Publication Ethics and Editorial Standards

Standards

Editorial decisions are based on scope, methodological quality, reporting completeness, scientific importance and integrity. The journal follows the principles of COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, WAME, ICMJE and applicable reporting standards while retaining responsibility for its own decisions.

Responsibilities of authors

• Submit original work that is not under consideration elsewhere.
• Describe methods, searches, selection, appraisal and synthesis sufficiently for verification.
• List only eligible authors, assign CRediT roles and obtain approval from all authors.
• Disclose funding, competing interests, protocol status, data and code availability, preprints and material use of AI.
• Correct the record promptly when an error is identified.

Responsibilities of reviewers

• Maintain confidentiality and do not appropriate unpublished ideas.
• Declare conflicts before accepting.
• Provide objective, evidence-based and respectful assessments.
• Do not upload confidential content to public generative-AI systems.
• Report suspected misconduct confidentially to the editor.

Responsibilities of editors

• Apply policies consistently and document decisions.
• Recuse from conflicted manuscripts and ensure independent handling.
• Protect confidential information and reviewer identities.
• Investigate credible concerns before and after publication.
• Issue corrections, expressions of concern or retractions when needed to maintain the record.

No automatic similarity threshold

Similarity software is a screening aid. No percentage alone proves plagiarism or automatically determines a decision. Editors evaluate the source, amount, context, attribution and nature of any overlap.