To ensure that each article published in Annali Italiani di Chirurgia complies with ethical standards, we adhere to and follow the ethical guidelines outlined in the best practices of ICMJE  and COPE. We take reasonable measures to identify and prevent the publication of papers that involve research misconduct.

All submitted articles undergo a review of originality using tools such as iThenticate® and an assessment of each submitted set of data, including but not limited to the detection of plagiarism, image duplication or conspicuously abnormal data. Additionally, articles suspected of plagiarism or other unethical behavior undergo a thorough review by the editor-in-chief, peer reviewers, and observation or assessment by the editor. Therefore, Annali Italiani di Chirurgia strongly recommends authors to retain their unprocessed data and metadata files to assist editors in evaluating the manuscript if necessary. Authors should be aware that the unavailability of unprocessed data may lead to delays in manuscript evaluation until the issue is resolved.

Each manuscript undergoes an independent review, and if the journal editors have reason to suspect plagiarism or fraud, they reserve the right to express concerns to the author's sponsoring institution and any other relevant institutions. If plagiarism is suspected, a preliminary investigation will be conducted following the flowchart provided by the COPE and guidance from ICMJE. Every instance of suspected unethical publishing behavior will be investigated. If plagiarism is detected, the manuscript found to be plagiarized will not be considered for publication. If the paper has already been published, it may be formally retracted depending on the extent of the plagiarism.

Steps for handling unethical behavior:

All submitted articles undergo plagiarism detection. If there is sufficient evidence supporting accusations against the identity of an unethical author, individuals designated by the journal editor will follow COPE and ICMJE guidelines:

• Contact the authors of the manuscript, requesting an explanation of the relevant materials.
• Contact the author's institution to conduct an investigation.

Based on these responses, the editorial office will make a decision:

• If the manuscript is still under peer review, it may be returned to the authors for revision, with a request to address the issues or rewrite the paper.
• If the manuscript has already been published, and the editorial office identifies too many similarities that cannot be rectified, it may be appropriately rejected or retracted.

Duplicate Publication

All materials submitted to Annali Italiani di Chirurgia must adhere to the following guidelines:

• They must be original and not have been published elsewhere. Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously during the consideration period of Annali Italiani di Chirurgia is considered unethical. Annali Italiani di Chirurgia does not accept duplicate or redundant publications (re-packaging in different words of data already published by the same authors).
• If any part of the submission to Annali Italiani di Chirurgia has been previously published or is intended to be published elsewhere, the author must indicate this and provide specific details in the accompanying cover letter.

• If the author is reusing figures published elsewhere or those protected by copyright, documentation must be provided to prove that the previous publisher or copyright holder has granted permission for republication. The editors of Annali Italiani di Chirurgia assume in good faith that their journal has obtained full permission to publish every part of the submitted material, including illustrations.

Image Integrity

All digital images submitted to Annali Italiani di Chirurgia for review will undergo careful scrutiny to check for any signs of manipulation inconsistent with the following guidelines:

• Authors should retain their unprocessed data and metadata files, as editors may request them to assist in manuscript evaluation. All digitized images submitted with the final revision of the manuscript must be of high quality.

• Positive and negative controls, as well as molecular size markers, should be included on each gel and blot—either in the main figure or an expanded data supplementary figure.

• Authors should provide original data upon request from the editors. Avoid threshold manipulation, expansion or contraction of signal ranges, and altering high signals. If 'pseudo-coloring' and nonlinear adjustments (e.g., 'gamma changes') are used, the processing software name must be provided in the methods section, and this fact must be disclosed in the legends of relevant figures. Adjustments of individual color channels are sometimes necessary on 'merged' images, but this should be noted in the figure legends.