Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Our ethic statements are based on Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. The relevant responsibilities of editors, reviewers, and authors of the journal are set out below.

Authors have the following responsibilities:

• To submit papers only on work that has been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and that complies with all relevant legislation.

• To present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.

• To describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others.

•  To adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarized, and has not been published elsewhere.

•   To take collective responsibility for submitted and published work.

•  To ensure that the authorship accurately reflects individuals’ contributions to the work and its reporting.

•  To disclose relevant funding sources and any existing or potential conflicts of interest.

•  To cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.