Publication Ethics

REAL in Nursing Journal (RNJ) is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics. All parties involved in the publication process—editors, reviewers, and authors—are expected to adhere to the following ethical duties and responsibilities.

Duties of Editors

Decision on the Publication of Articles

The Editor in Chief of the RNJ is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal should be published. The Editor in Chief may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and subject to such legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editor in chief may confer with other editors or reviewers to make this decision.

Review of Manuscripts

The Editor in Chief must ensure that each manuscript is initially evaluated by the editor/co-editor, who may make use of appropriate software to examine the originality of the contents of the manuscript and after passing this test, the manuscript is forwarded to two referees for anonymous peer review and each of whom will make a recommendation to publish the manuscript in its present form or to modify or to reject the same. The time required for each review stage is at least a month after the reviewer states their willingness (each article has a different review stage, depending on the quality of the article). If the article is of very good or inferior quality, it is possible to get a decision faster.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used by anyone who has a view of the manuscript in their own research without the author's express written consent.
Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions are made independently by the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board based solely on the scientific merit, originality, and relevance of the submitted manuscript. The publisher shall not interfere with editorial decisions.
Fair Play
Manuscripts shall be evaluated solely on their intellectual merit without regard to the author's race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.
Confidentiality
The Editor in Chief/editors and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher.

Duties of Reviewers

Promptness
Suppose any reviewer feels they cannot complete the manuscript review within the stipulated time. In that case, the same must be communicated to the editor so that the same can be sent to any other reviewer.
Confidentiality
Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors should be kept confidential and treated as privileged information.
Standards of Objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. There shall be no personal criticism of the author. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Acknowledgment of Sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that the authors have not cited. Any statement that has been previously reported elsewhere should be accompanied by an appropriate citation. A reviewer should also call to the Editor in Chief's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper they know personally.
Conflict of Interest
Reviewers should not review manuscripts with conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Duties of Authors

Reporting Standards

Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. The underlying data should be accurately represented in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such, if practicable, and should, in any event, be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, this must be appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple Publications

An author should not generally publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals concurrently constitutes unacceptable publishing behavior.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

REAL in Nursing Journal (RNJ) acknowledges that Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grammarly AI, and similar technologies may assist authors during manuscript preparation. However:

  • AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors.
  • Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the manuscript.
  • Any substantial use of AI in writing, language editing, image generation, or data analysis must be disclosed in the manuscript.
  • AI must not be used to fabricate, manipulate, or falsify research data, images, references, or scientific findings.

Failure to disclose significant AI assistance may constitute a breach of publication ethics.

Ethical Approval and Informed Consent

Research involving human participants must comply with internationally accepted ethical principles, including the Declaration of Helsinki.

Authors must clearly state:

  • the name of the ethics committee or institutional review board (IRB);
  • the approval number (if applicable);
  • that informed consent was obtained from all participants.

For studies involving minors or vulnerable populations, informed consent must be obtained from parents, guardians, or legally authorized representatives. Research involving animals must comply with relevant institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals.

Conflict of Interest
Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, personal, or professional relationships that could influence or appear to influence the interpretation of their work. If no competing interests exist, authors should explicitly state: "The authors declare that they have no competing interests." Editors and reviewers must also disclose any conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from handling manuscripts when appropriate.
Funding Statement
Authors are required to disclose all sources of financial support received for the conduct of the research. If the study did not receive external funding, authors should state: "This research received no external funding."
Data Availability
Authors are encouraged to make the data supporting the study's findings publicly available whenever possible. The manuscript should include a Data Availability Statement indicating whether: the data are publicly available, available upon reasonable request, restricted due to ethical or legal considerations, or not applicable.
Corrections and Retractions

The RNJ is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. When necessary, the journal will publish: Corrections (Erratum or Corrigendum), Expressions of Concern, or Retractions. Retractions will follow the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Retracted articles will remain available online with a clear indication of their retracted status to preserve the scholarly record.

Appeals and Complaints

Authors who disagree with editorial decisions may submit a written appeal to the Editor-in-Chief. Appeals should clearly explain the reasons for reconsideration and provide supporting evidence where appropriate. All appeals will be reviewed objectively, and the Editor-in-Chief's decision after reconsideration shall be final. Complaints regarding editorial processes, publication ethics, or conflicts of interest will be investigated fairly and confidentially.

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Publication Misconduct

The RNJ does not tolerate any form of publication misconduct, including but not limited to: plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, citation manipulation, image manipulation, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, and fake peer review. If misconduct is suspected before or after publication, the journal will investigate the matter in accordance with COPE guidelines and may reject, correct, or retract the article as appropriate.