The Role of Authors
Authors bear full responsibility for the entire research lifecycle, from conception to publication, and must ensure that their work is original, ethically conducted, and accurately reported.
Research Integrity and Accountability
• Substantial Contribution: All listed authors must have made meaningful contributions to the conception or design of the study, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation, or the development of software used in the research. They must also participate in drafting or critically revising the manuscript and approve the final submitted version.
• Accountability: All authors are collectively responsible for the integrity of the entire work and must ensure that any issues related to accuracy or research validity are appropriately addressed and resolved.
• Originality and Submission Commitment: Authors must confirm that the manuscript is original and has not been previously published, except in acceptable forms such as preprints, abstracts, or academic theses. Submission implies that the work is not under consideration elsewhere.
• Citation Integrity and Plagiarism Prevention: All use of others’ ideas, text, or results must be properly cited. Plagiarism—including unattributed copying, paraphrasing without acknowledgment, or presenting others’ findings as one’s own—is strictly unethical and unacceptable.
• Research Ethics: For studies involving human participants, informed consent must be obtained and clearly documented in accordance with ethical guidelines. For animal research, authors must comply with recognized ethical standards, including the 3R principles (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement).
Transparency and Disclosure
• Competing Interests: Authors must disclose any financial or personal relationships that could influence the research, including those within the past three years. This includes funding, employment, consultancy roles, stock ownership, or editorial affiliations.
• Funding Disclosure: All sources of financial support must be clearly stated. If no funding was received, this must also be explicitly declared.
• CRediT Taxonomy (Author Contributions): Authors are encouraged to include a contribution statement specifying individual roles (e.g., Conceptualization, Methodology, Data Analysis, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing).
• Generative AI Disclosure: Any use of generative AI tools in manuscript preparation must be clearly disclosed in a dedicated statement. AI tools cannot be listed as authors, as authorship requires human responsibility and accountability. AI may be used for language editing and refinement, but not for generating substantive academic content.
The Role of Reviewers
Reviewers play a critical role in ensuring research quality through independent expert evaluation.
Ethical Conduct and Objectivity
• Independent Evaluation: Peer review is conducted by at least two independent experts selected by the editor based on subject expertise and absence of conflicts of interest.
• Objectivity: Reviews must be professional, evidence-based, and free from personal criticism. Arguments must be clearly justified.
• Confidentiality: Manuscripts under review are strictly confidential. Reviewers must not share, distribute, or use unpublished material for personal or academic gain.
• Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts before accepting a review assignment and withdraw if necessary.
• Citation Ethics: Reviewers must avoid requesting unnecessary citations to their own work or that of colleagues unless scientifically justified.
• AI Use in Review: Uploading manuscripts or any part of them into AI systems is strictly prohibited. AI tools may only be used for improving the language of review reports, and such use must be disclosed.
Review Criteria
Reviewers evaluate manuscripts based on:
• Scientific rigor, logic, and validity of arguments
• Originality and contribution to the field
• Appropriateness of methodology and quality of data
• Validity of conclusions and interpretation of results
• Identification of any ethical concerns
The Role of Editors and the Editorial Board
Editors hold ultimate responsibility for publication decisions, guided by COPE principles and journal policies.
Editorial Responsibility and Decision-Making
• Publication Decisions: Editors independently decide which manuscripts are suitable for publication based on scholarly quality and relevance.
• Peer Review Management: Editors ensure a fair, unbiased, and timely peer review process, typically involving at least two independent reviewers.
• Final Authority: The Editor-in-Chief retains final responsibility for acceptance or rejection decisions.
• Conflict of Interest Management: Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where conflicts exist, including personal, professional, or financial relationships.
• Ethical Oversight: Editors monitor research integrity and investigate suspected misconduct using plagiarism detection systems and ethical review procedures.
• Corrections and Retractions: When necessary, editors coordinate corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.
• AI Restrictions for Editors: Editors are strictly prohibited from using generative AI tools for manuscript evaluation or decision-making.
Editorial Board Responsibilities
The Editorial Board supports the Editor-in-Chief in maintaining journal quality and integrity:
• Final approval of accepted manuscripts
• Providing strategic editorial guidance
• Supervising special issues and thematic collections
• Ensuring the overall integrity and academic standards of the journal