This article describes the position of the Journal on the major ethical principles of academic publishing. Academic publishing depends, to a great extent, on trust. Editors trust peer reviewers to provide fair assessments, authors trust Editors to select appropriate peer reviewers, and readers put their trust in the peer-review process [1,2]. Publication of ethically uncertain research occurs albeit well-published guidelines set forth in documents such as the Declaration of Helsinki (http:// whqlibdoc.who.int/euro/1994-97/EUR_ICP_CEH_212.pdf). Such guidelines exist to aide editorial staff in making decisions regarding ethical acceptability of manuscripts submitted for publication, yet examples of ethically suspect and uncertain publication exist [3,4]. The editor of any medical Journal has to be aware of the ethical and legal framework within which medical research is conducted [5]. With an Open Access Journal, we are committed to the widest possible dissemination of Research outputs observing the highest ethical publication practices [6,7,8].

Authors have a number of duties and responsibilities that are mirrored by those of editors and publishers. Of particular importance are the principles of transparency and integrity. To publish in OMICS Journals, the authors have to be sure that:

1. The corresponding author has the approval of all other listed authors for the submission of the manuscript.

2. All people who have a right to be recognized as authors have been included on the list of authors and everyone listed as an author has made an independent contribution to the manuscript.

The list of authors corresponds to the following criteria: a) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; b) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and c) final approval of the version to be published. All authors must meet these criteria for authorship and conversely, no-one should be omitted from the list if he/she meets these criteria.

3. The work submitted in the manuscript is original and has not been published elsewhere and is not presently under consideration of publication by any other Journal.

4. The material in the manuscript has been acquired according to modern ethical standards and does not contain material plagiarized from anyone else without their written permission. Plagiarism includes both the theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another’s work. The theft or misappropriation of intellectual property includes the unauthorized use of ideas or unique methods obtained by a privileged communication, such as a grant or manuscript review [4].

5. The material that derives from previously published papers is properly attributed to the prior publication by proper citation.

6. The source of the Research funds has been listed on the paper: the authors should acknowledge all significant funders of the Research pertaining to their article.

7. All relevant conflicts of interest have been declared. Referees are asked to declare their conflicts of interest when returning their report on a paper. If a member of the editorial team feels a conflict of interest in making a decision on a paper, she/ he should return the paper to the office and request that it is transferred to an alternative Editor.

8. Concerning studies in humans: the authors must indicate that the study was approved by an institutional review committee and that the subjects gave written informed consent [9]. All studies that involve humans have to adhere to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (see the link above).

9. Concerning studies in experimental animals: the authors must indicate that an institutional review committee approved the study. All studies in animals should be conducted in accordance with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, or the equivalent. The species, strain, number used, and other relevant characteristics of the animals should be stated. When describing surgical procedures, identify the pre-anesthetic and anesthetic agents used and state the amount or concentration and the route and frequency of administration for each. Generic names of drugs must be given. These details should be included in the Methods section of the article [10].

10. If any of the statements above ceases to be true the authors have a duty to notify the Journal as soon as possible so that the manuscript can be withdrawn. Authors must inform the Journal promptly should their results be later invalidated, and permit inspection or auditing of reports if necessary