Ethical Standards

Plagiarism and fabrication

Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or reproduction of another's original work, whether it's ideas, text, or results. It typically involves large sections of text being copied and pasted without proper acknowledgment. All manuscripts will be evaluated by Similarity Check/iThenticate plagiarism detection software before blind peer-reviewing. Manuscripts with a similarity score equal to or greater than 19% will be rejected for publication in FORUM for Group Psychotherapies  and Processes.

When quoting text verbatim, it's crucial to provide proper attribution and citation. This includes paraphrasing and summarizing others' work. "Text recycling" or reusing text from one's previous research publications constitutes self-plagiarism. Therefore, appropriate citation is necessary to avoid misleading perceptions of original contributions. Duplicate or redundant publication refers to republishing substantial parts of one's work without adequate citation, which can mislead the reader. This can include publishing an identical paper in multiple journals or adding minimal new data to a previously published paper.

The editors of FORUM for Group Psychotherapies and Processes will assess each case based on its specific merits. When plagiarism is detected after publication, corrective actions such as corrections, retractions, or other amendments will be considered, depending on the severity of the plagiarism and its impact on the integrity of the published work.

Ethical declaration

Non-maleficence and beneficence are essential principles in research, emphasizing the need to maximize benefits and minimize potential harms. These principles form a foundation for ethical research conduct across various fields, guided by frameworks such as the International Ethical Guidelines for Health-related Research Involving Humans and Ethics in Social Science and Humanities. Advancing knowledge and understanding is a public good and a key benefit of research, even if the research doesn't have immediate or direct applications. However, the potential for harm can sometimes outweigh the benefits of seeking or sharing new knowledge, warranting a decision not to undertake or publish a project.

In the FORUM for Group Psychotherapies and Processes, consideration of risks and benefits (beyond any institutional ethics review) is fundamental to the editorial process of all scholarly contributions.

Research involving human participants must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki . Authors must identify the ethics committee that approved their research, including the name and reference number, in submitted manuscripts. If a study is exempt from requiring ethics approval, the manuscript should include details of the committee granting the exemption. Manuscripts must also confirm that informed consent was obtained from all human participants.

All content submitted for publication must respect the dignity and rights of individuals and human groups. Researchers should consider the potential implications of their research on human groups defined by race, ethnicity, gender, social origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, cultural or other beliefs, age, disease, disability, or other status. Researchers are asked to minimize possible misuse or risks to the studied groups in the public sphere, especially if they are not part of the study. Authors are encouraged to use inclusive, respectful, and non-stigmatizing language in their submitted manuscripts. Authors writing in English should adhere to the  bias-free language  guidelines provided by the American Psychological Association during manuscript preparation.

Regardless of the type of content (research, review, or opinion), and irrespective of whether a research project has been reviewed and approved by an institutional ethics committee, editors retain the authority to request revisions (or to correct or amend the content post-publication) and, in severe cases, to refuse publication or retract the publication after it has been released.

Funding and competing interests

Author/s should acknowledge funders and grants on publications when the activities that contributed to that publication are within scope of the acknowledged grant and arise directly from a specific grant. In this case, author/s should acknowledge the funding source and grant number, if the grant requires it, or comply with any specific acknowledgement requirements from their funders.

Competing interests are defined as financial and non-financial interests that could directly undermine, or be perceived to undermine the objectivity, integrity and value of a publication, through a potential influence on the judgements and actions of authors with regard to objective data presentation, analysis and interpretation. Author/s must disclose and specify any competing interest during the submission process, via declarations in the manuscript submission system. During the peer review process, reviewers will be provided with a minimal statement disclosing the existence of any financial or non-financial interest, to prevent the disclosure of author/s' identities.

We urge authors to carefully consider researcher contributions and authorship criteria when involved in multi-region collaborations involving local researchers so as to promote greater equity in research collaborations