Publication Ethics and Authorship

Editorial independence

Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, methodological quality, relevance to scope, originality, clarity, and ethical compliance. Commercial considerations, author identity, institutional affiliation, nationality, gender, beliefs, or political views do not determine acceptance.

Duties of editors

• Maintain confidentiality and fair, timely handling of submissions.
• Select qualified, independent reviewers and manage conflicts of interest.
• Base decisions on the record before the journal and document material editorial actions.
• Ensure submissions by editors, board members, or guest editors are handled independently without their access to the decision process.
• Investigate credible concerns before and after publication and issue corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern when warranted.

Duties of authors

• Submit original work not under consideration elsewhere and disclose related manuscripts or preprints.
• Meet authorship criteria through substantial contribution, accountability, and approval of the final version.
• Provide accurate data, methods, citations, funding information, conflicts of interest, ethics approval, trial registration, and data-availability information as applicable.
• Obtain written permission for copyrighted material and written informed consent for identifiable personal information.
• Notify the journal promptly of material errors or concerns.

Research involving humans or animals

Authors must identify the approving ethics committee or institutional review board, approval number where available, and the ethical standard followed. Human research requires informed consent unless an authorised ethics body grants and documents a waiver. Animal research must comply with applicable institutional and national welfare standards.

Case reports and privacy

Case reports and case series require written informed consent for publication from the patient or legally authorised representative, including consent for clinical details and images. Authors must remove unnecessary identifiers, state consent in the manuscript, and follow the CARE guideline. Consent documentation must be retained by the authors and supplied confidentially to the journal if requested.

Authorship changes, conflicts, and funding

Authorship changes after submission require a reason and written agreement from all affected authors. All authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose relationships or interests that could influence the work. Funding sources and the role of funders must be declared.

Misconduct and post-publication action

Concerns involving fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, undisclosed conflicts, authorship, peer-review manipulation, or unethical research are assessed fairly and confidentially. The journal may request records, contact institutions, publish notices, correct the record, or retract an article in accordance with the evidence and applicable COPE guidance.

Generative AI

AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for accuracy, originality, confidentiality, citations, and disclosure of material AI-assisted use. Manuscripts, review reports, or confidential editorial material must not be uploaded to public generative-AI services. See AI Tools Policy.