Ethics role: Authors, Reviewers, Editors

Ethics Role: Authors, Reviewers, Editors

Author’s Regulations

Duties of authors

  1. Compliance with guidelines: Authors must strictly follow all submission instructions and editorial requirements of the journal.
  2. Originality: Authors must guarantee that the submitted manuscript is original and has not been published elsewhere.
  3. No simultaneous submission: Authors must not submit the same manuscript (or substantially similar content) to more than one journal concurrently.
  4. Authorship and CRediT Alignment: Only one single first author and one single Corresponding author are permitted. Authorship roles and contributions must accurately reflect actual academic contributions based on CRediT criteria.
  5. Corresponding author responsibilities: The Corresponding author acts as the primary contact throughout review and post-publication processes and must provide valid contact details (e.g., official email).
  6. Author agreement: All listed co-authors must approve the author list, author order, contribution disclosures, and the final version of the manuscript prior to publication.
  7. Affiliation Accuracy: Authors must provide accurate, verifiable institutional affiliations directly relevant to where the research was conducted.
  8. Research integrity and transparency: Authors are jointly responsible for the accuracy of their work and must report methodologies, raw data, and findings completely and transparently.
  9. Proper citation: Authors must properly cite and acknowledge all sources, figures, tables, concepts, and text used from prior published works.
  10. Academic honesty: Authors must maintain academic honesty and refrain from all forms of publication malpractice (including plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification).
  11. Non-interference: Authors must not attempt to interfere with or improperly influence the journal’s peer-review or editorial processes.
  12. Conflict of interest disclosure: Authors must explicitly declare any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that could influence the study or manuscript outcomes.
  13. Funding acknowledgement: Authors must disclose all funding sources, grants, or equipment/resource support associated with the research and writing.
  14. Data availability: Authors must provide supporting research data (e.g., raw datasets) upon request by the journal.
  15. Cooperation with misconduct inquiry: Authors are required to cooperate fully with the journal in any investigation into research integrity or publication ethics concerns.

Reviewer’s Regulations

  1. Scope of expertise: Reviewers should accept manuscripts for evaluation only if the content falls within their area of academic expertise.
  2. Timeliness: Reviewers must complete their evaluation and submit review reports within the journal’s designated timeframe.
  3. Disclosure of conflicts: Reviewers must immediately declare any potential or actual conflicts of interest to the Editors.
  4. Confidentiality: Reviewers must treat all manuscript details and review processes with strict confidentiality, both during and after the review process.
  5. Non-misuse of information: Reviewers must not use unpublished data, ideas, or content from submitted manuscripts for their own personal advantage or the benefit of third parties.
  6. Impartiality and objectivity: Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively and fairly based on scientific merit, free from personal bias or discrimination.
  7. Constructive feedback: Reviewers must provide clear, well-reasoned, and evidence-based feedback to help authors improve the quality of their work.
  8. Reporting ethical misconduct: Reviewers must notify the Editor immediately if they suspect any research or publication misconduct, such as plagiarism, data fabrication/falsification, duplicate submission, or ethical violations regarding human/animal subjects.
  9. Reference verification: Reviewers must check the accuracy, relevance, and currency of the cited literature supporting the manuscript.

Editor’s Regulations

  1. Fairness and academic freedom: The Editor-in-Chief and editorial board must make editorial decisions independently, fairly, and transparently, adhering strictly to journal policies, publication ethics, and relevant legal requirements.
  2. Policy transparency: The editorial board must ensure all journal guidelines and evaluation processes are published clearly, accessibly, and updated on the website, with any policy changes announced in advance.
  3. Adherence to timelines and standards: The editorial board must oversee all journal operations to meet research and publishing ethics standards within the specified submission and review timelines.
  4. Management of conflict of interest: The editorial board must require the disclosure and management of any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the manuscript evaluation process.
  5. Selection of reviewers: The editorial board must select peer reviewers who possess appropriate expertise, academic credibility, and have no conflicts of interest regarding the submitted manuscript.
  6. Confidentiality protection: The editorial board must maintain strict confidentiality of submitted manuscripts, reviewer reports, and personal data of authors and reviewers, unless disclosure is required by double-blind review policies or legal mandates.
  7. Academic judgement: The editorial board should carefully consider reviewers’ recommendations but retains final academic authority over acceptance or rejection decisions.
  8. Handling misconduct and complaints: The editorial board must investigate all allegations of research misconduct or appeals promptly, fairly, and impartially based on factual evidence.
  9. Post-publication corrections: The editorial board must not alter published articles without appropriate formal procedures (e.g., publishing formal Corrections/Erratum linked to the original paper).
  10. Policy on article withdrawal: The editorial board shall not allow authors to withdraw an article after it has been officially published.
  11. Handling retracted articles: The Editorial Board must not remove retracted articles from the journal website; instead, the article must remain accessible with its retraction status clearly displayed.
  12. Issuance of acceptance letters: The Editor-in-Chief will issue an official Acceptance Letter only after the manuscript has successfully passed peer review and been formally accepted.