Reporting standards 

Authors of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and
the results, followed by an objective discussion of the significance of the work. The
manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the
work. The article should be accurate, objective and comprehensive. Fraudulent or knowingly
inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.

Data access and retention 

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if required. In any event, authors should ensure accessibility of such data to other competent professionals for at least 5 years after publication (preferably via an institutional or subject based data repository), provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not impede their release

Originality and plagiarism 

Authors should ensure that they have written and submitted only entirely original work. If
they have used the work or words of others in their manuscript, it should be appropriately
cited. Plagiarism of any form, like "picking up" another's study as one's own, copying or
paraphrasing substantial parts of another's research (without acknowledgement) comes
under unethical publishing behaviour and is totally intolerable.

Multiple, duplicate, redundant or concurrent submission/publication 

Papers relating to fundamentally the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Hence, authors are advised not to submit a manuscript for consideration which has already been published in any other journal. Submission of a manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal is unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

Authorship of the manuscript 

Persons who meet the criteria mentioned below, are listed as authors in the manuscript
being published as they take public responsibility for -

a. the content
b. contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation of the study
c. drafting the manuscript or revising it as per suggestions by reviewers to make it more knowledgeable
d. approving the final version of the paper and agreeing to its submission for publication
e. making a copyright declaration