Ethical Policies & Code of Conduct

Purpose and Scope

The Universal Conference on Infectious Diseases (UCID) is committed to advancing clinical practice, epidemiological surveillance, therapeutic innovation, and biomedical research through rigorous, ethical, and transparent scientific exchange. Trust in infectious disease science depends upon the integrity, honesty, and accountability of every participant.

This Ethical Policy outlines the principles governing all submissions, presentations, evaluations, and interactions associated with UCID. It applies universally to:

• Authors and Presenters (oral, poster, and workshop contributors)

• Invited Speakers, Keynotes, and Session Chairs

• Scientific Committee Members and Peer Reviewers

• Conference Organizers and Management Staff

• Attendees, Delegates, and Virtual Participants

• Sponsors, Exhibitors, and Industry Partners

By submitting an abstract, registering, reviewing, or participating in any UCID activity, individuals agree to adhere to the standards set forth herein.

Research Integrity and Scientific Conduct

All research submitted to or presented at UCID must be conducted in accordance with rigorous academic and scientific standards.

Originality and Plagiarism

• Submissions must represent original scientific inquiry conducted by the listed authors.

• Plagiarism in any form—including verbatim text copying without attribution, paraphrasing without proper citation, verbatim re-use of ideas, or self-plagiarism (text recycling)—is strictly prohibited.

• The Scientific Committee reserves the right to screen all abstract submissions using text-matching software prior to evaluation.

Redundant, Duplicate, and Simultaneous Submissions

• Authors must not submit abstracts that duplicate work already published in peer-reviewed journals or presented substantially elsewhere, unless explicitly allowed under a declared "Encore Presentation" track with full disclosure.

• Simultaneous submission of identical or substantively overlapping abstracts to multiple conferences or tracks within UCID is not permitted.

• If related findings have been published or presented previously, authors must explicitly cite the prior work and clearly explain the novel scientific contribution or updated data presented at UCID.

Data Integrity: Fabrication, Falsification, and Manipulation

• Scientific conclusions must be grounded entirely in genuine, verifiable research.

• Fabrication (inventing data or results) and falsification (manipulating research materials, equipment, processes, or selectively omitting or altering data points) constitute severe scientific misconduct.

• Presenters must be prepared to provide raw data, protocols, and analytical records upon reasonable request by the Scientific Committee during an inquiry.

Figure and Image Integrity

• Scientific figures, clinical images, micrographs, and electrophoretic gels must accurately represent the original findings.

• Selective enhancement, removal, obscuring, or repositioning of specific features within an image is prohibited.

• Minimal image adjustments (such as overall contrast or brightness applied uniformly across the entire image) are acceptable only if they do not distort, misrepresent, or selectively highlight any specific feature.

• Any digital processing, cropping, or composite figure creation must be transparently described in the presentation or abstract methods.

Human Participants, Animal Welfare, and Bioethics

Given the critical nature of infectious diseases research, strict bioethical adherence is mandatory.

Human Participants and Institutional Ethical Approval

• All research involving human participants, patient tissue, clinical data, or identifiable biospecimens must be conducted in alignment with established bioethical principles, including the ethical standards articulated in the Declaration of Helsinki.

• Submissions must explicitly confirm review and approval (or formal documented exemption) by an appropriate institutional review board (IRB), independent ethics committee (IEC), or competent regulatory authority.

• The formal ethics committee approval number or institutional reference must be stated in the submission.

Informed Consent and Patient Confidentiality

• Formal informed consent (and assent, where minors or vulnerable populations are involved) must have been obtained from all study participants or their legally authorized representatives.

• Patient privacy and data protection are paramount. Submissions, case presentations, slides, and posters must be strictly de-identified.

• No patient names, hospital identification numbers, detailed geographic identifiers, facial photographs, or unmasked biometric details may appear in any presentation materials unless written, explicit, signed consent for public presentation/publication has been obtained and documented.

Animal Research and Welfare

• Research involving vertebrate animals must adhere to internationally accepted standards of humane laboratory animal care (incorporating the principles of the 3Rs: Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement).

• Authors must confirm formal oversight and approval from an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) or equivalent national body, and detail humane endpoints where applicable.

Biosafety, Dual-Use Research, and Pathogen Governance

• Research involving high-consequence pathogens, gain-of-function investigations, select agents, or dual-use research of concern (DURC) must strictly adhere to national biosafety regulations and institutional oversight.

• Authors must ensure that presentation content does not inadvertently provide actionable information that compromises public health safety or biosecurity.

Authorship, Contributorship, and Disclosures

Criteria for Authorship

Authorship reflects significant intellectual, analytical, and practical contribution. UCID aligns its authorship criteria with internationally recognized standards (such as those established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors - ICMJE):

• Substantial contributions to study conception/design, data acquisition, or analysis and interpretation;

• Drafting or critically revising the abstract and presentation for intellectual content;

• Final approval of the version to be submitted; and

• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Individuals providing financial support, general administrative oversight, technical assistance, or routine clinical sample collection without intellectual contribution should be acknowledged, but not listed as authors. Gift, guest, or ghost authorship is strictly unacceptable.

Conflicts of Interest and Financial Transparency

• Real, perceived, or potential conflicts of interest can compromise the perceived objectivity of scientific presentations.

• All authors, speakers, and session chairs must declare:

  • Commercial affiliations, advisory board memberships, consultancies, or speaker bureau roles.

  • Research grants, institutional contracts, or funding received from pharmaceutical, diagnostic, or medical device corporations.

  • Patents, stock options, equity holdings, or financial interests relevant to the subject matter.

• Mandatory Disclosure Slide: Oral presenters must include a standardized conflict-of-interest disclosure slide immediately following their title slide. Poster presenters must include an explicit disclosure box on the face of the poster. If no conflicts exist, this must be explicitly stated (e.g., "The authors have no relevant conflicts of interest to disclose").

Policy on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI

UCID recognizes the rapid evolution of generative AI, large language models (LLMs), and automated research tools. To protect authenticity, provenance, and accountability, UCID enforces the following policies:

Authorship and Attribution

• AI tools cannot be listed as authors. An author must be an accountable legal entity capable of taking responsibility for the scientific integrity, public defense, and ethical compliance of the presented work. AI systems cannot hold legal or professional liability, provide informed consent, or manage conflict-of-interest disclosures.

Acceptable Uses of AI

• Language Refinement: Authors may use AI-based writing assistants (e.g., grammar checkers, translation tools) to improve readability, syntax, and clarity of human-authored scientific text.

• Literature Organization: Use of AI tools for reference organization and exploratory literature mapping is permissible, provided the authors independently verify all cited sources.

• Analytical Assistance: Use of established machine learning models and computational algorithms for biostatistical data processing, genomic analysis, or epidemiological modeling is acceptable, provided the methodology, tool versions, and validation procedures are fully described in the methods.

Unacceptable and Prohibited Uses of AI

• Content Fabrication: Generating synthetic data, artificial clinical trial results, or simulated observational findings using generative AI and presenting them as empirical scientific evidence is classified as data fabrication.

• Synthetic Scientific Figures: AI-generated diagnostic images, clinical photographs, Western blots, or microscopic imagery presented as empirical findings are strictly prohibited.

• Hallucinated or Unverified Citations: Authors are solely accountable for the veracity of all cited literature; presenting fabricated or hallucinated citations generated by LLMs constitutes academic negligence.

Mandatory AI Disclosure Requirement

• If generative AI tools were utilized to generate, synthesize, or structure any portion of the abstract, research text, or visual content, authors must include a clear disclosure in their submission methods or acknowledgments specifying:

  • The name and version of the software/model used.

  • The exact role of the tool in the work.

  • Confirmation that the human authors have critically evaluated, verified, and assumed full accountability for the accuracy and originality of the output.

Peer Review and Scientific Committee Ethics

The integrity of the UCID scientific program depends on an unbiased, rigorous, and confidential evaluation process.

• Confidentiality: All submitted abstracts and author identities are confidential. Reviewers and committee members must not share, cite, quote, or circulate unpublished submissions, nor use unpublished findings in their own work.

• Impartiality and Objectivity: Reviews must be fair, constructive, and based solely on the scientific validity, methodology, and relevance of the submission, free from personal, ideological, or institutional bias.

• Reviewer Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers must recuse themselves from evaluating abstracts where they:

  • Have a personal, familial, or professional relationship with any co-author.

  • Are direct institutional colleagues or recent collaborators (within the past three years).

  • Have a competing intellectual, commercial, or financial stake in the outcome.

• Prohibition of AI Reviewers: Peer reviewers must not upload confidential abstracts into third-party, publicly hosted AI platforms or LLMs, as this violates submission confidentiality and author intellectual property.

Commercial Influence, Sponsorship, and Industry Relations

UCID values collaboration with industry partners to foster therapeutic and diagnostic advancements. However, scientific objectivity must remain strictly separated from commercial promotion.

• Scientific Independence: The Scientific Committee maintains absolute independence in abstract selection, keynote invitations, and curriculum design. Sponsors and commercial entities exercise no editorial control over peer-reviewed program content.

• Non-Promotional Content: Educational and scientific sessions (oral presentations, posters, symposia) must provide a balanced, objective, and evidence-based view of diagnostic and therapeutic options. Brand names should be avoided; generic or chemical terminology must be prioritized.

• Sponsored Symposia: Industry-sponsored satellite symposia, workshops, or product demonstrations must be clearly designated as such in the program and marketing materials.

• Exhibitor Separation: Commercial exhibition stands and promotional collateral must remain physically or virtually separated from scientific presentation halls and poster displays.

Professional Conduct and Respectful Participation

UCID is dedicated to providing an inclusive, harassment-free, safe, and professional environment for all participants, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, career stage, or country of origin.

Standards of Conduct

All attendees, speakers, chairs, exhibitors, and staff are expected to:

• Exercise mutual respect, professional courtesy, and collegiality in all scientific discussions, Q&A sessions, and networking venues.

• Critique ideas and scientific conclusions constructively, avoiding personal attacks, derogatory remarks, or unprofessional rhetoric.

• Respect the scheduled speaking times and session chair instructions.

Prohibited Behaviors

• Harassment and Bullying: Including unwelcome verbal comments, stalking, physical intimidation, discriminatory jokes, unwanted sexual advances, or sustained disruption of scientific sessions.

• Scientific Misconduct in Presentation: Misleading presentation of scientific data, deliberate omission of critical safety data, or slanderous remarks regarding competing researchers or institutions.

• Unauthorized Recording: Photographing, screen-recording, or recording scientific presentations, slides, or posters where the presenter or conference organizers have indicated a recording restriction is prohibited. Respect presenters' intellectual property.

Third-Party Materials and Intellectual Property

• Presenters are responsible for ensuring that they possess the necessary rights, licenses, or fair-use permissions for all third-party diagrams, illustrations, charts, or audiovisual elements included in their presentations.

• All borrowed figures, published charts, or direct quotations must be fully and explicitly cited.

• Submitting or presenting work at UCID does not transfer author copyright to the conference; authors retain underlying ownership of their work while granting UCID a non-exclusive license to publish accepted abstracts in official conference proceedings or program collections.

Misconduct Reporting, Investigation, and Resolution

UCID takes all allegations of ethical misconduct, harassment, or research malpractice seriously.

Reporting Suspected Misconduct

• Any participant, reviewer, chair, or author who observes or suspects an ethical violation (such as plagiarism, data fabrication, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or personal harassment) is urged to report the matter to the Conference Secretariat or the Chair of the Scientific Integrity Committee via:

  [Insert Contact/Ethics Email, e.g., [email protected]]

• Reports may be submitted confidentially. Frivolous, malicious, or bad-faith allegations will themselves be considered a breach of professional conduct.

Investigation Procedures

• Upon receipt of a credible concern, the Scientific Integrity Committee will conduct an initial assessment.

• If warranted, a formal inquiry will be initiated. The affected authors or individuals will be formally notified of the allegations and provided a reasonable opportunity to respond and provide supporting documentation.

• Inquiries will be conducted impartially, confidentially, and expeditiously.

Corrective and Disciplinary Actions

If a substantiated breach of this policy is established, UCID organizers reserve the right to impose proportionate actions, including:

• Rejection of pending abstracts or cancellation of scheduled presentations.

• Formal notification of the infraction to the authors’ home institution, funding bodies, or regulatory agencies.

• Issuance of a formal correction, expression of concern, or retraction regarding abstracts published in the conference proceedings.

• Revocation of conference registration and immediate expulsion from the conference venue or virtual platform without refund.

• Temporary or permanent prohibition from submitting abstracts or attending future iterations of UCID.

Appeals

An author or participant against whom a sanction has been imposed may submit a formal appeal to the UCID Executive Committee within 14 calendar days of receiving notification of the decision. The appeal must be submitted in writing and provide new, verifiable documentation demonstrating that the original decision was made in error. Decisions rendered by the UCID Executive Committee upon appeal are final.

Governance and Policy Updates

• The UCID Ethical Policies are maintained and reviewed annually by the Scientific Advisory and Integrity Committee to reflect evolving standards in clinical bioethics, scholarly communication, and digital research environments.

• Questions regarding the interpretation or application of these policies should be directed to the UCID Organizing Committee