Publication Ethics

This statement outlines the ethical responsibilities of all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher. The journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and follows the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

The journal is committed to ensuring the integrity of the scholarly record through a fair, transparent, objective, and ethical publication process.

Duties of Authors

Reporting Standards

Authors should present an accurate, original, and objective account of the research conducted. The manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to enable others to replicate the work where appropriate. Fabrication, falsification, selective reporting, or inappropriate manipulation of data constitutes unethical behavior and is unacceptable.

 Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts are entirely original. Any use of the work, ideas, data, or words of others must be properly cited. Plagiarism in any form, including self-plagiarism without appropriate citation, is unacceptable.

 Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal or publish substantially similar research in multiple journals unless transparent and approved by all editors involved.

 Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to:

  • conception or design of the work;
  • acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
  • drafting or critically revising the manuscript;
  • approval of the final version; and
  • accountability for all aspects of the work.

All authors must approve the submitted manuscript and agree to its submission. Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately.

Any request to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission must receive written approval from all authors and the Editor.

 Acknowledgement of Sources

Authors must appropriately acknowledge the work of others and cite all publications that influenced the reported research.

 Data Availability and Research Transparency

Authors are encouraged to retain original research data and make them available where appropriate. Manuscripts should include a Data Availability Statement whenever possible.

 Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, personal, or professional conflicts of interest that could influence the interpretation of their work. All sources of funding should also be disclosed.

 Ethical Oversight

Research involving human participants must have received approval from an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board where applicable. Informed consent should be obtained from all participants.

Research involving animals must comply with institutional and national ethical guidelines.

 Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Authors who use artificial intelligence (AI) or generative AI tools to assist in writing, language editing, data analysis, or image generation must disclose such use in the manuscript. AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the work.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and validity of all submitted content.

 Fundamental Errors in Published Works

If authors discover significant errors after publication, they must promptly notify the Editor and cooperate in correcting or retracting the article.

Duties of Editors

Publication Decisions

Editors are responsible for deciding which submitted manuscripts should be published based solely on scholarly merit, originality, significance, clarity, ethical compliance, and relevance to the journal's scope.

 Fair Play

Editors evaluate manuscripts without discrimination based on race, gender, religion, citizenship, ethnicity, political beliefs, institutional affiliation, or other non-academic factors.

 Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently without influence from the publisher, sponsors, advertisers, or commercial interests.

 Confidentiality

Editors must treat all submitted manuscripts as confidential documents and must not disclose information to anyone other than those directly involved in the editorial process.

 Peer Review

Editors ensure that all submissions undergo an appropriate, fair, objective, and confidential peer-review process conducted by qualified reviewers with relevant expertise.

Conflicts of Interest

Editors must not handle manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest. Any conflicts should be declared, and editorial responsibility transferred to another editor.

 Handling Misconduct

Editors will respond appropriately to allegations of plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated data, image manipulation, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, paper mills, or other forms of publication misconduct, following COPE guidance.

Duties of Reviewers

Confidentiality

Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential documents and must not disclose or discuss them with others without authorization from the Editor.

Objectivity

Reviews should be objective, constructive, evidence-based, and respectful. Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate.

 Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work not cited by the authors and inform the Editor of any suspected plagiarism, duplication, or ethical concerns.

 Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers should decline to review manuscripts in which they have financial, institutional, collaborative, personal, or academic conflicts of interest.

 Promptness

Reviewers should complete reviews within the agreed time frame. If unable to do so, they should promptly notify the Editor.

 Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Reviewers must not upload submitted manuscripts or confidential information into publicly available AI systems or third-party services without explicit permission from the journal.

Duties of Publisher

The publisher supports the Editor and Editorial Board in maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.

The publisher is committed to:

  • safeguarding editorial independence;
  • supporting ethical publication practices;
  • preserving the integrity of published articles;
  • facilitating corrections, retractions, and other post-publication updates;
  • ensuring that commercial interests do not influence editorial decisions.

Research Misconduct

The journal takes all allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

  • plagiarism;
  • duplicate or redundant publication;
  • data fabrication;
  • data falsification;
  • image manipulation;
  • citation manipulation;
  • inappropriate authorship;
  • undisclosed conflicts of interest;
  • peer-review manipulation;
  • paper mill activities.

All allegations will be investigated fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with COPE Core Practices.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

When necessary, the journal will publish:

  • Corrections (Errata or Corrigenda);
  • Retractions;
  • Expressions of Concern; or
  • Editorial Notes.

These actions are intended to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record and will follow COPE recommendations.

Appeals and Complaints

Authors may appeal editorial decisions or submit complaints regarding the editorial process, peer review, or publication ethics.

Appeals and complaints will be handled fairly, objectively, confidentially, and in accordance with COPE guidance.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial board members are required to disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest.

Conflicts may be financial, institutional, professional, personal, or academic in nature.

Individuals with conflicts of interest will not participate in editorial decisions related to the affected manuscript.

Publication Integrity

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. Where ethical concerns arise after publication, appropriate actions—including corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern—will be taken promptly and transparently following COPE recommendations.

The journal continuously reviews and updates its publication ethics policies to align with international best practices in scholarly publishing.