Publication Ethics

Duties of Editors

Publication Decisions

The editor is responsible for deciding which submitted manuscripts to publish, based on the scholarly merit and importance of the work. Decisions may be guided by editorial board policies and legal requirements regarding libel, copyright, and plagiarism.

Fair Play

Manuscripts are evaluated solely on their intellectual content, without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers, and the publisher.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author. Editors with conflicts of interest must recuse themselves from handling the manuscript concerned.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and, through communication with authors, helps improve the quality of manuscripts. It is an essential component of formal scholarly communication.

Promptness

Any reviewer who feels unqualified to review the manuscript, or who knows that prompt review will be impossible, should notify the editor immediately and withdraw from the review process.

Confidentiality

Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorised by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews must be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly and with supporting arguments so that authors can use the feedback to improve their manuscripts.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work not cited by the authors. A reviewer should also notify the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Privileged information obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers must not assess manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with the authors or institutions.

Duties of Authors

Reporting Standards

Authors must present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention

Authors may be asked to provide raw data for editorial review and should be prepared to make data publicly accessible where practicable, and to retain such data for a reasonable period after publication.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original work, and that any use of others' work or words has been appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism in all its forms is unacceptable.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication

An author must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently or publish essentially the same research in more than one primary publication. Such conduct constitutes unethical publishing behaviour.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Proper acknowledgement of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. The corresponding author must ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included and that all have approved the final version of the manuscript.

Errors in Published Works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, they must promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate to issue a correction or retract the paper as appropriate.