Life Conflux Editorial Policy and Guidelines

The editorial policy of Life Conflux aligns with recognized best practices endorsed by national and international organizations and academic associations that promote research integrity in the life sciences. Below, we provide direct links to the full text of these guiding principles.

Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors

Life Conflux adheres to the guidelines established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which outline the responsibilities and contributions expected from authors and participants.

Redundant Publication

We follow the COPE guidelines on redundant publication. Such publications are considered unethical, and manuscripts found to contain redundant content will not be considered for publication in Life Conflux.

Plagiarism

In line with COPE guidelines, Life Conflux expects all original wording taken directly from other sources to appear in quotation marks with proper citations. This rule applies equally to an author's own previous work.

Peer Review

Life Conflux upholds COPE’s standards for ethical peer review. Should evidence arise of peer review manipulation, we will take necessary actions, including retracting the affected publication or revoking acceptance if the manuscript is still under review.

Concerns and Allegations

All concerns and allegations are investigated according to COPE guidelines. For more information on raising a concern about unethical practices in peer review, see our complaints procedure.

Alignment with International Reporting Guidelines

Authors are strongly encouraged to adhere to internationally recognized reporting guidelines. Relevant checklists should accompany submissions as supplementary materials. Reporting guidelines for various study designs can be accessed through the Equator Network website, which provides a comprehensive searchable database of guidelines and resources to enhance the quality of research reporting.

• Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs): Follow the CONSORT guidelines including flowchart and structured abstract checklist.

• Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: Adhere to the PRISMA guidelines including flowchart and structured abstract checklist.

• Observational Studies in Epidemiology: Use the STROBE guidelines; refer also to RECORD for studies using routinely collected health data and MOOSE guidelines.

• Animal Pre-Clinical Studies: Follow the ARRIVE guidelines.

• Web-Based Surveys: Apply the CHERRIES guidelines.

• Studies Using Data from Electronic Health Records: Refer to the CODE-EHR guidelines.

• Reporting Sex and Gender Information: Use the SAGER guidelines.

Clinical Trial Definition

Life Conflux follows the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of a clinical trial: any research study that prospectively assigns human participants to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate effects on health outcomes.

Trial Registration

According to recommendations from the ICMJE, WHO, and the Declaration of Helsinki, all clinical trials submitted to Life Conflux must be registered in a WHO Registry Network Primary Registry or an ICMJE-approved registry at or before the recruitment of the first participant. Retrospectively registered trials will be rejected.

Reporting Standards

Clinical trial registration details must be included in the abstract, along with the Clinical Trials Unique Identifier, Registry Name, and URL. Changes made since registration should be reported following the CONSERVE guidelines. Unreported discrepancies may lead to manuscript rejection.

• Randomized Trials: Comply with the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) 25-item checklist and include a CONSORT flow diagram.

• Clinical Trials and Artificial Intelligence (AI): Adhere to the CONSORT-AI extension.

• N-of-1 Trials: Follow the CONSORT extension for N-of-1.

• Clinical Study Protocols: Register protocols publicly and follow the Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) guidelines.

• Clinical Study Protocols and AI: Conform to the Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials–Artificial Intelligence (SPIRIT-AI) extension.

For Clinical Protocols

All submissions must adhere to the Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) guidelines and checklist. For clinical trial study protocols that incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) components, authors should follow the SPIRIT-AI extension. The abstract must include the registry name, unique identifier, and URL.

Open Science and Open Data Policies

Life Conflux promotes open science and open data policies, advocating for the free accessibility and transparency of research outputs. Authors are encouraged to acquaint themselves with our policies aimed at achieving high standards of data availability, transparency, and reproducibility in published articles. These policies are informed by community-driven standards such as the Transparency and Openness (TOP) guidelines and the joint declaration of data citation principles from FORCE11.

Resource Identification Initiative

Authors participating in the FORCE11 Resource Identification Initiative should cite resources like antibodies, genetically modified organisms, software tools, data, databases, and services using their corresponding catalog numbers and Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs) within their manuscript.

Research Ethics and Ethics Approval

All research submitted to Life Conflux must comply with our guidelines on study ethics. In line with COPE guidelines, we reserve the right to reject any manuscript that does not uphold high ethical standards, regardless of whether ethical approval has been obtained or is required. We recommend authors follow the ARRIVE guidelines for conducting and reporting scientific research involving animals.

Studies Involving Animal Subjects

Research involving regulated animals must be approved by an ethics committee before the study begins and must comply with relevant institutional and national guidelines and regulations. Life Conflux adheres to the AVMA guidelines for studies including animal research. Studies involving non-routine interventions require ethics committee oversight. Authors must provide ethics approval information upon submission, which will generate an ethics statement included in the reviewer file and final manuscript:

"The animal study was reviewed and approved by [Full name and affiliation of ethics committee]. Written informed consent was obtained from the owners for the participation of their animals in this study."

Studies involving animals should adhere to the three Rs principle and the ARRIVE guidelines. Editors may request additional documentation if experimental details deviate from common practice. Manuscripts involving unethical protocols can be rejected even with ethics committee approval. Authors should consult the AVMA guidelines for best practices regarding anesthesia and euthanasia procedures.

Studies Involving Human Participants

Human participant research must comply with the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki and receive prior approval from the appropriate ethics committee. Written informed consent for participation and publication of results must be obtained from all participants. The ethics committee information must be provided upon submission, generating a statement for inclusion in the manuscript:

"The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by [Full name and affiliation of ethics committee]. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study."

If the study is exempt from ethics approval or consent procedures, authors must clearly state the reasons. Life Conflux may request a letter from an ethics committee if full review and approval have been waived. Identifying information should be omitted unless necessary for scientific purposes and explicit approval has been granted.

Inclusion of Identifiable Human Data

Life Conflux follows ICMJE recommendations on protecting research participants' privacy. Nonessential identifiable details should be omitted from manuscripts, and written informed consent is required if there is any doubt about maintaining anonymity.