In order to strengthen the construction of academic integrity and ethics, standardize the process of paper writing, submission and editing, reviewing and publishing, and prevent academic misconduct, Chinese Journal of Comparative Medicine commits to strict compliance with Copyright Law, Ethical Standards for Sci-tech Journal Publishing, and related regulations.

I. Authors’ Responsibilities

1. Authors should ensure the originality and integrity of the content of the paper, possess independent intellectual property rights, no academic misconduct, no confidentiality issues, and no other copyright-related infringement issues. No AI-generated manuscripts. If any of the above problems exists, the editorial office has the responsibility to expose it, give a written warning, refuse to publish the manuscript with his/her signature, notify his/her organization, and institutional notification in the journal once it is found out.

2. Authors shall be responsible for the authenticity of the paper, and have the responsibility to cooperate with the editorial office to provide original pictures, original data and other supporting materials to ensure the authenticity of the manuscript content.

3. Authors should ensure that all studies actively consider experimental ethical issues, comply with moral, legal, and professional obligations and norms, and meet the requirements of regulatory agencies and related parties.

4. Authors should self-check the duplication rate of their manuscripts before submission. The repetition rate of the journal should be kept within 15%.

5. Authors shall abide by the principle of “Five Prohibitions”: no third party writing the paper on behalf of the authors; no third party submitting the paper on behalf of the authors; no third party modifying the paper; no false information about the peer reviewers; no violation of the standard of the paper’s signature.

6. Authors should be those who have actually contributed to the content of the manuscript. The first author and the corresponding author should take the overall responsibility for the paper and revise the paper according to the editorial review comments. It is strictly prohibited for people who have nothing to do with the paper to be named. The order of authors for articles with collective authorship should be discussed and determined by all authors at the time of submission, and the authors’ and units’ names should not be changed after the submission of the article. The editorial office will not be responsible for any copyright disputes such as author ranking and manuscript ownership after the publication of the manuscript. Authors are required to submit Authorship Contribution Statement when submitting their manuscripts.

7. All authors must disclose all potential conflicts of interest when submitting their manuscripts to the journal. Authors are required to submit COI Declaration Form when submitting their manuscripts, and those who do not have a conflict of interest should also declare that they do not have a conflict of interest.

8. All submissions that involve academic misconduct (CY/T 174-2019: Definition of Academic Misconduct in Journals) shall be the responsibility of the authors themselves.

II. Editorial Responsibilities

1.Editor shall handle each manuscript in a fair, impartial and timely manner and make the decision of accepting, sending for external review or rejecting the manuscript based on the importance, originality, significance, timeliness, readability, authenticity of the research and its relevance to the journal.

2. No bias based on race, gender, religion, nationality, politics, political philosophy or sexual orientation.

3.Editor shall observe the principle of confidentiality and shall not disclose any information about an article to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewer, or editor.

4. Editor should prevent external influence on peer review.

5. Editor should carefully examine whether the basic information of the review experts recommended by the authors is accurate, whether their academic background is consistent with the research background of the article, and whether there is any conflict of interest with the authors, and carefully decide whether it is necessary to send the review to the recommended experts or not; and for the avoidance of the experts, if the authors have given sufficient reasons, the author’s choice should be respected as much as possible.

6. Recuse from handling manuscripts involving personal/professional relationships.

7. Vigilantly screen for academic misconduct.

8. Archive all proofs and correspondence.

III. Reviewer Responsibilities

1. Conduct anonymous peer review with transparency, confidentiality, and fairness.

2. Accept invitations only within expertise; suggest alternatives if unqualified.

3. Reviewers should uphold the principles of academic integrity and respect for academic freedom, and use their professional knowledge and excellent judgment to make an honest, objective and fair assessment of the manuscript. The reviewers should provide objective, evidence-based evaluations with actionable feedback.

4. Recuse when competitive/collaborative relationships exist.

5. Never disclose manuscript details.

6. Without the consent of the editorial board, the reviewers shall not delegate others to review the manuscripts on their behalf.

7. Once the articles are found to contain errors of opinion, errors of knowledge, serious copying, suspected falsification of data, etc., they should be returned to the editorial office.

IV. Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics

Strict adherence to national regulations: 

- Regulations on the Management of Laboratory Animals (revised version on March 1, 2017) 

- Laboratory Animals—Guidelines for Welfare Ethical Review (GB/T 35892—2018)