Statements and Policies

1. Editorial Policy

The journal is committed to upholding the highest standards of research integrity and publication ethics. Our policies follow the principles and best practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org/membership/code-of-conduct)

Each submission must be accompanied by a separate Author’s guarantee form. This form confirms that the manuscript is original, unpublished, and not under review elsewhere and that all listed authors meet authorship criteria and approve the submission. The form must also declare any potential conflicts of interest, disclosure of funding sources, and that any use of artificial intelligence tools in the preparation of the manuscript has been fully and transparently reported.

 2. Authorship and contributions

Authorship must reflect substantial intellectual contributions to the work. All authors must:

• Make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the research; the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data; the drafting of the work; or critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content
• Approve the final version of the manuscript
• Agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work
• Agree to be named on the author list and approve the full author list as well as the order in which they are listed

The corresponding author is responsible for:

• Ensure that all co-authors meet authorship criteria and have agreed to their inclusion in the author list.
• Manage all communication with the journal during submission and peer-review
• Keep all co-authors informed throughout the review process

Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Examples that do not qualify for authorship but should be acknowledged are sources of funding, supervision of research groups, administrative support, language editing, and proofreading. Written permission must be obtained from all acknowledged individuals.

Any changes in authors (addition, removal, or order of authors) and/or contributors after submission must be approved by all authors and justified to the editor. The editor may contact any of the authors and/or contributors to determine whether they have agreed to any alteration.

3. Peer review integrity

The journal ensures a fair, confidential, and unbiased peer review process. All manuscripts are evaluated only on academic merit, without discrimination based on gender, nationality, institutional affiliation, or other personal characteristics. Reviewers must act objectively, maintain confidentiality, and declare any conflicts of interest.

4. Appeals, complaints, and misconduct

The journal is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity in handling appeals, complaints, and allegations of misconduct, in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Complaints and appeals related to editorial decisions, peer review, or publication processes must be submitted in writing to the Editor-in-Chief.

The journal ensures a clear, fair, and transparent process for handling such cases:

• Receipt of the complaint will be acknowledged within a reasonable timeframe (typically within 3 working days)
• All cases will be reviewed objectively and confidentially
• A reasoned response will be provided to the complainant

If a complainant is not satisfied with the outcome, the matter may be escalated within the journal’s editorial structure.

Appeals against editorial decisions will be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief, who may assess the decision-making process and consult members of the editorial board and/or external reviewers where appropriate. A final decision will be communicated after careful evaluation.

If all internal procedures have been exhausted and the complainant remains dissatisfied, the matter may be referred to external bodies such as COPE, in accordance with their requirements.

The journal takes all allegations of misconduct seriously, including but not limited to:

• Plagiarism
• Data fabrication or falsification
• Ethical violations in research
• Manipulation of the peer review process

Upon receiving an allegation, the journal will assess the case and, where appropriate, may refer it to the relevant institutions for further investigation. If necessary, the journal will take corrective actions, including corrections or retractions, in line with established policies.

All participants in the publication process – authors, reviewers, and editors – are expected to maintain professional and respectful communication. The journal reserves the right to take appropriate action in cases of abusive or inappropriate conduct, including restricting future submissions or participation in the review process.

5. Plagiarism and originality

All submissions are screened using Similarity Check to ensure originality.

Misconduct includes, but is not limited to: plagiarism, duplicate or redundant publication, citation manipulation, data fabrication or falsification.

Manuscripts found to violate these principles will be rejected.

6. Conflict of Interest

The journal is committed to ensuring transparency and maintaining the integrity of the publication process. All participants in the publication process – authors, reviewers, and editors – must disclose any financial or non-financial interests that could influence the research or its evaluation.

Conflicts of interest may arise from relationships or activities that could be perceived to affect the objectivity of the work. These include, but are not limited to:

• Financial ties, such as receipt of payment, in any form, from an organization or individual related to the subject matter; ownership of stocks or shares in organizations directly related to the subject matter; receipt of grants or funding; related patents/applied-for patents; commercial interests; or receipt of gifts.
• Political, religious, or ideological beliefs, including commitments to academic approaches or ideas.
• Personal and professional relationships
• Institutional affiliations and membership of boards

Authors are strongly advised to include a Conflict of Interest section at the end of their manuscript, immediately before the reference list. If there are multiple authors, the authors’ initials should be used to denote differing competing interests. For example:

“TW completed paid consultancy work from [company name] as part of the data acquisition for this study. BH has minority shares in [company name], which part-funded the research grant for this project. SM is a member of the editorial board for [journal name] but had no involvement in any editorial processes related to the handling of this submission. All other authors have no competing interests.”

If there are no competing interests, authors should state: “The author has no competing interests to declare” for papers with a single author or “The authors have no competing interests to declare” when multiple authors are contributing.

Reviewers are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest before accepting a review assignment and should decline the review if a conflict may affect their impartiality. If a conflict becomes apparent during the review process, it must be reported to the editor.

Editors must identify and manage any conflicts of interest in the editorial process. Editors should remove themselves from editorial processes in cases where they have relationships or activities that pose potential conflicts related to articles under consideration. If an editor is listed as an author on a submission, they should also be removed from the editorial process and declare this in a competing interests statement on the paper. For example:

“TW is editor-in-chief for [journal name]. She was removed from all editorial processes relating to the handling of this submission.”

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified at any stage, including after publication, the journal will take appropriate action, which may include issuing a correction or retraction, in accordance with its publication ethics policies.

Declaring a conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent publication; rather, it ensures transparency and allows readers to assess the potential influence on the research.

7. Data integrity and reproducibility

Authors are expected to ensure:

• Accurate and transparent reporting of data, methods and results
• No fabrication or inappropriate data manipulation
• Sufficient methodological detail to allow replication and verification

Authors are encouraged to support reproducibility by providing access to underlying data, code, and materials where possible, and by including a Data Availability Statement in the manuscript indicating how such resources can be accessed or explaining any restrictions.

8. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI tools do not currently satisfy the journal’s authorship criteria. Notably an attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to AI tools.

The use of AI tools is permitted only for limited purposes, such as language editing and formatting (e.g., improving readability, style, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting of text originally written by the authors).

AI tools must not be used to generate, analyze, interpret, or substantially modify the intellectual content of the manuscript, including research data, results, or conclusions. Any use of AI tools must be fully disclosed in the manuscript, for example in the methods or acknowledgements section.

Authors must also ensure that any content shared with AI tools does not violate confidentiality, copyright, or data protection requirements.

AI tools must not be used in the peer review process. Reviewers are required to conduct reviews independently and must not upload manuscripts or related materials to AI systems.

In all cases, there must be human accountability and responsibility for the final version of the text and agreement from the authors that the edits reflect their original work.

9. Corrections and retractions

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the scholarly record. In cases where errors or concerns arise after publication, appropriate actions will be taken in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Corrections

Corrections are issued when errors affect the accuracy or clarity of an article but do not invalidate the findings. These may include errors in data presentation, interpretation, or metadata (e.g., author list, title).

Correction articles will detail the nature of the correction and refer to the original publication. Correction notices will be published as individual articles in the journal's table of contents and delivered to indexing services.

Errata

Errata are issued to correct errors introduced during the production process (e.g., typographical errors, formatting issues, misplacement of figures, or errors in author names or affiliations).

Authors will be informed of an erratum before its publication and, where possible, will be asked to approve it.

Retractions

Retractions are issued when there is clear evidence that the findings of an article are unreliable or when serious ethical breaches have occurred. Reasons for retraction include, but are not limited to:

• Clear evidence that findings are unreliable due to honest errors (e.g., miscalculations or experimental errors) or as a result of misconduct (e.g., data fabrication).
• Plagiarism
• The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission, or justification (i.e., cases of redundant/duplicate publication).
• Unauthorized use of data or materials, or copyright infringement
• Violations of ethical standards.

Retraction notices will clearly state the reason for retraction and will be linked to the original article. The original article will remain accessible, but will be clearly marked as retracted.

Expressions of concern

In cases where serious concerns have been raised but an investigation is ongoing or inconclusive, the journal may issue an expression of concern to alert readers.