Publication Ethics

Our Publication Ethics is based on COPE's Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

Publication decision
The editor is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal should be published.
Editors may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and limited by legal requirements that will apply regarding defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Fair play
An editor at any time evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the author's race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, nationality, or political philosophy.

confidentiality
Editors and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about submitted manuscripts to anyone other than the respective authors, reviewers, prospective reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflict of interest
Unpublished material disclosed in submitted manuscripts may not be used in an editor's own research without written consent from the author.

 

Reviewer Task
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and through editorial communication with authors can also assist authors in improving papers.

Accuracy
Any reviewer or editor who feels unqualified to review research reported in a manuscript or knows that an immediate review is not possible, must notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.

confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They may not be shown or discussed with others except as permitted by the editors.

Review of Objectivity Standards must be done objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees must express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Source Acknowledgment
Reviewers must identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the author. Any statement that the observations, derivations, or arguments have been previously reported must be accompanied by a relevant citation. Reviewers should also bring to the editor's attention any substantial similarities or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and other published papers of which they are personally aware.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal gain. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the paper.

 

Author assignment
Reporting standards
Authors of original research reports must present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. The underlying data must be represented accurately on paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to enable others to replicate the work. Statements that are deceptive or intentionally inaccurate constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Originality and Plagiarism
Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original work, and if authors have used the work and/or words of others, these have been properly cited or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication
An author may not generally publish manuscripts describing substantially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously is unethical and unacceptable publishing behavior.

Source Acknowledgment
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others should always be given. Authors should cite influential publications in determining the nature of the work reported.

Authorship of the Work
Writing should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, conduct, or interpretation of the study being reported. Everyone who has made a significant contribution should be listed as a co-author. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they must be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

Corresponding authors must ensure that all suitable co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have approved its submission for publication.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
All authors must disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project must be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his published work, it is the author's obligation to immediately notify the editor of the journal or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.