Ethics Statement

The Permanente Journal (TPJ) uses plagiarism detection software (CrossCheck/iThenticate) to limit the risks of research and publication misconduct. TPJ also discourages authors from duplicate publication. Authors are required to disclose if a study is previously published and explain and detail the differences between the published article and the manuscript submitted for consideration. Please see the section on Overlapping Publication.

Research Misconduct

The most common area of misconduct is image manipulation. Although beautification of an image is not misconduct, it is not appropriate and should be avoided. Authors should be careful to pay attention to images in their manuscript; if the images are taken from ANY OTHER SOURCE (besides the creation of the author[s]) permission MUST be obtained and submitted to the Editorial Office. This includes images (graphs, charts, etc) created by the author but previously published elsewhere.

I. Misrepresentation

1. Fabrication: Making up data or results¹
2. Falsification: Manipulating data or results
3. Omission: Leaving out data or results to influence a thesis
4. Image manipulation²: any change or alteration of an image that could lead to misinterpretation of the information present in the original image, including but not limited to:

i.      "Introduction, enhancement, movement, or removal of specific features"²

ii.      "Unmarked grouping of images that should otherwise have been presented separately"²

iii.      "Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance that obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent any information."²

II. Plagiarism - Appropriating another person's ideas, results, or words without credit or permission. Types of plagiarism are: direct, mosaic, paraphrase, insufficient acknowledgment.³

1. Direct: verbatim use of text without proper credit
2. Mosaic: borrowing ideas and opinions and verbatim text without proper credit
3. Paraphrase: restating phrase or passage without proper credit
4. Insufficient acknowledgment: noting the source of only what is borrowed or failing to properly cite the material

III. Overlapping Publication

TPJ discourages authors from duplicate publication. Authors are required to disclose if a study is previously published and explain the validity of this secondary publication.

1. Duplicate vs seconda
   Duplicate publication is "not necessarily unethical, but failure to disclose is unethical and may represent a violation of copyright law" [emphasis added].^4p148
2. Secondary publication
   Under certain specific circumstances, secondary publication is considered acceptable. If an author is submitting for secondary publication, it is his/her responsibility to disclose that it is a secondary publication; and to receive approval from all editors (primary and secondary editors). The priority of the primary publication must be respected; be intended for a different audience; must faithfully represent the data, etc; and must include a footnote or other acknowledgment of the primary publication.⁴

TPJ currently follows the guidelines of ICMJE regarding overlapping or duplication publication. (For further information, see: www.icmje.org/publishing_4overlap.html)

References

1. Garfinkel S. Recognize, respond to and prevent the publication of research misconduct. Council of Science Editors (CSE) Annual Meeting; 2013 May 3-6; Montreal, Canada.

2. Barbour V, Moher D, Chu J, speakers. Webcast: 5 biggest challenges on the front lines of scholarly publishing. Oakland, CA: iParadigms LLC; 2012 Apr 25.

3. Gerber TC. Recognize, respond to and prevent the publication of research misconduct. Council of Science Editors (CSE) Annual Meeting; 2013 May 3-6; Montreal, Canada.

4. Iverson C, Christiansen S, Flanagin A, et al, editors. AMA manual of style: A guide for authors and editors, 10th edition. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 2007.