Journal of Traumatic Stress February 2019, 32, 5–13 EDITORIAL Journal of Traumatic Stress Ethics Policy Patricia K. Kerig Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Traumatic Stress The Journal of Traumatic Stress (JTS) abides by the ethical principles of the American Psychological Association (APA; 2002, 2010, 2017), the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE; n.d.) in its Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines, as well as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ (ICMJE; 2018) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. However, we recently recognized that JTS has not previously articulated its own ethics policy. Such a written policy can play a valuable role in fully informing and guiding authors, readers, and reviewers regarding our ethical principles and the procedures we follow to ensure the highest standard of ethics in the conduct, reporting, and evaluation of the research published in JTS. In addition, a journal’s ethics policy can help to promote open science by increasing transparency regarding the review process and articulating the publication’s positions in relation to key issues involving data sharing and replicability. The present document redresses those gaps. JTS Ethical Guidelines Ethical Conduct of Research The principles underlying the ethical conduct of research are clearly laid out in the guidelines published by the interna- tional and national societies that govern the research conducted by multiple professions concerned with the study and treat- ment of traumatic stress (e.g., APA, 2002, 2017) and thus will not be reiterated in full here. Briefly, all submissions to JTS must be accompanied by a statement confirming that (1) the research methods were reviewed and approved by an Institu- tional Review Board or formally constituted ethics committee, Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Patricia K. Kerig, Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84112. E-mail: p.kerig@utah.edu C  2019 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com DOI: 10.1002/jts.22364 or else reviewed and deemed exempt from ethics review; (2) the researchers obtained informed consent from any participants involved, unless this was specifically waived by the ethical oversight committee; and (3) the research was conducted in keeping with recognized ethical standards. Guidelines on Submissions Originality. The Journal publishes only original work that has not been published previously elsewhere, either in whole or in part, in any medium—including electronic or print me- dia, or papers previously published in a different language. To this end, cover letters should include a statement confirming that the work in the submitted document is original and the au- thor(s)’ own and is not derived from any other source, published or unpublished. In some cases, relevant excerpts from other sources—such as long quotations, tables, or figures—might be appropriate to include within a manuscript, but these must be correctly cited and clearly identified as having been reproduced from another source, with any necessary copyright permis- sions documented (see section on Approvals, Agreements, and Permissions). Nonredundancy. As per APA (2002) guidelines, “piece- meal” or redundant (also termed “salami;” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Research Integrity, n.d.) publishing is strongly discouraged. Multiple papers utilizing the identical data set or recapitulating the identical results do not provide the field with the same level of confidence—in the robustness, replicability, and generalizability of the results and conclusions that can be drawn—as do replications of findings across different data sets and laboratories. When submitting a manuscript, authors should disclose information about any highly related papers that have utilized an identical or substan- tially overlapping data set that they have published, submitted, or have in press. Previous publication of an abstract derived from a presentation of the work at a scientific meeting does not preclude consideration for publication in JTS, but this should be disclosed at the time of submission. Similarly, work derived 5