Best practice

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • Best practice

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
(Clin Exp Pediatr, CEP)

Table of Contents

1. Website

i) The URL address of official journal web site
https://www.e-cep.org
ii) ‘Aims & Scope’ statement (https://www.e-cep.org/about/index.php)
Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics (Clin Exp Pediatr, CEP) covers clinical and research work relevant to all aspects of child healthcare. The journal aims to serve pediatricians, researchers, and policymakers related to pediatric health through the prompt publication of significant advances in any field of pediatrics and the rapid dissemination of recently updated knowledge to the public. Additionally, it will initiate dynamic, international, and academic discussions concerning the major topics related to pediatric health. Manuscripts are categorized as perspectives, review articles, editorial, original articles, letters to editors, and clinical notes.
Areas of specific interest include: growth and development, neonatology, pediatric neurology, pediatric nephrology, pediatric endocrinology, pediatric cardiology, pediatric allergy, pediatric pulmonology, pediatric infectious diseases, pediatric immunology, pediatric hemato-oncology, pediatric gastroenterology, nutrition, human genetics, metabolic diseases, adolescent medicine, and general pediatrics.
iii) Readership
  • • It is primarily for pediatricians who seek tailored information that can be adopted in their research and practice, but its readership can be expanded to other positions;
  • • Researchers have access to recent clinical pediatric research topics and detailed research methods;
  • • Clinicians in the field have access to new information and recent pediatric care developments for their patients;
  • • Medical teachers can access and adopt a variety of medical education data;
  • • Allied health professionals, including nurses, have access to recent information concerning the care of children with variety of diseases;
  • • Medical health students can learn about recent trends in the field and read about interesting cases;
  • • Policymakers can reflect on the article results and apply them in nationwide healthcare policies for children;
  • • The public, especially families with children who have various pediatric diseases, can read about the advancements in their children’s diseases, increasing their knowledge and inspiring confidence in the pediatricians’ devotion to their children.
iv) Authorship criteria
Authorship credit should be based on: (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that the questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. The authors should meet these 4 conditions. If the number of authors is greater than 6, there should be a list of each author's role in the submitted paper. If any persons who do not meet the above four criteria, they may be placed as contributors in the Acknowledgments section. The description of co-first authors or co-corresponding authors is also accepted if the corresponding author believes that such roles existed in contributing to the manuscript.
v) Duplicate submission and redundant publication
All submitted manuscripts should be original and should not be in consideration by other scientific journals for publication. Any part of the accepted manuscript should not be duplicated in any other scientific journal without the permission of the Editorial Board, although the figures and tables can be used freely if the original source is verified according to Creative Commons license. All authors must resolve any copyright issues when citing a figure or table from other journals that are not open access.
vi) ISSN
eISSN 2713-4148

2. Name of journal

Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics (Clin Exp Pediatr) is an international, peer-reviewed monthly journal of medicine published in English. It is the official publication of the Korean Pediatric Society, established in 1945. The first issue was published in 1958 as the Journal of the Korean Pediatric Society (ISSN: 0560-3560) with a Korean title of SoAKwa. Since then, it has been published without interruption and has contributed tremendously to the development of pediatric science in Korea. We changed the title of our journal to the Korean Journal of Pediatrics (pISSN: 1738-1061) from 2004 to 2019 and included an English version. Later, the Korean Pediatric Society changed the official name of the journal to Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics in January 2020, in line with the international status of the Korean Pediatric Society. Clin Exp Pediatr is published as an English journal, beginning with Issue 1, Volume 63, in 2020 published consecutively with Issue 12, Volume 62, in 2019 of the Korean Journal of Pediatrics to facilitate its international competitiveness. Clin Exp Pediatr is indexed in PubMed, PubMed Central, SCOPUS, EMBASE, EBSCO, CAS, DOAJ, KoreaMed, KoreaMed Synapse, KoMCI, MedRIC, RISS, WPRIM, WorldWideScience.org, Crossref.org, and Google Scholar.

3. Peer review process

Clin Exp Pediatr reviews all received materials. Manuscripts are sent to the two more relevant investigators, for reviews of the contents. The acceptance criteria for all papers are based on the quality and originality of the research and its clinical and scientific significance. An initial decision will normally be made within 2 weeks after the agreement of review by the reviewers, and the reviewers’ comments will then be sent to the corresponding authors. Revised manuscripts must be submitted online by the corresponding author. Failure to resubmit the revised manuscript within the due date of the editorial decision is regarded as a withdrawal. The editorial office should be notified if additional time is needed or if an author chooses not to submit a revision. The editorial committee makes decisions concerning editing, revision, and acceptance or rejection, and editing may include shortening an article, reducing the number of illustrations or tables, or changing the paper's format or the order of the manuscript. The editor selects referees results of the review will be classified as follows:
  • ∙ Accepted: The manuscript will be forwarded to the publisher without further corrections.
  • ∙ Minor revisions: The author should address the comments from the reviewers, which will be confirmed by the reviewers.
  • ∙ Major revisions: The author should address the comments from the reviewers and make the appropriate corrections for review by the two or more reviewers.
  • ∙ Rejection: When one out of the three reviewers rejects the manuscript, the final decision is made by the editorial committee.
  • ∙ Consultation: Review of the manuscript will be done through consultation to subcommittees and subspecialties

4. Ownership and management

i) Information about the ownership
This journal is owned by the publisher, Korean Pediatric Society
(https://www.pediatrics.or.kr)
ii) Management team of a journal
Journal Manager (Editor-in-Chief)
Man Yong HanDepartment of Pediatrics CHA University, Korea  
Editorial Board
Cezmi AkdisSwiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research, Swiss  
Yong Joo AhnDepartment of Convergence IT Engineering, School of Convergence Science and Technology, Medical Science and Engineering, POSTECH, Korea  
Nyambat BatmunkhRegional Office for the Western Pacific, World Health Organization, Manila, Philippines  
Yiu-fai CheungDepartment of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China  
Ga Won JeonDepartment of Pediatrics, Inha University Hospital, Incheon, Korea  
Sun Hee ChoiDepartment of Pediatrics Kyung Hee University, Korea  
Michael Z. DavidDepartment of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, PA, USA  
Erwin GelfandDivision of Cell Biology, Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO, USA  
Prastiya Indra GunawanDepartment of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Airlangga / Dr Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia  
Il Tae HwangDepartment of Pediatrics, Hallym University, Korea  
Shuichi ItoDepartment of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan  
Yuwu JiangDepartment of Pediatrics, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China.  
Han Wool KimDepartment of Pediatrics, Hallym University, Korea  
Hyunmi KimDepartment of Neurology, Stanford University School of Medicine, USA  
Jon Soo KimDepartment of Pediatrics, Chungbuk National University, Korea  
Bee Wah LeeDepartment of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore  
Jung Won LeeDepartment of Pediatrics, Ewha Womans University, Korea  
Abolfazl MahyarDepartment of pediatrics, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran  
Mika MäkeläDepartment of Allergy, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland  
Hyo-Kyoung NamDepartment of Pediatrics, Korea University, Korea  
Jin Hee OhDepartment of Pediatrics, St. Vincent's Hospital College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea  
Lars SävendahlDivision of Pediatric Endocrinology, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet and University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden  
Christian SpeerDepartment of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany  
Jin kyung SuhDepartment of Pediatrics, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Korea  
Xinrui TanDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA  
Christian TaubeDepartment of Pneumology, University Medicine Essen-Ruhrlandklinik, West German Lung Center, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany  
Jiu-Yao WangCollege of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan, China  
Jung Min YoonDepartment of Pediatrics, Konyang University College of Medicine, Korea  
Junior Editor
Hong Ki KoDepartment of Pediatrics, Independent researcher, USA   [Graphical abstract]
Statistical consultant
Kee-Jae LeeDepartment of Information and Statistics, Korea National Open University, Seoul, Republic of Korea  
Editorial manager
Ka Hye LeeThe Korean Pediatric Society, Korea  
Manuscript editor
Hwan Tae AhnJTS, Seoul  
Layout editor
Hyun Sook ChoiPNMED Co., Korea  
Website and JATS XML File Producers
Yoon-Sang ChoM2PI, Korea  

5. Governing body

The governing body is the journal's editorial board
(https://www.e-cep.org/about/editorial.php)

6. Editorial team and contact information

i) Editorial team
Editorial Board’s website is https://www.e-cep.org/about/editorial.php.
All of the members are responsible to improve the scientific quality of the journal and to implement editorial policy approved by the editorial board.
ii) Contact information
Publisher Korean Pediatric Society
#1606 Seocho World Officetel, 19 Seoun-ro, Seocho-ku, Seoul 06732, Korea
Tel: +82-2-3473-7306 / Fax: +82-2-3473-7307 / E-mail: office@e-cep.org
Editorial Office
#1606 Seocho World Officetel, 19 Seoun-ro, Seocho-ku, Seoul 06732, Korea
Tel: +82-2-3473-7306 / Fax: +82-2-3473-7307 / E-mail: office@e-cep.org

7. Copyright and licensing

i) Copyright policy
All published papers become the permanent property of Korean Pediatric Society. Copyrights of all published materials are owned by Korean Pediatric Society. Permission must be obtained from Korean Pediatric Society for any commercial use of materials. Every author should sign the copyright transfer agreement forms.
ii) Licensing information
This is an open-access journal distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited for non-commercial purposes (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/").
iii) Deposit policy
Full text of Clin Exp Pediatr has been archived in PubMed Central (PMC)(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/3791/) from the 53rd volume, 2010. According to the deposit policy (self-archiving policy) of Sherpa/Romeo (http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/), authors cannot archive pre-print (i.e. pre-refereeing), but they can archive post-print (i.e., final draft post-refereeing). Authors can archive the publisher's version/PDF. Clin Exp Pediatr provides the electronic backup and preservation of access to the journal content in the event the journal is no longer published by archiving in PubMed Central. Authors can archive the publisher's version/PDF.

8. Author fees

There is no article processing charge (APC). Reprints are available at any time after publication; however, reprints ordered after publication may be subject to charge the price. A page charge will be requested to the corresponding author, and color photographs will require an additional fee.

9. Process for identification of and dealing with allegations of research misconduct

When the Journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as a redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fabricated data, changes in authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or an ethical problem discovered with the submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and other issues, the resolving process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The Editorial Board will discuss the suspected cases and reach a decision. We will not hesitate to publish errata, corrigenda, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.
Clin Exp Pediatr adheres to the research and publication ethics policies outlined in International Standards for Editors and Authors (http://publicationethics.org) and the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (http://icmje.org). Any studies involving human subjects must comply with the principles of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Clinical research should be approved by the Institutional Review Board, as well through patient consent. A patient's personal information cannot be published in any form. However, if it is necessary to use a patient's personal information, the consent of the patient or his/her guardian will be needed before publishing. Animal studies should be performed in compliance with all relevant guidelines, observing the standards described in the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
Cases that require editorial expressions of concern or retraction shall follow the COPE flowcharts available from: http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts. If correction is needed, it will follow the ICMJE Recommendation for Corrections, Retractions, Republications and Version Control available from:
http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/corrections-and-version-control.html as follows:
Honest errors are a part of science and publishing and require publication of a correction when they are detected. Corrections are needed for errors of fact. Minimum standards are as follows: First, it shall publish a correction notice as soon as possible, detailing changes from and citing the original publication on an electronic page that is included an electronic Table of Contents to ensure proper indexing; Second, it shall post a new article version with details of the changes from the original version and the date(s) on which the changes were made through CrossMark; Third, it shall archive all prior versions of the article. This archive can be either directly accessible to readers; and Fourth, previous electronic versions shall prominently note that there are more recent versions of the article via CrossMark.

10. Publication ethics

i) Journal policies on authorship and contributorship
Authorship
Authorship credit should be based on: (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that the questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. The authors should meet these 4 conditions. If the number of authors is greater than 6, there should be a list of each author's role in the submitted paper. If any persons who do not meet the above four criteria, they may be placed as contributors in the Acknowledgments section. The description of co-first authors or co-corresponding authors is also accepted if the corresponding author believes that such roles existed in contributing to the manuscript.
Originality and duplicate publication
All submitted manuscripts should be original and should not be in consideration by other scientific journals for publication. Any part of the accepted manuscript should not be duplicated in any other scientific journal without the permission of the Editorial Board, although the figures and tables can be used freely if the original source is verified according to Creative Commons license. All authors must resolve any copyright issues when citing a figure or table from other journals that are not open access.
Secondary publication
It is possible to republish manuscripts if the manuscripts satisfy the condition of secondary publication of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), available from http://www.icmje.org/. These are:
  • • The authors have received approval from the editors of both journals (the editor concerned with the secondary publication must have access to the primary version).
  • • The priority for the primary publication is respected by a publication interval negotiated by editors of both journals and the authors.
  • • The paper for secondary publication is intended for a different group of readers; an abbreviated version could be sufficient.
  • • The secondary version faithfully reflects the data and interpretations of the primary version.
  • • The secondary version informs readers, peers, and documenting agencies that the paper has been published in whole or in part elsewhere—for example, with a note that might read, "This article is based on a study first reported in the [journal title, with full reference]"—and the secondary version cites the primary reference.
  • • The title of the secondary publication should indicate that it is a secondary publication (complete or abridged republication or translation) of a primary publication. Of note, the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) does not consider translations to be "republications" and does not cite or index them when the original article was published in a journal that is indexed in MEDLINE.
ii) How the journal will handle complaints and appeals
When the Journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as a redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fabricated data, changes in authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or an ethical problem discovered with the submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and other issues, the resolving process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The Editorial Board of Clin Exp Pediatr will discuss the suspected cases and reach a decision. Clin Exp Pediatr will not hesitate to publish errata, corrigenda, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.
iii) Journal policies on conflicts of interest/competing interests
Conflict of interest exists when an author or the author’s institution, reviewer, or editor has financial or personal relationships that inappropriately influence or bias his or her actions. Such relationships are also known as dual commitments, competing interests, or competing loyalties. These relationships vary from being negligible to having great potential for influencing judgment. Not all relationships represent a true conflict of interest. On the other hand, the potential for conflict of interest can exist regardless of whether an individual believes that the relationship affects his or her scientific judgment. Financial relationships such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, and paid expert testimony are the most easily identifiable conflicts of interest and the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, or of the science itself. Conflicts can occur for other reasons as well, such as personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion (http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest/). If there are any conflicts of interest, authors should disclose them in the manuscript. The conflicts of interest may occur during the research process as well; however, it is important to provide disclosure. If there is a disclosure, editors, reviewers, and reader can approach the manuscript after understanding the situation and background for the completed research.
iv) Journal policies on data sharing and reproducibility
Until 2020, authors will be encouraged to share their data openly, but starting in 2025, they will be mandated to do so. The related regulation follows the open data sharing policy outlined below.
Open data sharing policy
For clarification on result accuracy and reproducibility of the results, raw data or analysis data will be deposited to a public repository, for example, Harvard Dataverse (https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/) after acceptance of the manuscript. Therefore, the submission of the raw data or analysis data is mandatory. If the data is already a public one, its URL site or sources should be disclosed. If data cannot be publicized, it can be negotiated with the editor. If there are any inquiries on depositing data, authors should contact the editorial office.
Clinical data sharing policy
This journal follows the data sharing policy described in “Data Sharing Statements for Clinical Trials: A Requirement of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors” (https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2017.32.7.1051). As of July 1, 2018 manuscripts submitted to ICMJE journals that report the results of interventional clinical trials must contain a data sharing statement as described below. Clinical trials that begin enrolling participants on or after January 1, 2025 must include a data sharing plan in the trial's registration. The ICMJE's policy regarding trial registration is explained at https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html. If the data sharing plan changes after registration this should be reflected in the statement submitted and published with the manuscript, and updated in the registry record. All of the authors of research articles that deal with interventional clinical trials must submit a data sharing plan of example 1 to 4 in Table 1. Based on the degree of sharing plan, authors should deposit their data after deidentification and report the DOI of the data and the registered site.
Table 1. Examples of data sharing statements that fulfill these ICMJE requirements*
Element Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4
Will individual participant data be available (including data dictionaries)? Yes Yes Yes Yes
What data in particular will be shared? All individual participant data collected during the trial, after deidentification. Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this article, after deidentification (text, tables, figures, and appendices). Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this article, after deidentification (text, tables, figures, and appendices). Not available
What other documents will be available? Study protocol, statistical analysis plan, informed consent form, clinical study report, analytic code Study protocol, statistical analysis plan, analytic code Study protocol Not available
When will data be available (start and end dates)? Immediately following publication. No end date. Beginning at 3 months and ending at 5 years following the article publication. Beginning at 9 months and ending at 36 months following the article publication. Not applicable
With whom? Anyone who wishes to access the data. Researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal. Investigators whose proposed use of the data has been approved by an independent review committee (“learned intermediary”) identified for this purpose. Not applicable
For what types of analyses? Any purpose To achieve aims in the approved proposal. For individual participant data meta-analysis. Not applicable
By what mechanism will data be made available? Data are available indefinitely at (link to be included). Proposals should be directed to xxx@yyy. To gain access, data requestors will need to sign a data access agreement. Proposals may be submitted up to 36 months following article publication. After 36 months the data will be available in our University's data warehouse but without investigator support other than deposited metadata. Not applicable
Data are available for 5 years at a third-party website (link to be included). Information regarding submitting proposals and accessing data may be found at (link to be provided).

ICMJE = International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
*These examples are meant to illustrate a range of, but not all, data sharing options.

v) Journal's policy on ethical oversight
When the Journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as a redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fabricated data, changes in authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or an ethical problem discovered with the submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and other issues, the resolving process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The Editorial Board will discuss the suspected cases and reach a decision. We will not hesitate to publish errata, corrigenda, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.
vi) Journal's policy on intellectual property
All published papers become the permanent property of the Korean Pediatric Society. Copyrights of all published materials are owned by the Korean Pediatric Society.
vii) Journal's options for post-publication discussions and corrections
The post-publication discussion is available through the correspondence. If any readers have a concern about any articles published, they can submit a correspondence on the articles. If there founds any errors or mistakes in the article, it can be corrected through errata, corrigenda, or retraction.

11. Publishing schedule

It is published in English quarterly on the 15th day of every month.

12. Access

This is an open-access journal distributed under the term of the Creative Common Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creative-commons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

13. Archiving

It is accessible without barrier from PubMed Central (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/3791/) Korea Citation Index (https://kci.go.kr), or National Library of Korea (http://nl.go.kr) in the event a journal is no longer published.

14. Revenue sources

Revenue sources of the journal were from the support of publisher (the Korean Pediatric Society), Korea Government’s support, and advertising rates.

15. Advertising

Clin Exp Pediatr accepts advertisements on the following basis:
ⅰ. Eligibility of the advertised products or services
All products or services should be safe and reliable, and not cause any harm to the health and welfare of humans. Advertisements may promote information and technologies relevant for authors, editors, reviewers, and readers. Pharmaceutical products may also be considered.
- Advertising is separate from content. Advertisers and sponsors have no advance knowledge of our editorial contents, nor do the editors have advance knowledge of advertisers. Content is never altered, added, or deleted to accommodate advertising. Advertisers and sponsors have no input regarding any of our editorial decisions or advertising policies.
- We reserves the right to decline or cancel any advertisement at any time.
- Advertisements for pharmaceutical products must conform to all regulations and policies of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Republic of Korea in every respect.
ⅱ. Orders
Any individuals or organizations who are interested in advertising their products or services in the journal website are encouraged to contact the editorial office. The acceptance of advertisement will be discussed by the editorial board and will be ultimately approved by the publisher.
ⅲ. Advertisement fee
For banner advertisements on the website, the price is negotiable according to the duration of its exposure on the journal homepage.
ⅳ. Disclaimer
Liability: Neither the publisher nor the editors will be legally liable for advertisements presented in the journal. In addition, they cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information provided.
Endorsement: The publisher and the editors do not endorse any products or services that are advertised.
Disclaimer: Neither the publisher nor the authors will be legally liable for any of the content of advertisements, so readers must keep this in mind when reading or seeing advertisements.

16. Direct marketing

Journal propagation has been done through the journal web site and distribution of an eTOC. Invitations to submit a manuscript are usually focused on the presenters at conferences, seminars, or workshops if the topic is related to the journal's aims and scope.
  • PubMed Central
  • PubMed
  • Scopus
  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)