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JCEMS is committed to ethical, accurate, and unbiased research. All authors must ensure that their planning, conduct, and reporting adhere to the highest ethical standards and seek approval from an independent local, regional, or national review body. Any manuscript that did not receive the appropriate ethical approval will not be considered for publication with JCEMS. Ethical approval does not preclude the manuscript from evaluation by the Editorial Office to determine whether the research was appropriate.
The guidelines presented in this section are in accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ (ICMJE) “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals,” and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). ICMJE and COPE Guidelines have been modified for use by the Journal of Collegiate Emergency Medical Services. It is not the official ICMJE or COPE Guidelines and does not imply ICMJE or COPE endorsement. We advise you to review the ICMJE’s and COPE’s recommendations in full prior to conducting medical research or submitting an article for publication.
Human and Animal Rights
All medical studies involving human participants should follow the ethical principles set out in the Association Declaration of Helsinki: Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects. If any doubt exists that the study did not follow the ethical principles set out by the Declaration of Helsinki, the authors must address this in their manuscript and provide documentation of ethical approval to the Editors.
Research conducted on animals should adhere to the International Association for Veterinary Editors’ “Consensus Author Guidelines for Animal Use.”
Participant & Patient Privacy
Every precaution must be taken to protect participant privacy and to maintain the confidentiality of participant or patient information, as detailed in the Declaration of Helsinki and ICMJE’s “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.” Identifying details may not be included in the manuscript unless they are essential for scientific purposes, and written informed consent of the identified participant or patient is obtained. Identifying details are any information that would allow a reader (including the participant or patient described, or a healthcare provider) to identify the individual described. It must be noted that campus-based EMS programs often operate within small communities, and manuscripts often describe rare or unique occurrences. As such, it may be challenging to fully de-identify a manuscript that describes a specific participant or patient. If there is any question as to whether anonymity has been maintained, written informed consent must be obtained. If written, informed consent is required, the JCEMS Patient Consent Form must be signed by the patient [or guardian] and submitted with the manuscript. The author administering the form must provide the identified patient or participant with the opportunity to review and comment on the manuscript or image, and the author must advise the participant or patient to consider seeking legal guidance prior to signing the form. The person administering the form should verify the participant’s or patient’s identity with a valid ID. JCEMS will not accept the signed form to protect patient privacy; however, the authors should provide JCEMS with a written statement attesting to receipt of the consent.
Informed Consent
All participants must provide informed consent as detailed in the Declaration of Helsinki and ICMJE’s “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.” When applicable, a statement should be included in the manuscript noting how informed consent was obtained prior to experimentation with human subjects. If applicable, the authors must obtain written consent from participants and should provide JCEMS with a written statement attesting to receipt of consent.
Ethical Approval of Study
Investigators are required to obtain formal review and approval, or a waiver, from an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board for all research involving human participants or animals. The investigators must follow the Declaration of Helsinki and the ICMJE’s “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” if an ethics committee or institutional review board is unavailable. Institutional Review Board approval is not required for case reports, provided case reports do not meet the federal definition of human subjects research as a “systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.” Case reports describing three or more clinical cases will be considered human subjects research. A statement should be included in the manuscript indicating the name of the committee or board from which approval was obtained or indicating that IRB approval was not required. If approval was required, authors must have documentation of approval available upon request by editors or reviewers. Regardless of whether IRB approval was required, all research reported in the manuscript is expected to adhere to the guidelines detailed in the Editorial Policies & Practices.
Clinical Trials
Any clinical trial must be registered in a public trials registry at or before patient enrollment. The trial registration number must be referenced at the end of the abstract and listed the first time the authors refer to their trial or another trial in the manuscript. In accordance with the ICMJE Data Sharing Statement Requirements, data sharing statements must accompany the results of clinical trials. The data sharing statements must include the following:
1. Will deidentified participant data be shared?
2. What data will be shared?
3. Will study-related documents be shared? This includes the study protocol, statistical analyses, and other related materials.
Plagiarism
JCEMS does not tolerate any form of plagiarism. All submitted content will undergo plagiarism review using the Scribbr platform upon receipt of submission. Plagiarism is the use of words, ideas, or other content without the appropriate citation. More than 10% of reproduced content without a citation will result in automatic rejection. The Editors may initiate the appropriate procedures outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), which may include informing the institutions, funders, and supporters of the submitted content.
Scientific Misconduct
Scientific misconduct in research can include, but is not limited to, data fabrication, data falsification, manipulation of tables, figures, and images, purposeful failure to disclose conflicts of interest, and plagiarism. If any authors are alleged of scientific misconduct, or concerns about the conduct and/or integrity of the content are questioned, the Editors will initiate the appropriate procedures outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), which may include informing the institutions, funders, supporters, and publishing the concern and outcomes of the pending investigation(s).
Additional information on Conflicts of Interest, Artificial Intelligence, and more can be found on the Guide for Authors page or in the JCEMS Policies and Practices.