Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Our publication ethics and publication malpractice statement is mainly based on the Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (Committee on Publication Ethics, 2011).

Editors' responsibilities

Publication decisions: The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for deciding which of the papers submitted to the journal will be published. Manuscripts will be evaluated without regard to the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy. The decision will be based on the paper's importance, originality and clarity, the study's validity, and its relevance to the journal's scope. Current legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism will also be considered. Editorial decisions are made independently of the journal's commercial or financial interests. For details on how decisions are made, including delegated and group decision-making, see Editorial Decision-Making Process.
Confidentiality: The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest: Editors must declare any competing interests that could affect their handling of a manuscript and must recuse themselves from decisions where a conflict exists. Editors must not be involved in decisions about papers they have written, co-authored, or have a financial or personal stake in. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper will not be used by the editor or the members of the editorial board for their own research purposes without the author's explicit written consent.
Post-publication responsibilities: The editor is responsible for post-publication decisions, including issuing corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions, in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Reviewers' responsibilities

Contribution to editorial decisions: The peer-reviewing process assists the editor and the editorial board in making editorial decisions and may also serve the author in improving the paper.
Promptness: Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript, or knows that its prompt review will be impossible, should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.
Confidentiality: Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be disclosed to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
Standards of objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Review standards: Reviewers should evaluate the manuscript's significance and originality, the adequacy of its methodology and data, the clarity of its presentation, and any ethical concerns. Review reports should provide constructive, specific, and actionable comments, and should be free of personal criticism.
Acknowledgement of sources: Reviewers should identify cases in which relevant published work referred to in the paper has not been cited in the reference section. They should point out whether observations or arguments derived from other publications are accompanied by the respective source. Reviewers will notify the editor confidentially of any substantial similarity or overlap, or any suspicion of data fabrication, plagiarism, redundant publication, or other research misconduct, and must not investigate the matter independently or contact the authors directly.
Disclosure and conflict of interest: Reviewers must declare any potential conflicts of interest before accepting a review invitation and must recuse themselves if a conflict becomes apparent during the review. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the papers. For procedural details on conflict-of-interest declaration, co-reviewer permission, and misconduct reporting, see Peer Review Policy → Review Guidelines
Co-reviewers: Reviewers must obtain prior permission from the editor before involving any co-reviewer (see Peer Review Policy).

Authors' duties

Reporting standards: Authors of original research reports should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.
Data access and retention: Authors could be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the paper for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if practicable. In any event, authors should ensure accessibility of such data to other competent professionals for at least ten years after publication (preferably via an institutional or subject-based data repository or other data centre), provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.
Originality, plagiarism and acknowledgement of sources: Authors will submit only entirely original works and will appropriately cite or quote the work and/or words of others. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work should also be cited.
Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication: In general, papers describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Submitting the same paper to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Manuscripts which have been published as copyrighted material elsewhere cannot be submitted. In addition, manuscripts under review by the journal should not be resubmitted to copyrighted publications. However, by submitting a manuscript, the author(s) retain the rights to the published material. In case of publication, they permit the use of their work under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which allows others to copy, distribute, transmit, adapt, and make commercial use of the work, provided the original work is properly cited.
Authorship of the paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author ensures that all contributing co-authors and no uninvolved persons are included in the author list. The corresponding author will also verify that all co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. Authorship changes. Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list must be approved in writing by all authors, including the author being added or removed, both before publication and after publication. Requests for such changes must be sent to the Editor-in-Chief by the corresponding author with a clear reason and written confirmation from all co-authors. Post-publication authorship changes are exceptional and will only be made where clearly justified, following the journal's correction procedure. Contributors and acknowledgement. Individuals who contributed to the study but do not meet the criteria for authorship (for example, technical assistance, writing support, or general supervision) should not be listed as authors but should be acknowledged in an Acknowledgements section. Authors may be required to declare their specific contributions to the work (for example, using the CRediT taxonomy) during submission.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest: All authors should include a statement disclosing any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed. The conflict-of-interest statement provided by the authors—or a statement that no conflicts exist—will be published as part of the article on all full-text versions (HTML, PDF, and print).
Fundamental errors in published works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and to cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper in the form of an erratum.

For submission requirements, formatting rules, and the required declaration forms (including Copyright, Author Contribution, Author Declaration, Animal Welfare, and Conflict of Interest), see Instructions for Authors. For details on the peer review process and editorial decision-making, see Peer Review Policy and Editorial Decision-Making Process.

Publication Ethics