1. Human Subjects Research

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  Declaration of Helsinki: All studies involving human participants must be conducted in strict accordance with the ethical standards of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.
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  Ethics Committee Approval: Authors must provide a clear statement in the manuscript confirming that the study was reviewed and approved by an institutional review board (IRB) or independent ethics committee (IEC), including the specific approval reference number.
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  Informed Consent & Privacy: Authors must obtain and document informed consent from all participants. For minors or vulnerable populations, consent must be obtained from legally authorized representatives. Identifying details must be omitted unless scientifically essential. For Case Reports, explicit written consent for publication is mandatory.

2. Animal Research

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  Ethical Standards: All experiments involving living animals must comply with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (National Research Council) or equivalent national institutional guidelines. Adherence to the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting animal research is strongly encouraged.
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  The 3Rs Principle: Manuscripts must include a statement confirming that all possible steps were taken to avoid or minimize animal suffering, adhering to the principles of Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement.

3. Authorship Criteria

Health Frontiers adopts the authorship criteria defined by the ICMJE. To qualify as an author, an individual must meet ALL of the following conditions:

• 1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
• 2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
• 3. Final approval of the version to be published.
• 4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Note: Any change in authorship (addition, removal, or reordering) after initial submission requires a completed Authorship Change Form signed by all original and new authors.

4. Research Misconduct & Plagiarism

The journal maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward all forms of research misconduct. All submissions are screened using Turnitin / iThenticate.

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  Plagiarism: The maximum allowable similarity index is 15% overall, with no more than 2% from any single source. Self-plagiarism and text recycling are strictly prohibited.
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  Duplicate Publication: Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals concurrently, or publishing data that has already been published elsewhere, is unacceptable.
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  Data Fabrication/Falsification & Image Manipulation: Making up data, altering results, or inappropriately manipulating images (e.g., splicing, enhancing, or obscuring features in a misleading way) will result in immediate rejection and potential blacklisting.

5. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Transparency is paramount. All authors must disclose in their manuscript any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Furthermore, all sources of financial support, grants, or funding for the project must be explicitly acknowledged in the Funding and Conflict of Interest sections of the Declarations.

 Post-Publication Corrections and Retractions

In accordance with COPE guidelines, when an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author’s ethical obligation to promptly notify the Journal Editor. The editorial office will investigate and, if necessary, issue a formal Correction (Erratum), an Expression of Concern, or a Retraction if the error fundamentally undermines the conclusions or if misconduct is proven. Retraction notices will be linked to the original article and remain permanently visible.