Principles of Publishing Ethics

Introduction

Physical Treatments is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and ethical conduct throughout the publication process. The Journal follows the principles and core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and considers the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in developing and implementing its editorial and publication policies.
The Journal regards publication ethics as a shared responsibility among authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, the Journal, and its publisher. All parties involved in the publication process are expected to act honestly, transparently, objectively, and responsibly and to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.
The Journal takes reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers in which research or publication misconduct has occurred and does not knowingly permit such misconduct to take place. Allegations of misconduct submitted before or after publication are considered seriously and handled fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with established COPE guidance.

COPE Core Practices

Physical Treatments follows the COPE Core Practices in the following areas:

• Allegations of misconduct;

• Authorship and contributorship;

• Complaints and appeals;

• Conflicts of interest and competing interests;

• Data and reproducibility;

• Ethical oversight;

• Intellectual property;

• Journal management;

• Peer review processes; and

• Post-publication discussions and corrections.

The Journal applies these principles throughout manuscript submission, editorial assessment, peer review, publication, and post-publication management.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, originality, and ethical conduct of the work they submit. Submission of a manuscript indicates that all listed authors have reviewed and approved the submitted version and agree with its submission to Physical Treatments: (Specific Physical Therapy Journal).
Authors must provide an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. Data must be represented accurately, and authors must not fabricate, falsify, manipulate, omit, or misrepresent data or findings.
Authors must ensure that their manuscript is original and appropriately acknowledges the work and ideas of others. Plagiarism, including the unattributed use of another person’s text, ideas, images, data, or other intellectual contributions, is unacceptable. Authors must appropriately cite relevant sources and obtain permission where required for copyrighted material.
Authors must not submit substantially the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal. Redundant or duplicate publication, inappropriate text recycling, and undisclosed substantial overlap with previously published work are not acceptable.
Authors must disclose all relevant sources of financial and non-financial support and any relationships or activities that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the submitted work.
Authors are expected to cooperate with the Journal during editorial assessment, peer review, and any investigation of concerns regarding their manuscript or published article. When authors identify a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they should promptly inform the Journal and cooperate in correcting the scholarly record.

Authorship and Contributorship

Physical Treatments: (Specific Physical Therapy Journal) follows the ICMJE recommendations for authorship. Authorship should be based on all of the following four criteria:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;

2. Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content;

3. Final approval of the version to be published; and

4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All individuals who meet these four criteria should be identified as authors, and individuals who do not meet all four criteria should not be listed as authors. Contributors who do not qualify for authorship may be acknowledged, with their permission, and their contributions should be described where appropriate.
Guest, gift, honorary, and ghost authorship are not acceptable. Authors should ensure that the author list and order accurately reflect the agreed contributions of all authors before submission.
Requests for changes to authorship after submission must be justified and handled transparently. The Journal may require written agreement from all authors, including any author being added or removed, before approving a change in authorship.
Where appropriate, the Journal encourages transparent reporting of individual author contributions using a recognized contributorship framework such as CRediT.

Originality, Plagiarism, and Redundant Publication

All submitted manuscripts must represent original work. The Journal may use appropriate similarity-checking software as part of its editorial assessment. Similarity reports are interpreted by editors and are not used as the sole basis for editorial decisions.
Plagiarism, data plagiarism, image plagiarism, duplicate publication, redundant publication, and inappropriate text recycling may constitute publication misconduct. When substantial overlap is identified, the Journal will assess the nature and extent of the overlap and take appropriate action in accordance with COPE guidance.
Authors must disclose related manuscripts, previous reports, preprints, conference abstracts, theses, or other materials that may be relevant to determining whether substantial overlap exists.

Data Integrity, Fabrication, and Falsification

Authors are responsible for maintaining the integrity of all data presented in their manuscripts. Fabrication, falsification, selective manipulation, inappropriate omission of observations, and misleading presentation of data are unacceptable.
Images must not be manipulated in a manner that could misrepresent the information contained in the original image. Adjustments that are scientifically and ethically acceptable should be applied consistently and should not obscure, eliminate, or introduce relevant information.
The Journal may request original data, images, study protocols, ethical approvals, statistical outputs, or other supporting documentation when necessary to evaluate concerns about the integrity of a submission or published article.
Where serious concerns about data integrity arise, the Journal may seek clarification from the authors and, where appropriate, contact the relevant institution, research integrity office, funding body, or other responsible authority in accordance with COPE guidance.

Data Availability and Reproducibility

Physical Treatments: (Specific Physical Therapy Journal) supports transparency and reproducibility in research. Authors should preserve the data underlying their research in accordance with applicable institutional, ethical, legal, and disciplinary requirements.
Authors are encouraged to make research data available whenever ethically and legally possible and to provide an appropriate Data Availability Statement describing whether, where, and under what conditions the data supporting the findings can be accessed.
Where data cannot be made publicly available because of participant confidentiality, privacy, ethical approval, contractual restrictions, or other legitimate reasons, these restrictions should be clearly explained.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that any shared data have been appropriately de-identified and that data sharing complies with participant consent and applicable legal and ethical requirements.

Ethical Oversight of Research

Research involving human participants must be conducted in accordance with internationally accepted ethical principles and applicable national and institutional requirements. Authors must state the name of the approving ethics committee or institutional review board and, where applicable, provide the approval number in the manuscript.
Informed consent must be obtained from research participants when required. When identifiable information, photographs, videos, case details, or other materials that could permit identification of an individual are published, appropriate consent for publication must be obtained.
Research involving vulnerable individuals or populations requires particular attention to ethical safeguards, consent, confidentiality, and protection from harm.
Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international standards for animal welfare. Authors must provide information concerning ethical approval and the relevant oversight body where applicable.
Editors may request supporting documentation concerning ethical approval or informed consent when necessary.

Clinical Trial Registration

Clinical trials should be prospectively registered in a publicly accessible trial registry in accordance with applicable ICMJE recommendations and relevant national or international requirements.
The trial registration number and registry should be reported in the manuscript. Authors should ensure consistency between the registered protocol and the submitted manuscript and transparently explain significant deviations from the registered protocol, outcomes, or analysis plan.

Reporting Guidelines

Authors are expected to report their research completely and transparently using appropriate reporting guidelines for the study design.
Depending on the type of study, relevant guidelines may include CONSORT for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, CARE for case reports, STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies, and other appropriate guidelines available through the EQUATOR Network.
Editors and reviewers may request the relevant reporting checklist where appropriate.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members must disclose relationships or activities that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their responsibilities in the publication process.
Conflicts may be financial or non-financial and may include employment, consultancy, stock ownership, honoraria, patents, grants, personal relationships, academic competition, institutional relationships, or other circumstances that could affect—or appear to affect—objective judgment.
Authors must provide an appropriate conflict-of-interest declaration. The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent publication, but relevant conflicts must be disclosed and appropriately managed.
Reviewers and editors must disclose relevant competing interests and decline involvement in the evaluation of a manuscript when an interest could compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, their objectivity.

Funding and the Role of Funders

Authors must identify all sources of financial support for the research and publication of the work.
Where applicable, the role of the funder or sponsor in study design; data collection, analysis, and interpretation; preparation or review of the manuscript; and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication should be disclosed.
Authors should retain appropriate academic independence and should not enter into agreements that prevent them from accessing study data, independently analyzing the data, or publishing scientifically valid findings.

Peer Review Ethics

Physical Treatments: (Specific Physical Therapy Journal) operates the peer review process described in its Peer Review Policy. Peer review must be conducted objectively, constructively, confidentially, and without inappropriate influence.
Reviewers must treat manuscripts and associated materials as confidential documents. They must not share manuscripts, use unpublished information for personal advantage, contact authors directly concerning the manuscript, or delegate a review to another person without prior authorization from the Journal.
Reviewers should provide evidence-based and respectful assessments and should avoid personal criticism. Recommendations for additional citations must be based on genuine scholarly relevance and must not be used to manipulate citations to the reviewer’s work, the Journal, or another publication.
Reviewers must disclose relevant competing interests and decline review when they cannot provide an impartial and timely assessment.
Reviewer recommendations inform editorial decisions but do not determine them. Final responsibility for editorial decisions rests with the responsible editor.

Editorial Responsibilities and Independence

Editors are responsible for protecting the integrity, independence, confidentiality, and fairness of the editorial process.
Editorial decisions must be based on the scientific quality, originality, methodological rigor, relevance, clarity, ethical acceptability, and contribution of the manuscript to the field, without discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, political belief, institutional affiliation, or other irrelevant characteristics of the authors.
Commercial, financial, institutional, or personal considerations must not improperly influence editorial decisions. The Journal is committed to editorial independence, and decisions concerning individual manuscripts remain the responsibility of the editorial team.
Editors must preserve the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must not use unpublished information obtained through the editorial process for personal advantage.

Submissions from Editors and Editorial Board Members

Submission of manuscripts by editors, editorial board members, or individuals closely associated with the Journal does not automatically preclude consideration for publication. However, such manuscripts must be handled through a process that ensures editorial independence and avoids actual or perceived conflicts of interest.
An editor or editorial board member who is an author of a submitted manuscript must have no involvement in selecting reviewers, accessing confidential reviewer identities where applicable, evaluating reviewer reports, or making the editorial decision concerning that manuscript.
Responsibility for the manuscript should be assigned to an independent editor without a relevant conflict of interest, and the manuscript should undergo the same peer review and editorial standards applied to other submissions.

Confidentiality

Manuscripts submitted to the Journal are confidential documents. Editors, reviewers, editorial staff, and other individuals involved in manuscript evaluation must not disclose information concerning a submitted manuscript except where necessary for legitimate editorial purposes.
Information, arguments, data, or interpretations obtained through peer review must not be used for personal, academic, commercial, or competitive advantage before publication.
Confidentiality obligations continue after the completion of peer review.

Use of Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Technologies

Physical Treatments: (Specific Physical Therapy Journal) follows current ICMJE principles concerning the responsible use of artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies in scholarly publishing.
Artificial intelligence tools cannot meet the requirements for authorship and must not be listed or cited as authors.
Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, appropriate attribution, and validity of all content submitted to the Journal, including content developed with the assistance of AI tools.
Authors must transparently disclose substantive use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation or research, identifying the tool used and the purpose for which it was used, where appropriate.
AI-generated output must be carefully verified because such systems may generate inaccurate, incomplete, biased, fabricated, or improperly attributed information. Authors remain responsible for verifying facts, references, quotations, analyses, and other content.
Editors and reviewers must protect manuscript confidentiality. Submitted manuscripts or confidential peer review materials must not be uploaded to external AI systems when confidentiality, privacy, and data protection cannot be assured.
The Journal may maintain more detailed requirements concerning artificial intelligence in its Author Guidelines or dedicated AI Policy.

Intellectual Property and Copyright

Authors must respect copyright, licensing requirements, trademarks, patents, and other applicable intellectual property rights.
Material reproduced from other sources must be appropriately cited and, where required, accompanied by permission from the copyright holder. Authors are responsible for obtaining necessary permissions before publication.
Copyright ownership, licensing, reuse rights, and the permissions granted to readers are governed by the Journal’s Copyright and Open Access policies.

Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct

Physical Treatments: (Specific Physical Therapy Journal) takes allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously, regardless of whether concerns arise before or after publication.
Potential misconduct may include, but is not limited to, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, unethical research, manipulation of the peer review process, citation manipulation, image manipulation, or deliberate misrepresentation of research findings.
The Journal will assess allegations fairly and confidentially and will seek a response from the relevant parties when appropriate. The Journal does not ordinarily have the authority or resources to conduct institutional investigations into serious research misconduct. Where such investigation is required, the Journal may refer the matter to the authors’ institution, ethics committee, research integrity office, funding organization, or another appropriate authority.
Editorial action will be based on the available evidence and relevant COPE guidance. Depending on the circumstances, action may include rejection of a manuscript, correction of the published record, retraction, expression of concern, or other appropriate measures.
Individuals raising concerns in good faith will be treated with appropriate confidentiality, subject to applicable legal and procedural requirements.

Citation Ethics and Citation Manipulation

References should be selected because of their scholarly relevance to the work and not for the purpose of artificially increasing citation metrics.
Authors should not add irrelevant references at the request of editors, reviewers, or other individuals. Reviewers and editors must not require authors to cite their own publications, articles from Physical Treatments: (Specific Physical Therapy Journal), or articles from another journal unless the references are genuinely relevant and necessary to improve the scholarly quality of the manuscript.
Coercive citation, citation stacking, coordinated citation practices, and other forms of citation manipulation are inconsistent with the Journal’s ethical standards.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

Physical Treatments: (Specific Physical Therapy Journal) is committed to maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the scholarly record.
When a published article contains an error that affects its interpretation or accuracy but does not invalidate its main findings, the Journal may publish an appropriate correction.
Retraction may be considered when there is reliable evidence that the findings are unreliable as a result of major error or misconduct, when the work constitutes plagiarism or redundant publication, when unethical research has been reported, or in other circumstances in which retraction is necessary to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.
An Expression of Concern may be issued when serious concerns have been raised but available evidence is inconclusive, an investigation is ongoing, or a definitive editorial action cannot yet be taken.
Corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern will be clearly identified, linked to the affected article, and handled in accordance with relevant COPE guidance and the Journal’s post-publication policies.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other interested parties may submit complaints concerning editorial procedures, publication ethics, published content, or the conduct of the Journal.
Authors may also appeal editorial decisions when they believe that a significant error occurred during editorial assessment or peer review. Appeals should provide a clear and evidence-based explanation of the grounds for reconsideration.
Complaints and appeals will be considered fairly and, where appropriate, independently of the individuals involved in the original decision. Appeals do not guarantee reversal of an editorial decision.
Ethical complaints involving the Editor-in-Chief or another individual who would normally handle the matter should be referred to an appropriate independent authority within the Journal, publisher, or owner to avoid conflicts of interest.

Post-Publication Discussion

The Journal supports responsible scholarly discussion after publication. Readers may raise substantive concerns about published articles through appropriate correspondence with the Journal.
Post-publication concerns will be assessed on their scientific and ethical merits. Where a concern identifies a material error or integrity issue, the Journal will take appropriate action to investigate and, when necessary, correct the scholarly record.
Criticism should be evidence-based and professionally expressed. Differences in scientific interpretation alone do not constitute misconduct.

Reporting Suspected Ethical Concerns

Concerns about possible research or publication misconduct involving a submitted or published article should be communicated to the Journal’s Editorial Office with sufficient information and supporting evidence to permit an initial assessment.
The Journal will acknowledge and assess credible concerns and may request additional information from the complainant, authors, reviewers, institutions, or other relevant parties.
Anonymous allegations may be considered when sufficient evidence is provided to permit a meaningful assessment.

Commitment to the Integrity of the Scholarly Record

Physical Treatments: (Specific Physical Therapy Journal) recognizes that ethical publishing does not end when an article is published. The Journal remains responsible for responding appropriately to credible concerns about published content and for correcting the scholarly record whenever necessary.
The Journal will not remove, suppress, or alter published material solely because it becomes controversial or because the conclusions are challenged. Post-publication action will be based on the reliability, integrity, legality, and ethical status of the published work.
Where corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, or other notices are required, they will remain permanently linked to the relevant article to preserve the transparency and integrity of the publication record.

Applicable Standards and Guidelines

The Journal’s publication ethics policies are informed by and should be read in conjunction with the current guidance and recommendations of the following organizations:
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE):
https://publicationethics.org/
COPE Core Practices:
https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations:
https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/
EQUATOR Network Reporting Guidelines:
https://www.equator-network.org/
World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki:
https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki/
Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members are encouraged to consult these resources when ethical questions arise. Where a matter is not explicitly addressed in the Journal’s policies, Physical Treatments: (Specific Physical Therapy Journal) will consider the circumstances of the case and apply relevant COPE guidance and internationally accepted standards of responsible scholarly publishing.