Authorship, Publications and conflict of interest

Researcher should publish the results and interpretations of his or her research in an honest, transparent and accurate manner, so that other researchers could elaborate on the findings or replicate them.

Authorship must be based solely on substantial intellectual contribution to the research. This includes: significant contribution in initiating scientific idea, formulating conceptions, designing research, significant share in data acquisition, in the analysis and interpretations of data and in drafting the article or revising it critically for intellectual content.

Acquisition of funding, provision of technical assistance or materials, the collection of data, general supervision of the research group, by themselves, do not justify authorship. All authors are fully responsible for the content of the publication, unless it is specified they are responsible only for a specific part of the study within their speciality. When listing authors and their affiliations, it is appropriate to mention what was the nature of their contribution to the research.

Sequence of authors should be consistent with the existing customs in a given scientific discipline and agreed by all, ideally at the start of the project.

Intellectual contributions of others that have influenced the reported research should be appropriately acknowledged.

Grant and limit authorship to those who made a significant contribution to the research endeavour

Financial or other types of support for research should be properly mentioned and acknowledged.

Publication of the same (or substantial parts of the same) work in different journals is acceptable only with the consent of the editors of the journals and where proper reference is made to the first publication.

Eliminating conflict of interest by avoiding non-professional relationships between the evaluator and the evaluated, be that individual or institution or by avoiding a connection between a member of the fund granting authority and a person or research unit to which these funds are granted.