Publication Ethics Statement

The journal is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. The Editorial Board, authors, reviewers and publisher share responsibility for ensuring that all stages of the publication process are conducted in accordance with internationally recognised principles of ethical scholarly publishing.

The journal adheres to the principles of fairness, transparency, confidentiality, accountability and professional responsibility, and follows the recommendations and core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Editorial Responsibilities

The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board are responsible for safeguarding the quality and integrity of the journal's scholarly content. Editorial decisions are based solely on the academic merit, originality, scholarly significance and methodological soundness of submitted manuscripts, as well as their relevance to the journal's scope.

Editors are required to:

Evaluate manuscripts fairly and impartially, without discrimination on the basis of nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, institutional affiliation, political views or other personal characteristics;
Maintain the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts and related communications;
Ensure an objective, independent and timely peer-review process;
Identify, avoid and appropriately manage conflicts of interest;
Take appropriate action in cases of suspected research or publication misconduct, including, where appropriate, issuing corrections, expressions of concern or retractions.

Authors' Responsibilities

Authors are expected to submit original scholarly work that has not previously been published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Authors must:

Ensure the accuracy and integrity of the submitted research;
Give due credit to the work of others through accurate citation and referencing;
Avoid plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication and any other form of academic misconduct;
List as co-authors all individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions and obtain the consent of all co-authors before submission;
Disclose any financial, institutional or personal conflicts of interest that may affect the research or its interpretation;
Inform the editor immediately if a significant error or inaccuracy is discovered after publication and, where necessary, cooperate in correcting or retracting the article.

Reviewers' Responsibilities

Reviewers make an important contribution to maintaining the scholarly quality of the journal.

Reviewers are expected to:

Provide objective, constructive and evidence-based evaluations;
Treat all manuscripts as confidential;
Identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors;
Inform the editor of suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, ethical issues or substantial similarity to previously published work;
Decline an invitation to review if they have a conflict of interest or cannot provide an unbiased assessment;
Complete reviews within the agreed deadlines.

Peer-Review Process

Editorial decisions take account of reviewers' recommendations and are based on the manuscript's scholarly quality and compliance with the journal's standards.

Publication Ethics and Academic Misconduct

The journal has a zero-tolerance policy on plagiarism, duplicate submission, redundant or fragmented publication, citation manipulation, data fabrication, data falsification, data manipulation and other unethical publishing practices. Submitted manuscripts may be checked for originality using plagiarism-detection software. Allegations of research or publication misconduct will be investigated thoroughly and fairly in accordance with internationally recognised ethical standards.

If misconduct is established, the journal reserves the right to reject the manuscript, retract a published article, issue a correction or editorial notice and, where necessary, notify the authors' affiliated institutions.

Conflict of Interest

Authors, reviewers and editors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional or personal relationships that may influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the publication process or the interpretation of research results. Where a conflict of interest exists, appropriate measures will be taken to ensure impartial editorial judgement.

Confidentiality

Editors and reviewers must not disclose information relating to submitted manuscripts except where required by the editorial and review process or by law.

Publication Ethics Statement