize their opinions.

Article 4 : Scope of Application

This Regulation is applied to the institution members, associate members, simple publishers, and others who are involved with the institution's research activities either directly or indirectly.

Chapter 2 : The Committee of Research Ethics

Article 5 : Function

The Committee shall deliberate and decide the following matters related to the establishment of research ethics.

1. Matters related to the prevention of fraudulent research activities

2. Matters related to the investigation of fraudulent research activities

3. Matters related to the protection of informants and maintain secrecy

4. Matters related to carrying out the decisions made by an investigation of fraudulent research activities, and carrying out follow-up measures

5. Other matters submitted by the chairperson with regards to the establishment of research ethics

Article 6 : Composition

1. The Committee will consist of one chairperson and four or more members recommended by the chairperson.

2. The head of the institution will appoint one vice head as the chairperson of the Committee and his term will end when his vice head term ends.

3. One member will be appointed as an administrator to oversee the various tasks of the Committee.

4. The chairperson may appoint an expert advisor with opinions from the Committee members.

Article 7 : Meeting

1. In case a meeting is required, the chairperson will call for and host a meeting.

2. Unless prohibited by a special provision, a meeting will be considered as valid if more than half of the registered members are present, and decisions will be made with the majority vote of the present members.

3. If needed, a person who is not a member may take part in the meeting to express his opinion.

4. The meeting, in principle, will be confidential.

Chapter 3: Investigation of Fraudulent Research Activities

Article 8 : Investigation of Fraudulent Research Activities

1. When there is a detailed report or substantial suspicion, the Committee shall conduct an investigation to discover whether the alleged fraudulent research activity has taken place.

2. The chairperson may conduct a preliminary investigation in partnership with the head of the institution.

3. For fair and strict investigation, the chairperson may appoint another person in consultation with the head of the institution to form a three-person investigation committee. Here, this third member of the investigation committee may be a member or an associate member of the institution or a person outside of the institution.

Article 9 : Authority and Responsibility of the Investigation Committee

1. The Committee or the Investigation Committee outlined in the Article 7(3) may, as part of its investigation effort, summon an informant, a suspect, or an witness, or demand the production of documents.

2. If a suspect refuses a summon or production of documents without a good cause, it may be assumed that the allegation is true.

3. The Investigation Committee may take necessary actions to prevent the destruction of research records, or the loss, destruction, concealment, or falsification of evidence.

Article 10 : Recusal, Exclusion, and Evasion

1. If a suspect or an informant deems that fairness cannot be expected from a member, the said suspect or informant may file a recusal request. If the recusal petition is accepted, the recused member will be excluded from the investigation.

2. Anyone who has a direct interest in an investigation may not take part in the deliberation, decision, and investigation.

3. A member of the Committee or an Investigation Committee who feels that he falls under the Item 1 or 2 may request for exclusion.

4. The chairperson may suspend a member from an investigation if the said member has an interest in the investigation.

Article 11 : Opportunity to State an Opinion

The Committee shall provide a suspect an opportunity to submit an opinion or provide an explanation with regards to the facts of the investigation.

Article 12 : Measures Taken as the Result of Investigation

1. With half or more of the registered members present, and with two-third or more of present members voting in favor, the Committee shall render a judgement on whether a suspect's action as discovered by an investigation consist fraudulent research activity.

2. In case a fraudulent activity is found have taken place, one or more of the following measures may be carried out.

1) Cancellation of the publication of the fraudulent research paper

2) Announcement of the cancellation of the said publication

3) Termination or suspension of the person's membership

4) Suspension of the person's power to submit a paper

5) Notification to other related institutions

6) Other appropriate measures

3. The point two of the previous Item shall include the name of authors, the name of paper, the issue and volume the paper is published, and the date of and reason for cancellation.

4. The Committee may, in line with the institution's research ethics, suspend or terminate the membership of anyone who, either purposefully or by grave mistake, make a false report or disseminate untruthful facts.

Article 13 : Notification of Result

The chairperson shall produce a written statement regarding the Committee's decision on the investigated matter, and notify the suspect, the informant, and other interested parties such as the Journal Publication Committee.

Article 14 : Re-deliberation

In case a suspect or an informant wishes to appeal the Committee's decision, he may submit a written request for appeal, which shall include reasons for the appeal, within 20 days from the date he receives the notification outlined in the Article 13.

Article 15 : Storage and Disclosure of Records

Records related to an investigation shall be kept by the Publication Committee, and they will be stored for five years after the end of the investigation.

Chapter 4 : Supplementary Rules

Article 16 : Obligation to Secrecy

1. The Committee shall protect the informant in all cases and refrain from wrongfully encroaching upon the suspect's reputation.

2. All matters related to report, investigation, deliberation, decision, and suggestion shall be confidential. However, the Committee may vote and decide to disclose information if the benefit to the public far outweighs than otherwise.

3. Members or anyone who took part in the investigation directly or indirectly are not allowed to disclose information which he acquired during deliberation, decision, investigation or other procedures related to the investigation. This rule applies even after the person resigns from his seat.

Article 17 : Expense

The institution shall provide, within its line of budget, fund required for operating the Committee.

Article 18 : Operational Regulations

Other operational regulations required for the operation of the Committee shall be established by the deliberation of the Committee.

Article 19 : Application

Anything not covered in this Regulations with regards to the verification of the truthfulness of a research shall follow Korea's laws and rules related to such verification.