The Global Journal of Dental Specialty (GJDS) is committed to upholding the highest standards of research integrity and publication ethics. The journal follows the ethical principles and recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All manuscripts submitted to the journal are expected to comply with internationally accepted ethical standards for the conduct, reporting, and publication of research.

1. Ethical Standards

All research submitted to the journal must:

• Be conducted honestly, transparently, and responsibly.

• Comply with applicable national and international ethical regulations.

• Respect the rights, dignity, safety, and privacy of research participants.

• Present accurate, complete, and truthful research findings.

• Avoid fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and any form of scientific misconduct.

• Follow recognized principles of responsible research and scholarly publishing.

2. Compliance with International Guidelines

The journal adheres to internationally recognized ethical standards, including:

• ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.

• COPE Core Practices and ethical guidance for editors, reviewers, and authors.

• International standards for human and animal research ethics.

• Best practices expected by major indexing databases, including Scopus.

3. Human Subjects Research

Research involving human participants must:

• Obtain approval from a recognized Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethics Committee before the study begins.

• Comply with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and applicable national regulations.

• Include a statement identifying the approving ethics committee and approval number, where applicable.

• Obtain informed consent from all participants or their legally authorized representatives.

• Protect participant confidentiality and personal information.

Failure to provide appropriate ethical approval may result in rejection of the manuscript.

4. Animal Research

Studies involving animals must:

• Be approved by the appropriate institutional animal ethics committee.

• Follow internationally accepted animal welfare guidelines.

• Minimize animal suffering and use the minimum number of animals necessary to achieve scientific objectives.

• Include an ethical approval statement within the manuscript.

5. Clinical Trial Registration

Clinical trials should:

• Be prospectively registered in a publicly accessible clinical trial registry before participant enrollment.

• Include the registration number and registry name within the manuscript.

• Follow applicable reporting guidelines for clinical research.

6. Research Misconduct

The journal does not tolerate any form of research misconduct.

Examples include:

• Plagiarism.

• Self-plagiarism.

• Data fabrication.

• Data falsification.

• Image manipulation.

• Duplicate publication.

• Redundant publication.

• Citation manipulation.

• Authorship manipulation.

• Undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Any allegation of misconduct will be investigated in accordance with COPE guidance.

7. Editorial Right to Reject

The Editorial Board reserves the absolute right to reject, suspend, or withdraw any manuscript if there is evidence of:

• Ethical misconduct.

• Plagiarism or excessive text similarity.

• Fabricated or falsified data.

• Unethical research practices.

• Lack of ethical approval.

• Failure to obtain informed consent where required.

• Duplicate or redundant publication.

• Undisclosed conflicts of interest.

• Any violation of the journal's ethical policies or international publication standards.

Rejection may occur at any stage of the editorial process, including before publication or, where necessary, after publication through appropriate corrective actions.

8. Confidentiality and Privacy

Authors must ensure that:

• Personal identifiers are removed unless explicit consent has been obtained.

• Patient confidentiality is fully protected.

• Images and clinical information are published only with appropriate authorization.

• Confidential data are handled responsibly throughout the research and publication process.

9. Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are expected to:

• Conduct research ethically and responsibly.

• Report findings honestly and accurately.

• Maintain original research records when requested.

• Cooperate during ethical investigations.

• Promptly notify the journal of any significant errors discovered after submission or publication.

• Comply with all journal ethical requirements throughout the publication process.

10. Ethical Oversight

The journal investigates all suspected ethical concerns in accordance with COPE recommendations.

Where appropriate, the journal may:

• Request additional documentation from authors.

• Contact the authors' institution or funding organization.

• Suspend editorial processing during investigations.

• Reject the manuscript.

• Publish corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions when necessary.

• Inform relevant authorities where serious misconduct is confirmed.

11. Policy Review

This Research Ethics Policy is reviewed periodically to ensure continued alignment with evolving international ethical standards, COPE guidance, ICMJE recommendations, and best practices in scholarly publishing.