Publication Ethics

Honesty and Data Integrity

Authors must present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. Fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate manipulation of data, images, or results is unacceptable. Authors should retain raw data and make it available to the editor upon reasonable request.

Originality and Plagiarism

Manuscripts must be the authors' original work. All sources, ideas, and data from others must be properly cited. Plagiarism in any form, including self-plagiarism, redundant text, and unattributed paraphrasing, is unacceptable. All submissions are screened with similarity-check software.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Submission

Authors must not submit the same manuscript, or a substantially similar one, to more than one journal at the same time, nor publish the same research in more than one journal. A manuscript may be submitted elsewhere only after it has been rejected by, or formally withdrawn from, this journal.

Authorship

Authorship should be limited to those who made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study, approved the final version, and agree to be accountable for the work. Others who contributed should be named in the Acknowledgements. Changes to the author list after submission require the written agreement of all authors. Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest and Funding

Authors must disclose any financial or non-financial relationships that could be perceived to influence their work, and acknowledge all sources of funding. If there are none, authors must state that there is no conflict of interest.

Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving students, teachers, or other human participants must be conducted ethically. Authors should obtain informed consent (and parental/guardian consent for minors), obtain ethical approval where required by their institution, and protect participants' privacy and personal data.

Use of Generative AI

Any use of Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies must follow the journal's Generative AI Policy and be declared in the manuscript.

Errors in Submitted or Published Work

If authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their submitted or published work, they must promptly notify the editor and cooperate in correcting or retracting the article.

Participation in Peer Review

Authors must respond to reviewers' comments thoroughly and respectfully, and submit revisions within the time given by the editor.

Publication Decisions

The editor is responsible for deciding whether to accept, request revision of, or reject a manuscript, based on its originality, validity, clarity, and relevance to the journal's focus and scope, taking reviewers' recommendations into account. The editor may consult the Editor-in-Chief or other editors when making decisions.

Fair Play

Manuscripts are evaluated solely on their intellectual content, without regard to the authors' race, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, political views, institutional affiliation, or seniority.

Originality Screening

The editor checks every submission for originality, including through similarity-check software, before it is sent for review.

Selection of Reviewers

The editor selects reviewers with appropriate expertise for the subject and method of each manuscript, and avoids reviewers with known conflicts of interest.

Confidentiality

The editor and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the authors, reviewers, potential reviewers, and other editorial advisers, as appropriate.

Conflicts of Interest and Use of Unpublished Material

Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest (e.g., their own work or that of close colleagues or students); such manuscripts are handled by another editor. Unpublished material from a submission must not be used in an editor's own research without the authors' written consent.

Responding to Ethical Concerns

The editor takes reasonable, prompt action when ethical concerns are raised about a submitted or published manuscript, following the procedures in the sections on misconduct and corrections below.

Expertise and Promptness

Reviewers should accept only manuscripts within their expertise that they can assess on time. Reviews should be completed within 21 days; a reviewer who cannot meet this deadline or feels unqualified should inform the editor promptly so that another reviewer can be assigned.

Confidentiality

Manuscripts under review are confidential documents. Reviewers must not share or discuss them with others, nor upload them to Generative AI tools, and must not use information obtained during review for their own or others' advantage.

Objectivity and Constructive Feedback

Reviews should be objective, with views expressed clearly and supported by arguments. Feedback should be constructive and help authors improve their work. Personal criticism, hostile or derogatory remarks are inappropriate.

Impartiality and Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must not be influenced by the authors' nationality, religion, gender, political views, or institutional affiliation. Reviewers must declare any conflict of interest and decline to review if they have a competitive, collaborative, or other relationship with the authors or institutions involved.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that the authors have not cited, check that data sources are properly acknowledged, and inform the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap with other published or submitted work.

Reporting Concerns and Integrity of Review

Reviewers should notify the editor immediately of any suspected misconduct, such as plagiarism, data fabrication, or ethical issues in the research. Reviewers must write their own reports, must not use Generative AI to produce them, and must not impersonate another person during review.

Correction (Erratum)

Published when a small part of an otherwise reliable article is found to be inaccurate or misleading.

Expression of Concern

Issued when there is serious concern about an article but the investigation is inconclusive or still ongoing.

Retraction

Issued when findings are unreliable because of misconduct or major error, or in cases of plagiarism or duplicate publication, in accordance with the COPE Retraction Guidelines. Retracted articles remain online, clearly marked as retracted, with a linked retraction notice.