Ethical Policies

ETHICAL POLICY
The publications of the journals of the Medical University of Varna are based on ethical principles, established in internationally recognized requirements and standards of good publication practice of a number of scientific organizations and international committees: Committee on Publication Ethics (https://publicationethics.org/); International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, ICMJE (https://www.icmje.org/); Council of International Organizations for Medical Sciences, CIOMS (https://cioms.ch/); World Association of Medical Editors, WAME (https://www.wame.org/); World Medical Association, WMA (https://www.wma.net/), etc. 
The Journal adheres to the ethical principles and requirements of manuscripts, proposed for publication to scientific journals, established in the following internationally adopted documents:

The ethical standards of publication in the titles published by Medical University of Varna are adopted by the Committee on Research Ethics at the Medical University of Varna. The ethical principles are generally focused on the duties and responsibilities of the published authors, the journal editors and the reviewers of the proposed manuscripts.
An approval of the research by an ethics committee in accordance with international agreements, “World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki/)”, "Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/guide-for-the-care-and-use-of-laboratory-animals.pdf)", and “International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/guiding_principles_2012.pdf)”, is required. Authors will be asked to provide ethical approval in order to proceed to the review process. If they cannot provide ethical approval, their manuscript will be rejected and also their institutions will be informed that such studies must have ethics committee approval. If they provide approval, review of the manuscript will continue. For articles concerning research on humans, a statement should be included that shows that informed consent of participants in the study was obtained. Informed consent must also be obtained for case reports and clinical images. The Journal may request a copy of the ethics committee approval. 
Conflict of interest
The editorial review process of Scripta Scientifica Medica is in accordance with the International guidelines for Good Editorial Practice (ICMJE, EASE, WAME, COPE, CSE). WAME indicates that “conflict of interest exists when an author, reviewer, or editor in the publication process (submission of manuscripts, peer review, editorial decisions, and communication between authors, reviewers and editors) has a competing interest that could unduly influence his or her responsibilities (academic honesty, unbiased conduct and reporting of research, and integrity of decisions or judgments) in the publication process” (https://www.wame.org/conflict-of-interest-in-peer-reviewed-medical-journals).
Scripta Scientifica Medica requires that each author, reviewer, and editor must disclose to the Editor-in-Chief any conflict of interest related to family, personal, financial, political, or religious issues as well as any competing interest outlined above at the WAME’s definition.