Publication Ethics

Editors

Editors assess manuscripts on scholarly merit, relevance and compliance with the journal's policies, without discrimination. They maintain confidentiality, avoid conflicts of interest and make decisions based on independent reviews and documented reasons.

Reviewers

Reviewers treat manuscripts as confidential, disclose conflicts of interest, assess work objectively and on time, identify relevant uncited sources and must not use unpublished material for their own research.

Authors

Authors submit original work, cite sources accurately, disclose funding and conflicts of interest, identify all genuine contributors, avoid duplicate submission and cooperate with corrections or retractions when necessary. Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, ghostwriting and guest authorship are prohibited.

Concerns about research integrity are investigated by the editorial office. Affected authors have an opportunity to respond; outcomes may include correction, rejection or retraction.