Publication Ethics Policy and Declaration of Improper Conduct in Publications

This journal is committed to ethics and quality in publishing. We support the expected ethical standards for all parties involved in publishing in our journal: the author, the journal editor, and the reviewers. We do not accept plagiarism or any other unethical behavior.

Duties of Editors:

• Publication decision: The editor of the journal is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editor is guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board and must comply with legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editor may consult with the editorial board or reviewers in decision-making.

• Fair rules: The editor must evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content, without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, nationality, or political philosophy of the authors.

• 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 advisors, and the publisher, as appropriate.

• Disclosure and conflicts of interest: The editor must not use unpublished information for their own research without the express written consent of the author. The editor should refrain from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

• Participation and cooperation in investigations: The editor must take reasonable steps to respond when ethical complaints are presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper.

Duties of Reviewers:

• Contribution to editorial decision: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communication with the author, may also assist the author in improving the manuscript.

• Promptness: Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its timely review will be impossible should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.

• Confidentiality: All manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others.

• Standards of objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively, and referees should express their views clearly, with supporting arguments.

• Acknowledgment of sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. The reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

• Disclosure and conflicts of interest: 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 with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Duties of Authors:

• 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 accurately represented 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 behavior and are unacceptable.

• Originality and plagiarism: Authors should ensure that their works are entirely original, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, this must be appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

• Multiple, redundant, or concurrent publication: An author should not, in general, publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously or publishing the same article in different journals constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

• Acknowledgment of sources: Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. Information obtained in private, such as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source. Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used without the express written permission of the author of the work involved in those services.

• 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. Others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project should also be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included in the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

• Disclosure and conflicts of interest: All authors should disclose in their manuscripts any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

• 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 cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Duties of the publisher

We are committed to ensuring that the pursuit of commercial revenue (such as from advertisements, reprints, or other sources) does not affect editorial decisions.

This Ethics Policy is based on recommendations from Elsevier and COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.