Policy and Guidelines

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All statements and opinions expressed in the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, which is owned by The Histochemical Society, are those of the authors alone and not of The Histochemical Society or the Journal. The Society and Editors of the Journal have no communication concerning Journal content with any agency or company purchasing advertising space. The Histochemical Society makes no claims to any product or service advertised in the Journal and does not endorse any product or service advertised in the Journal. The Histochemical Society reserves the right to decline or refuse advertisements.

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Ethical Aspects and Conflicts of Interest of the Histochemical Society (The Society)

Statements and opinions expressed in publications and presentations at meetings and courses of The Society are solely those of the authors and presenters. Authors of publications of the Society are expected to adhere to standards of practice that are accepted within the scientific community, including publication of original research with strict adherence to guidelines for collection, archiving and presenting data.

The responsibilities of the Society are to conduct affairs in an ethical and prudent manner. Independence from industrial support should be maintained so that its scientific and educational presentations remain objective. The Society’s principal functions are to disseminate knowledge about use of immunohistochemistry and cytochemistry in for general advancement in the biological sciences. The Society has a responsibility to teach professional ethics and to respond to ethical dilemmas, as they arise.

Officers and Councilors of The Society have resolved that no member of the Council, or Staff of the Society shall participate in any discussion or vote on any matter in which he or she or a member of his or her immediate family has potential conflict of interest due to having material economic involvement regarding the matter being discussed.

Members of the Society should respect colleagues, including their work and presentations at meetings and in the scientific literature.


Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry Policies

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Responsibility of Authors:

Authorship. The Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry (JHC) expects that all authors listed on the manuscript have contributed substantially to the submitted paper. Upon submission, the corresponding/contact author affirms that all named authors have agreed to be listed as authors of the paper. By signing the License to Publisher Contributor Agreement, the corresponding/contact author affirms that all authors have read and approved the manuscript and take full responsibility for the content of the article.

Conflict of Interest Policy. JHC requires that all authors of a submitted manuscript disclose to the JHC Editorial Office any potential conflicts of interest they may have in relation to the content of the manuscript, including (but not limited to) employment by the sponsoring agency, consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest or patent-licensing arrangements. The corresponding/contact author is responsible for guaranteeing that all authors understand and are in compliance with JHC’s conflict of interest policy. Disclosure of an actual or potential conflict of interest will not necessarily disqualify work for publication, but it is necessary for critical evaluation of the work by editors and readers. Additionally, authors must take full responsibility for correctly acknowledging all funding sources supporting the work reported in their papers. JHC does not publish retractions or errata to correct errors in reporting acknowledgements.

Prior Publication. JHC accepts manuscripts that have not been published previously or have not been concurrently submitted to another journal. JHC only accepts manuscripts that are original work of the authors. No portion of a submitted manuscript may have been published previously unless the duplicated material is specifically and clearly acknowledged with appropriate citations. Figures and tables that have been previously published must be accompanied by permission letters from the copyright or license holder(s) attached to the Cover Letter of the submission. JHC cannot publish figures or tables that have been previously published without printed consent from the copyright or license holder(s).

Full Disclosure. Authors are required to identify all materials and methods that were used in the study and described in the manuscript. Authors should comply with all reasonable requests for materials, methods, or data necessary to verify the conclusions of the experiments. All non-commercial reagents used in the study should be available to other investigators who may wish to reproduce the findings.

Animal or Human Subjects Policy. For studies that employ animals, authors must state in their manuscript assurance that all procedures were followed in accordance with their institutional, local and/or National Research Council guidelines. Guidance for approval for research on animal subjects may be found through the Institute for Laboratory Animals Research (ILAR) in their Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (National Research Council 1996). For studies where human subjects were used, procedures followed should be in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, "Declaration of Helsinki." Adopted by 18th World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, 1964; revised by 29th World Medical Assembly, Tokyo, 1975; Venice, 1983; and Hong Kong, 1989.http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html and/or approved by an institutional committee on human experimentation. These procedures and approvals are required for publication in JHC.

Scientific Misconduct. Submission of data, figures, or writing of others in a manuscript under an author or co-authors name without specific acknowledgement and, where appropriate, permission is plagiarism. Original, unedited versions of any submitted images must be available for examination upon request by the Editor-in-Chief. Figures for publication in JHC may be subject to forensic scrutiny. Falsification of data, suppression of relevant data, and fabrication of data are considered fraud. Plagiarism and fraud are widely understood to constitute scientific misconduct. JHC will take appropriate action in such cases where scientific misconduct has been reported or discovered in connection with a submitted manuscript. JHC adheres to the definitions of scientific misconduct, as well as procedures for handling reports of or discovered misconduct, as described by the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Research Integrity http://ori.dhhs.gov.

Editors, reviewers and readers of JHC should report any suspected duplicated publication, plagiarism, falsification, or concern regarding human and animal experimentation to the Editor-in-Chief. This includes reporting on the publication of similar of duplicated articles by the same author and for text or figures that appear to have been lifted verbatim or reproduced from a prior publication. Upon reviewing such a report, the Editor-in-Chief shall conduct an official inquiry in a prompt, considerate, and confidential manner. The inquiry will thoroughly examine the validity of the charges and the author(s) will be notified in writing of any and all accusations as well as be provided with all relevant documents. The author(s) will be given the opportunity to respond to accusations and the JHC will conduct all inquiries in complete confidence. Every consideration will be given to protecting the rights and reputation of all concerned.

In the case of clear evidence of fraud, plagiarism, or falsification of data, all authors will be notified and the institution of the author or authors involved will be promptly notified. All authors of a publication or manuscript will be held jointly liable in such a case of misconduct. The author(s) involved will be prohibited from future publication in JHC. If is determined that fraud has occurred, any published articles will be subject to retraction in print and online.

Responsibility of Editors and Reviewers:

Conflict of Interest Policy. JHC expects reviewers and editors to disqualify themselves from participating in the peer review of a manuscript when they have a close personal or professional relationship with any of the authors, or when a negative judgment of the contents of a submitted paper would enhance or benefit their own research program and reputation. JHC also expects that editors and reviewers will not delay the review of a submitted manuscript to their own benefit.

Confidentiality. As is customary for the review process, JHC holds the identity of the authors and the contents of all submitted manuscript in confidence until such time as the papers are published. This confidentiality extends to the comments of editors and reviewers that have evaluated a manuscript; and are released only to the corresponding/contact author. Co-authors may have access to these documents either by obtaining them directly from the corresponding/contact author or by submitting to JHC a letter of request that has been signed by the corresponding/contact author. Similarly, JHC expects that editors and reviewers maintain strict confidentiality of the authors’ identities and the contents of manuscripts that they evaluate during the review process, and furthermore, will never disclose the contents (either orally or in writing) of documents related to the peer review of a manuscript. A violation of this policy is considered a serious breach of confidentiality and trust.

Review Process. JHC Bears responsibility for insuring that submitted manuscripts receive expert and unbiased reviews. JHC strives to complete the peer review of all submitted papers and publication of accepted manuscripts in a timely manner and keep authors informed of any problems with their manuscript. All submitted manuscripts are initially evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief in consultation with members of the JHC Editorial Board. JHC is under no obligation to submit every manuscript for peer review. Manuscripts judged by the Editors to be of a low priority or inappropriate for publication in JHC may, at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief, be rejected without formal review by referees. JHC attempts to obtain a minimum of two written reviews for each manuscript that is submitted for peer review, although the Editor-in-Chief has the discretion to make final editorial decision about the disposition of a paper with fewer than two reviews. All reviewers serve anonymously and their identities are protected by the confidentiality policy of JHC.