Publication Ethics

The editorial management of this journal is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. All parties involved in the publishing process -authors, editors, peer reviewers, and the publisher- must agree upon and adhere to the ethical standards detailed below.

1. Duties of Editors

  • Publication Decisions: The Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board hold the final authority to decide which submitted manuscripts are published. Decisions are made based solely on the manuscript’s scholarly merit, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal’s scope, without regard to the author's race, gender, nationality, or political ideology.

  • Fairness and Impartiality: Editors evaluate submissions objectively. They ensure that all manuscripts undergo a rigorous, double-blind peer-review process where author and reviewer identities remain strictly confidential.

  • Confidentiality: Editors and editorial staff must not disclose any information regarding a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, potential reviewers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

2. Duties of Authors

  • Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must guarantee that their submitted work is entirely original. If authors have used the work and/or words of others, this must be appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism in any form, including self-plagiarism, constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is strictly unacceptable.

  • Multiple or Concurrent Submissions: Authors should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently is considered unethical and unacceptable.

  • Authorship Attribution: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study. All co-authors must be listed, and the corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication.

  • Acknowledgement of Sources: Authors must properly acknowledge all sources of data and funding that supported the research. Information obtained privately (e.g., conversations, correspondence) must not be used without explicit permission from the source.

  • Errors in Published Works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, it is their obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate to retract or correct the paper.

3. Duties of Reviewers

  • Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and helps authors improve their manuscripts through constructive scholarly feedback.

  • Promptness: Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor immediately and decline the invitation.

  • Confidentiality: Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others without prior authorization from the editor.

  • Standards of Objectivity: Reviews must be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments and literature references.

  • Conflict of Interest: Reviewers must decline to review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors or institutions connected to the papers.

4. Plagiarism Screening and Policy on Withdrawal

  • Plagiarism Screening: All submitted manuscripts undergo rigorous plagiarism screening using automated text-matching software prior to being sent for peer review. Submissions with high similarity indexes or evidence of unoriginal content will be rejected immediately.

  • Article Withdrawal Policy: Authors are not permitted to withdraw submitted manuscripts once the peer-review process has commenced, unless a formal request explaining valid academic or legal reasons is submitted to and explicitly approved by the Editor-in-Chief. Unauthorized withdrawals to facilitate submission elsewhere will be flagged as academic misconduct.