For policies regarding research and publication ethics not explicitly addressed in these instructions, Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics (Clin Exp Pediatr) follows the Good Publication Practice Guidelines for Medical Journals issued by the Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors (KAMJE) and the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Authorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the study and who are willing to take public responsibility for its content.

To qualify as an author, an individual must meet all four criteria established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE):

• 1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
• 2. Drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
• 3. Final approval of the version to be published.
• 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.

These criteria apply to journals that distinguish authors from other contributors. All authors must clearly describe their specific contributions on the Title Page.

2. Duplicate Publication and Research Misconduct

Manuscripts that have been published previously, either in whole or in part, or are under consideration elsewhere, will not be considered for publication in Clin Exp Pediatr.

If a submitted manuscript is substantially similar to work that has been published or submitted elsewhere, authors must provide copies of the related materials to the editorial office. The Editorial Board will evaluate the overlap and determine whether publication is appropriate.

Clin Exp Pediatr strictly prohibits all forms of research and publication misconduct, including:

Fabrication: Deliberately making up data, records, or research results that do not actually exist and reporting them as genuine.

Falsification: Manipulating research materials, equipment, processes, or data, or selectively modifying, omitting, or misrepresenting research findings in a way that distorts the results or conclusions of a study.

Plagiarism: Using another person's ideas, methods, data, results, text, or other intellectual property without proper acknowledgment, permission, or attribution, and presenting them as one's own work.

If misconduct is identified, the Editorial Board may reject the manuscript, retract the published article, and take additional actions in accordance with journal policies.

Clin Exp Pediatr follows the procedures and recommendations established by COPE for investigating and resolving cases of research and publication misconduct. (COPE, http://publicationethics.org)

3. Conflict of Interest

The corresponding author is responsible for informing the Editor of any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the interpretation of the study findings.

All authors must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest, including but not limited to:

• 1. Financial relationships (e.g., employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, or paid expert testimony)
• 2. Personal relationships
• 3. Academic competition
• 4. Intellectual beliefs or commitments

Potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed even when the authors believe that such relationships have not influenced their work. All disclosures must be included as a footnote on the Title Page, and each author must certify the accuracy of the disclosure.

4. Protection of Privacy, Confidentiality, and Written Informed Consent

Clin Exp Pediatr adheres to the ICMJE recommendations regarding patient privacy and confidentiality.

Patients' rights to privacy must not be violated without written informed consent. Identifiable information including names, initials, hospital numbers, dates of birth, photographs, pedigrees, or other protected health information should not be published unless essential for scientific purposes.

Masking the eye region in photographs alone may not adequately protect anonymity. If identifying information is altered to preserve anonymity, authors must ensure that such modifications do not compromise the scientific accuracy or meaning of the report.

Because complete anonymity cannot always be guaranteed, whenever there is any possibility that a patient could be identified, written informed consent for the writing and publication of the report must be obtained from the patient and the patient's parent(s) or legal guardian. When written informed consent has been obtained, this should be clearly stated in the published article.

5. Protection of Human and Animal Rights

While reporting experiments that involve human subjects, it should be stated that the study was performed according to the WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (World Medical Association) and approved by the Research Ethics Committee (REC) or the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the institution where the experiment was performed. The author should also include the IRB or REC institution name and number in the text. In the case of an animal study, a statement should be provided indicating that the experiment process, such as the breeding and the use of laboratory animals, was approved by the REC of the institution where the experiment was performed or that it does not violate the rules of the REC of the institution or the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources, Commission on Life Sciences, National Research Council). The authors should preserve raw experimental study data for at least 1 year after the publication of the paper and should present this data if required by the editorial board.

6. Registration of the Clinical Research

Any research that includes a clinical trial is recommended to register to a primary national clinical trial registration site such as http://cris.nih.go.kr/cris/index.jsp or other sites accredited by World Health Organization or ICMJE.