Table of Contents

• • Statement of Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent
• • Registration of Clinical Trial Research
• • Conflict of Interest
• • Authorship
• • Originality and Duplicate Publication
• • Secondary Publication
• • Management of Research and Publication Misconduct
• • Editorial Responsibilities

ACC adheres to the recommendations and policies on research and publication ethics established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, http://www.icmje.org) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org). ACC also follows the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, jointly developed by the COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA (https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing). In cases of research or publication misconduct, editorial decisions are made in accordance with COPE flowcharts.

Statement of Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

Any investigations involving humans or animals must be approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the institution where the study was conducted. Human research must follow the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects) and animal research must comply with national or institutional guidelines for animal care and use. ACC does not consider any studies involving humans or animals that do not have appropriate ethical approval.

Informed consent must be obtained from all human participants unless this requirement is waived by the relevant IRB. Authors should indicate whether informed consent was obtained, and specify its form (e.g., written or verbal). For studies involving vulnerable populations (such as children or individuals with cognitive impairment), consent must be obtained from legally authorized representatives, and appropriate ethical safeguards must be described.

Identifiable personal information (e.g., names, initials, hospital numbers, or dates of birth) should not be included. Images of human subjects may be used only when scientifically necessary and when explicit permission has been obtained. Even with consent, identifying features should be removed unless essential. If images are modified to ensure anonymity, the authors must confirm that such modifications do not compromise scientific integrity. Formal consent is not required for fully anonymized images (e.g., radiographs or pathology slides) with no identifying features or accompanying text. However, partial anonymization (e.g., eye bars or blurring) is not sufficient if consent has not been obtained.

For case reports or case series, written informed consent for publication must be obtained from the patient or the patient’s legal representative regardless of whether identifying information is included. A statement confirming this must be included in the manuscript.

All original articles must clearly state whether the study received approval from an IRB and/or IACUC, and whether informed consent was obtained. ACC may request supporting documentation if necessary. Authors are fully responsible for the content and ethical integrity of their work.

Registration of Clinical Trial Research

Any research involving clinical trials should be registered with the primary national clinical trial registry such as the Korea Clinical Research Information Service (http://cris.nih.go.kr) or other sites accredited by the World Health Organization (https://www.who.int/tools/clinical-trials-registry-platform) or International Committee of Medical Journal Editor such as ClinicalTrials.gov (https://clinicaltrials.gov).

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest exist when authors, reviewers, or editors have financial, personal, or professional relationships that could inappropriately influence—or be perceived to influence—their actions or judgments.

Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that are directly or indirectly related to the submitted work. Relevant conflicts include, but are not limited to: research grants or funding (e.g., from industry, government, or foundations); consulting or advisory roles for related companies; ownership of stocks or shares in related entities; patent applications or licenses related to the subject matter; honoraria; travel support; paid expert testimony; and personal or professional relationships, including academic rivalry or intellectual bias.

All disclosures must be included in a dedicated "Conflicts of Interest" section in the manuscript and clearly indicated on the title page. All sources of financial support—including the name of the funding agency, grant number, and country—should be listed in the funding section on the title page. Authors must also complete and submit the ICMJE Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form (https://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest). If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state: “The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.” Disclosed conflicts should be described objectively and separately from scientific content. Disclosure does not imply bias but rather ensures transparency so that editors, reviewers, and readers can interpret the work in context.

Authorship

As stated in the ICMJE recommendations, credit for authorship requires: (1) substantial contributions to conception and design or to data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation; (2) drafting of the article or critical revision for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to accuracy or integrity of any part of the article are appropriately investigated and resolved. Only those who meet all four criteria should be listed as authors. Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet all criteria (e.g., those providing technical support, general supervision, or writing assistance) should be acknowledged as contributors, not listed as authors.

If the number of authors is equal to or greater than 2, each author’s specific contribution must be described at submission. Authors are encouraged to use CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) to define their contributions (e.g., conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, methodology, writing original draft, etc.). Any requests to change authorship (e.g., addition, deletion, or rearrangement) before publication must be submitted to the editorial office with following: (1) a letter explaining the reason for the change, signed by all authors including those being added or removed, and (2) a revised title page reflecting the change. After publication, authorship changes will be allowed only under exceptional circumstances and must comply with COPE guidelines.

In the cover letter, the corresponding author must confirm that all listed authors fulfill the ICMJE authorship criteria and that no eligible contributor has been omitted.

Originality and Duplicate Publication

All submitted manuscripts must be original and not under review or published elsewhere. Duplicate submissions will not be accepted. No part of materials published in ACC may be reproduced without prior permission from the Editorial Board.

Authors are responsible for obtaining copyright when reusing figures or tables from other sources. Reuse without permission is allowed only for materials under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) with proper citation (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0). For materials from non-open-access publications or those not covered by a Creative Commons license, authors must obtain written permission and clearly indicate the original source.

Secondary Publication

ACC allows secondary publication if it complies the ICMJE guidelines (https://www.icmje.org). This applies to articles such as clinical guidelines, consensus statements, or educational materials with public health or professional importance intended for a broader or international audience. Secondary publication is permitted when all of the following conditions are met:

(1) Approval must be obtained from the editors of both the primary and secondary journals; (2) The primary publication should be clearly identified and cited in the secondary version; (3) A sufficient publication interval—typically at least one week—should be observed unless both editors agree otherwise; (4) The secondary version must accurately reflect the data and interpretation of the original; and (5) The secondary version should be intended for a different group of readers, such as through translation or regional adaptation. The title page of the secondary publication must include a footnote, for example: “This article is based on a study first published in [journal title, full reference].”

Management of Research and Publication Misconduct

In cases of suspected research or publication misconduct—such as duplicate publication, plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, authorship disputes, undisclosed conflicts of interest, ethical concerns, reviewer misconduct, or complaints against editors—ACC follows the flowcharts provided by the COPE (https://publicationethics.org/guidance). All cases are reviewed and decided by the Editorial Board.

Editorial Responsibilities

The Editorial Board will continuously work to monitor/safeguard publication ethics, including guidelines for retracting articles; maintaining the integrity of the academic record; preclusion of business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards; publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed; and ensuring that there is no plagiarism and no fraudulent data in publications. Editors maintain the following responsibilities: the responsibility and authority to reject/accept articles; ensuring there are no conflicts of interest with respect to articles; accepting papers only when reasonably certain of their validity; promoting the publication of corrections or retractions when errors are found; and preserving the anonymity of reviewers.