Publication Ethics

The Academic Research Services LLC (ARSL) adheres to the principle of strict compliance with high ethical standards. We rigorously enforce the standards of the U.S. Office of Research Integrity. For clinical trials, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) registration numbers must be provided. All research should comply with U.S. export control regulations and international sanctions requirements. This aligns with ARSL’s mission to publish high-quality articles and promote global open scientific exchange. ARSL follows the ethical oversight guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to oversee the publication process and all activities of ARSL journals, editors, and reviewers.

1. ARSL and all its editors adhere to the following guidelines:

1.1 The Core Practices of the COPE;

1.2 The Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed by the COPE, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME);

1.3 The recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals.

ARSL is committed to protecting the privacy of its contributors and undertakes not to disclose personal information to third parties without permission, except for necessary purposes related to the publication process or as required by law.

The Academic Research Services LLC (ARSL) takes any allegations of misconduct seriously (see the Misconduct Policy for details) and will promptly initiate an investigation by an inquiry panel. The inquiry panel will make a decision based on conclusive evidence and inform the authors of the outcome. Any objections to the decision must be submitted to the publisher within 14 days of the decision date; otherwise, corresponding measures will be taken after 14 days. The decision on appeals is final.

All complaints and appeals regarding ARSL journals and editors may be sent directly to editorial_office@arsl-pub.com. ARSL handles all complaints and appeals in accordance with COPE guidelines.

2. Research Involving Human Subjects

Authors conducting research involving human subjects must state that their work adheres to the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki. They must obtain approval from the relevant research-ethics committee prior to initiating the study and remain subject to its oversight. At the submission stage, authors are required to include a statement specifying the name of the ethics committee and the approval reference number.

3. All subjects or their legal guardians must sign an informed consent form before participating in the study. A statement of informed consent should also be attached when submitting the manuscript. If informed consent statement is not required, authors must provide the name of the ethics committee and the reasons why informed consent statement was not necessary.

The privacy rights of human subjects are inviolable. Authors shall not disclose any identifiable information, including but not limited to names, initials, contact details, and medical record numbers, unless the absence of such information could affect the interpretation of research results. Furthermore, written informed consent from subjects must be obtained before publishing research findings. For vulnerable subjects, informed consent statement shall be signed by their legal guardians. If the manuscript includes photographs of subjects’ bodies (e.g., facial images), authors must inform the subjects and obtain their consent for publication. For deceased subjects, consent shall be obtained from their next of kin or legal representatives.

4. Research Involving Animal Subjects

All researches involving animals must obtain ethics committee approval prior to commencement. If national law does not mandate ethical review, authors shall provide evidence of exemption from the ethics committee, including the committee’s name and the grounds for exemption, at the time of submission.

The following guidelines assist authors in upholding high ethical standards and avoiding manuscript rejection:

ARSL employs the ARRIVE Essential 10: Compliance Questionnaire to evaluate comparative experiments using live animals. Authors may also use this as a checklist.