Scientific Integrity Policy

Scientific Integrity Policy  

The American Physiology Summit Scientific Integrity Policy for submission of abstracts is based on the APS Ethics Policy created by the editors of the American Physiological Society (APS) journals, as adapted from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendation for the Conduct, Reporting and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.

Authorship

Each author is expected to have:

• made an important contribution to the conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data in the study;
• drafted or revised the manuscript critically for intellectual content; and
• approved the final version of the submitted abstract.

Those who meet all three criteria should be included as authors. Those who do not meet all three criteria should not be included as authors. Each author is expected to:

• take responsibility for at least one component of the work;
• have access to the raw data and figure files for their component(s);
• identify which author is responsible for each component; and
• display confidence in their co-authors’ ability and integrity.

The first author is considered the presenting author, and must be thoroughly familiar with the original data for the entire study and be responsible for the integrity of the whole work. If the abstract is found to be faulty or fraudulent, all co-authors may share responsibility.

The first author submits the abstract and confirms on behalf of each co-author that all rules and policies have been followed. Each author will receive a confirmation email upon abstract submission and upon any subsequent abstract revision or withdrawal. Co-authors have seven days to contest submission, revisions or withdrawal.  The first author is responsible for providing accurate contact information for all authors. Verifiable institutional or personal email addresses are required.

Author Conflict of Interest

The presenter is required to disclose—verbally and in writing on presentation slides and/or posters—any perceived or potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise. Conflicts of interest may include consultancies, stock ownership, equity interests, patent-licensing arrangements, lack of access to data and lack of control of the decision to publish or present or any other potential conflict).

Plagiarism, Falsification and Fabrication

Abstracts, posters, slides and oral presentations should not include plagiarized, fabricated or falsified content. Taking material from another’s work and submitting and/or presenting it as one’s own is considered plagiarism. Making up or altering information to agree with one’s conclusions, including altering data, is considered fabrication or falsification.

Abstract Presentation

Material included in the presentation of an abstract must be substantively identical to that described in the submitted abstract. The title, authorship and scientific content of a presentation at the Summit must match that of the abstract.

Presenters should report efforts to ensure the transparency, rigor and reproducibility of their research. Present the research question, rationale and whether the study is exploratory or confirmatory. Presenters must be transparent in their reporting of a study’s experimental design and analytical methods, and when relevant, state the sex of experimental subjects and whether sex differences were assessed. Presenters should note biological variables such as species, sex, age, strain or cell line, where applicable. Presenters must report efforts to reduce bias, including blinding, statistics, sample sizes, and replication, and report which tools were used.

Program Working Group

The APS Program Working Group (PWG) determines which abstracts will be presented orally and which will be presented in poster format. The PWG reserves the right to reject any abstract that has not complied with the aforementioned rules.