TRUST AND AUTHORSHIP

As Editor-in-Chief, International Surgery, I dedicate this editorial letter to the immense importance of the relationship between trust and authorship in scientific medical publishing.

Thesaurus associated words for trust include dependable, confidence, authentic, and truthful. Thesaurus associated words for authorship are creator and originator. Ethics, conflict of interest, and peer review policy statements appear in this issue of International Surgery and will appear in all future issues. All are related to the significant trust placed on authors who submit manuscripts to International Surgery. No ambiguity exists in any part of our expectations that authors will fully observe and meet the highest standards of ethics, conflict of interest, and peer review.

We fully understand and respect the immense amount of responsibility placed on authors in maintaining these high standards. But, by maintaining these high standards, we serve our authors in the very best manner possible, and we remain responsible members of the scientific medical publishing field.

International Surgery standards are based on the principles and guidelines outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), Council of Scientific Editors (CSE), and the National Information Standards Organization (NISO).

My intention, as Editor-in-Chief of International Surgery, is to continue to insist on observing the highest publishing standards in scientific medical publishing and to consistently maintain such standards.

I welcome any questions or comments that you may have.

Sincerely,

Christopher Chen

Editor-in-Chief

International Surgery