Definitions of Publication Misconduct
Fabrication
Fabrication is inventing data or results of research and recording or reporting them inorder to deceive people.
Falsification
Falsification is inaccurate presentation of research results with the intention to give a
false impression. This includes manipulation of research instrumentation, materials,and processes, changing, adding or omitting data, manipulating images, and omitting
research results.
Scientific images for publication must be minimally processed. We understand that some
image processing may be necessary. Applications of adjustments, such as brightness,
contrast, or color are permissible as long as these adjustments are applied to an entire
image uniformly and do not selectively enhance, eliminate, or mispresent any elementsin the original image, including the background.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the use of another person’s ideas, processes, results, words, or theories as
if they were the author’s own, without giving appropriate credit. This involves any partof the manuscript, including the figures and tables. All information and content thatoriginate from other resources must be credited and cited, and included in the“References” section. Upon submission, the manuscript will be automatically checked forplagiarism by using plagiarism screening services or software to determine both text
overlap and manuscript originality.
Redundant or Duplicate Publication
Articles that are being considered for publication in another journal, including advanced
publications such as “in-press” or “E-pub ahead of print” articles, in any language will
be regarded as redundant or duplicate publication.

ACE does not consider the deposition of manuscripts to preprint servers before
submission to ACE to be redundant or duplicate publication.
The author should notify the editor formally about all submissions, postings, andprevious reports that could be regarded as redundant or duplicate publication of thesame or similar work. Any such material must be referred to and referenced in thesubmitted work. Copies of such work should be included with the submission. Abstracts

or posters presented at scientific meetings are not considered previously published work.
Editorial actions should be expected if redundant or duplicate publication is attemptedor occurs without such notification. Editorial actions may include: immediate rejectionof the submitted manuscript, retraction of published work, a published notice of violation,and revocation of publishing privileges in the journal.
Citation Manipulation
Citation manipulation, such as inclusion of references from other publications without
actually reading the cited work, or self-citing works that are irrelevant, must be avoided.
Improper Authorship/ContributorshipAll authors listed in the manuscript must meet the following criteria of contribution
described by the ICMJE in the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing,and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals.
Exclusion of authors who made a definite contribution, or inclusion of individuals asauthors who have not made a definite contribution to the work is not permitted. Consentto submit to ACE must be obtained explicitly from all authors prior to submitting amanuscript.
Salami-Slicing“Salami-slicing” or dividing a single study into several parts to increase the quantity ofsubmissions to other journals or the same journal is not permitted.
Noncompliance with Local Laws and Regulations
Authors must comply with local regulations and laws if the work involves animals orhuman subjects, or if it involves investigational drugs, recombinant products, newdevices, or any chemical materials that may be hazardous in their use.
Copyright Infringement
All information and contents that originate from other resources must be credited andcited. If any copyrighted or previously published material, adapted, edited or otherwise,
are used in the manuscript, the author must obtain permission from the copyrightowner(s) prior to submitting the paper for review. Also, the authors must cite the source
and indicate that permission has been received, as required by the copyright owner(s).

Failure to Obtain IRB Approval
Clinical research included in articles, which report on human subjects or materials ofhuman origin, must comply with the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki, and it
must be mentioned that the study has been approved by the relevant institutional or
national review board (IRB). If no approval from any IRB was required, that must beexplicitly stated in the manuscript.
Author’s Undisclosed Conflict of Interest (COI)
All authors are required to report all potential conflicts of interest within the last threeyears, including specific financial interests, that are relevant to the subject of theirmanuscript. Any possible COI related to the study presented in the manuscript must bedisclosed in the manuscript.