While the ethical guidelines for editors and peer reviewers are lengthy, the ethical guidelines for authors, artists, and researchers are even more complex. Authors in Survive and Thrive carry legal and ethical obligations to the press, to the human beings they may be writing about, and especially to the reader. The founding principle of narrative medicine is that sharing our experiences, our knowledge-making, our creativity, and especially our stories can advance the healing of others. Our obligations, in that context, are immense.
Survive & Thrive provides immediate open access to its content, which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or their institution. This also means that Survive & Thrive does not charge article submission or processing fees. As an open-access journal, Survive & Thrive does not require authors to transfer full copyright ownership to the journal as a condition of publication.
Authors retain rights to their work; following from that, they are responsible for the work. To publish with Survive & Thrive, authors represent and warrant that they are the sole creators of the work and owners of all rights, titles, and interests in the work, including the complete and undivided copyright interest to the work. The authors represent and warrant that they have not granted any person any interest, including permissions, licenses, or assignments, in the work that conflicts with the rights, titles, and interests granted here.
To each author's knowledge, the work does not infringe the copyright or other intellectual property rights of any person nor defame, slander, or libel any person nor invade the privacy or other like rights of a person. The authors represent and warrant that they either have express written permission to any third-party content used in their submission to Survive & Thrive or that they have a good-faith belief that the works they are using are in the public domain, that their use is fair, or that they are using works under an appropriate Creative Commons (or other open-content) license.
Authors will grant a nonexclusive license in their work to Survive & Thrive and the University of Minnesota Libraries. Such a license gives Survive & Thrive and the Libraries the necessary rights to publish, distribute, archive, and preserve the work. However, since the license is non-exclusive, all rights will still belong to the creator, who may make any use they wish and may grant other licenses as desired. The result of this license agreement is that the author, Survive & Thrive, and the Libraries will each have broad rights to the work.
Survive and Thrive offers authors the option of assigning one of two licenses to their work:
The copyright of each article belongs to the author(s) and grants each author the right to deposit the article in their institutional repository or any suitable subject repository.
For other questions about use, don't hesitate to contact the editors.
A conflict of interest, or even the appearance of a conflict of interest, can make a reader question a work. Authors, then, are responsible for reporting conflicts of interest. Authors must declare any conflicts of interest that may affect the information, research, analysis, or interpretation presented in the manuscript. The cover page of the manuscript should disclose any conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as the validity of the research) may be influenced by secondary interests (such as financial gain). If there are none to declare, please indicate “Conflicts of Interest: None” on the manuscript's cover page. Additional information on Conflicts of Interest is available for downloading through the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Although Survive & Thrive does not require this form, it may assist authors in identifying conflicts.
Survive & Thrive requires that all authors disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest. Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or directly related to the work that the authors describe in their manuscript. Potential sources of conflict of interest include, but are not limited to: patent or stock ownership, membership of a company board of directors, membership of an advisory board or committee for a company, and consultancy for or receipt of speaker's fees from a company. The existence of a conflict of interest does not preclude publication. If the authors have no conflict of interest to declare, they must also state this at submission. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to review this policy with all authors and collectively to disclose with the submission all pertinent commercial and other relationships.
Funders love being recognized for the good work they made possible, and acknowledging funding helps a reader understand how a contribution to Survive and Thrive came to be. Authors should list all funding sources in the Acknowledgments section. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. If in doubt, please check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature: https://www.crossref.org/services/funder-registry/
All contributors to a work should be recognized, especially those whose contribution meets our professional definition of “authorship.” Authorship is intended not only to give appropriate credit to researchers but also to indicate who is ultimately responsible for the work being published.
Survive & Thrive conforms to the recommendations of the ICMJE in defining the role of authors and contributors. The ICMJE states that authorship should be based on four criteria:
All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who meet some but not all four criteria should still be acknowledged for their contributions. Authors are collectively and solely responsible for identifying contributors that should be named as an author or acknowledged; authors are also collectively and solely responsible for determining the order in which their names will appear. .
Corresponding authors have additional responsibilities. These authors must take primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer-review, and publication process.
For information about other, specific circumstances, please refer to the ICMJE recommendations on authorship.
Survive & Thrive encourages deposits of data sets in established repositories as required by funding agencies or as desired by authors. If data supporting a paper submitted to Survive & Thrive is deposited prior to submission or after submission but prior to publication, information about that deposit — including permanent identifiers — may be provided in the abstract of the related article.
Misconduct: Survive & Thrive takes concerns and allegations of misconduct seriously. Authors are responsible for assuring the accuracy of their data collection, analysis, and interpretation. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure the accuracy of the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data in manuscripts they submit to Survive & Thrive. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of authors to guarantee the veracity of the content of articles published in Survive & Thrive. However, should concerns regarding academic misconduct arise, they should be reported to the editors at Survive & Thrive@umn.edu. The misconduct report should include evidence supporting the allegation. For allegations of misconduct that involve a conflict of interest for the editors, a committee of three members of the editorial board will be formed to investigate and address the allegations.
Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Plagiarism includes:
Self-plagiarizing by using the same narrative, research questions, tables, figures or underlying content from work the author(s) have previously published except in limited circumstances (i.e. building off work in dissertations).
The editors of Survive & Thrive voluntarily adhere to the standards, best practices, and processes for addressing allegations and complaints that have been established by the Commission on Publication Ethics, (COPE) Retraction Guidelines and the ICJME Recommendation on Retractions and Expressions of Concern. When allegations are found to have merit, the editors will contact the appropriate administrative officials at the institution with which the author is affiliated and inform them of the charges and the decision of the journal.
Artificial Intelligence is transforming all of our work. Hold on while we tell you what we are doing to meet the moment now! At the time of submission, authors must disclose whether they used artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators) in the production of submitted work, including for generating transcripts from audio interviews or writing support. AI use must be disclosed and described as an acknowledgement; if AI tools were used to generate figures or data, including generating themes from qualitative data sets, it must also be disclosed and described in the methods section.
Survive & Thrive's authorship policy states that authors must be accountable for the work they have submitted; accordingly, no AI tool may be listed as an author on a paper submitted to Survive & Thrive. Authors are solely responsible for ensuring that citations are accurate and that no submitted material is plagiarizing. Failure to disclose AI use may be grounds for a paper to be retracted. Additional information on the use of artificial intelligence in crafting manuscripts is available from the ICMJE's website. This policy is subject to change.
Authors are accountable for the originality, validity, and integrity of the content of their submissions. In choosing to use Generative AI tools, journal authors are expected to do so responsibly. This includes reviewing the outputs of any Generative AI tools and confirming content accuracy. We support the responsible use of Generative AI tools that respect high standards of data security, confidentiality, and copyright protection in cases such as:
(This policy is adapted from similar language available at Taylor & Francis publishing.)
Note:
We recognize that the nature of the letters is personal, and some authors may be concerned about professional repercussions. If this is the case, please contact the editors to discuss it further.
Survive & Thrive is an open access journal dedicated to promoting original research. This policy outlines the limited acceptable use of generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) in the preparation of manuscripts submitted to Survive & Thrive. These limited uses are permitted as a way of overcoming potential inequities or barriers in areas such as language and translation. Generative AI tools cannot be used to create, alter or manipulate original research or narrative submissions to Survive & Thrive, aside from the permitted uses outlined below. As a point of further caution, AI tools have been shown to perpetuate bias and inequity, and scholars should make careful efforts to avoid furthering this bias.
Prohibited Uses for submission to Survive & Thrive
Generative AI must not be used to:
Permitted Uses for submission to Survive & Thrive
Authors and peer reviewers may use generative AI tools for limited support in:
Disclosure Requirement
If generative AI tools are used in any part of manuscript preparation, authors must clearly disclose this in a dedicated note at the end of the manuscript (before the references), including:
Portions of this manuscript were edited using ChatGPT (OpenAI) for grammar and language clarity. All intellectual content and interpretations remain the sole responsibility of the authors.
All authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of content submitted, regardless of AI use. Generative AI tools will not be recognized as co-authors in accordance with COPE’s position statement on Authorship and AI tools.
While Survive and Thrive does not publish original medical research, we sometimes publish human subjects research, and human subjects should be treated with care. As part of submitting to Survive & Thrive, the corresponding author must affirm that an Institutional Review Board (IRB) at their organization has reviewed research projects which involve human or animal subjects to ensure those subjects are not placed at undue risk and that they can give uncoerced and informed consent to participation in a research study. Even educational studies involving participants, including questionnaires that collect information that could potentially identify participants, could be declared “human subjects research” and must adhere to this policy.
If the research published in Survive & Thrive was subject to IRB oversight, the name of the institution supporting the IRB and the protocol number must be included in the methods section of the submitted manuscript.
If an IRB determined that a project met the criteria for exemption from further IRB oversight, the name of the institution supporting the IRB and the reason the study was not subject to further review must be provided within the methods section of the submitted manuscript:
Example: "This study was reviewed and deemed exempt by the [University Name] Institutional Review Board (IRB) because [short description of rationale]."
Survive and Thrive will sometimes publish work that reflects upon the experiences of patients in a healthcare setting from the perspective of the patient, the provider, the advocate, or the support system of the patient. The private medical information of these patients, should be treated with care, and not be disclosed. See https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/index.html
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The copyright of these individual works published by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing remains with the original creator or editorial team. For uses beyond those covered by law or the Creative Commons license, permission to reuse should be sought directly from the copyright owner listed on each article.
