1 Ethics in Publishing

International Medical Journal of Sri Aurobindo University is committed to the highest standards of research and publication ethics. All authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to abide by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines.

2 Institutional and Regulatory Ethics Approval

All research involving human participants, patient data, or biological material must have received prior approval from:

• The Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) of the conducting institution, registered with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) / ICMR, OR
• An equivalent ethics body recognised by the National Medical Commission of India

The following must be stated in the Methods section:

• Full name of the ethics committee/IEC
• Registration number of the IEC with CDSCO/ICMR (if applicable)
• Approval reference/protocol number and date
• Whether the study was conducted in accordance with ICMR National Ethical Guidelines 2017 and the Declaration of Helsinki

Required Statement Format (Methods Section)

"This study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of [Institution Name] (IEC Registration No. [XXXXX]) vide approval letter no. [XXX/IEC/YYYY] dated [DD/MM/YYYY]. The study was conducted in accordance with the ICMR National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research Involving Human Participants (2017) and the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki."

3 Informed Consent

Informed consent must be obtained from all human research participants. The following standards apply:

• Written informed consent is mandatory for all interventional studies, clinical trials, and studies involving collection of biological samples
• For retrospective studies using medical records: a formal waiver of consent must be obtained from the IEC, with documentation provided
• Consent forms must be in the participant's preferred language; if regional language consent was used, this must be stated
• For illiterate participants: thumb impression with a literate witness is acceptable if documented by the IEC
• For patients lacking decision-making capacity (minors, persons with mental illness, unconscious patients): consent from a legally authorised representative (LAR) is required, in accordance with the ICMR National Ethical Guidelines 2017, the Mental Healthcare Act 2017, and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016. “Consent for photography, audio-visual documentation and publication” of identifiable images must be separate from treatment consent.

4 Clinical Trials — CTRI Registration (Mandatory)

In accordance with the ICMR National Ethical Guidelines (2017, updated 2023), the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules (NDCTR), 2019 (as amended), and ICMJE recommendations, all clinical trials must be prospectively registered with the Clinical Trials Registry–India (CTRI) before enrolment of the first participant.

• The CTRI registration number must appear at the end of the abstract
• Retrospective registration is not acceptable for new submissions
• Non-pharmacological trials (surgical, behavioural, device) are also required to register with CTRI
• The trial must comply with Schedule Y of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and CDSCO requirements where applicable

5 Authorship

Authorship criteria follow the ICMJE Recommendations. Each author must have made substantial contributions to ALL of the following:

• Conception or design of the work; OR acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data
• Drafting or critically revising the manuscript for important intellectual content
• Final approval of the version to be published
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work

Honorary and ghost authorship are not permitted. Individuals who contributed but do not meet all four authorship criteria should be listed in the Acknowledgements. A maximum of 8 authors is permitted for original research articles; requests for additional authors require a letter of justification to the Editor-in-Chief.

All authors must submit a signed Author Contribution Statement using CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) at the time of submission.

6 Conflict of Interest (COI) Declaration

All authors must disclose financial and non-financial competing interests relevant to their work. This includes:

• Employment, consultancy, or advisory roles with commercial entities
• Equity ownership, stock options, patent applications, or royalties
• Speaker honoraria, travel grants, or study funding from industry
• Membership of expert committees, government bodies, or regulatory agencies with potential bearing on the research

Authors with no conflicts must state: "The authors declare no conflict of interest." The COI declaration must be submitted using the IMJSAU COI Form (available on the journal website) and uploaded separately.

7 Declaration of Funding

All funding sources for the research must be disclosed. State the specific grant numbers, funding agency names, and the role (if any) of the funder in study design, data collection, analysis, writing, or publication decisions. If no funding was received:

Recommended Statement

"This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors."

8 Declaration of Generative AI Use

Authors must declare any use of generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude etc.) in the manuscript preparation process. AI tools may support tasks such as grammar checking, language editing, or literature search, but must not be used as substitutes for human intellectual contribution. AI tools may not be listed as authors.

If AI was used, include a statement before the References:

AI Declaration Statement Format

"During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [NAME OF AI TOOL] for [SPECIFIC PURPOSE, e.g., language editing / reference formatting]. The authors reviewed and verified all AI-generated content and take full responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the published work."

9 Plagiarism Policy

All submitted manuscripts are screened for plagiarism using iThenticate or Turnitin (or equivalent software approved by UGC/NAAC). The following thresholds apply:

Similarity Index	Action Taken
< 10%	Acceptable — manuscript proceeds to peer review
10–20%	Authors notified; minor revision may be required
21–30%	Manuscript returned for substantial revision before reconsideration
> 30%	Manuscript rejected; corresponding author notified