Article submission:

Journal evaluates submissions on the understanding that they have not been previously published in or simultaneously submitted to another journal. We also encourage editors and journal administrators to keep a clear record of all communications between authors, editors, and peer reviewers regarding the submissions they handle. These records are carefully stored and may be used to facilitate investigations into possible cases of misconduct.

Authorship:

It is the responsibility of the author to ensure that all authors that contributed to the work are fairly acknowledged and that the published author list accurately reflects individual contributions. Where authors employ the services of third party agencies prior to submission, for instance in language editing or manuscript formatting/preparation.

Attribution and acknowledgement:

Authorship is confined to those who have made a significant contribution to the design and execution of the work described. A short description of each authors’ contribution must be included within the submitted files or as part of the acknowledgements section of an article.

Plagiarism:

The journal evaluates submissions on the understanding that they are the original work of the author(s). We expect that references made in a manuscript or article to another person’s work or idea will be credited appropriately. Equally, authors must gain all appropriate permissions prior to publication.

Re-use of text, data, figures, or images without appropriate acknowledgment or permission is considered plagiarism, as is the paraphrasing of text, concepts, and ideas.

Conflict of interest:

Authors:

Conflict of interest exists when an author’s private interests might be seen as influencing the objectivity of research or experiment. It is the responsibility of a manuscript’s corresponding author to confirm if co-authors hold any conflict of interest. The following should also be declared, either through the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript or at the point of submission:

All sources of research funding, including direct and indirect financial support, supply of equipment, or materials (including specialist statistical or writing assistance).

The role of the research funder(s) or sponsor(s), if any, in the research design, execution, analysis, interpretation, and reporting.

Any relevant financial and non-financial interests and relationships that might be considered likely to affect the interpretation of their findings or that editors, reviewers, or readers might reasonably wish to know.

Editors:

Editors are required to recuse themselves from individual manuscripts if they themselves have a potential conflict of interest and to avoid creating potential conflicts of interest through the assignment of handling editors or peer reviewers.

Reviewers:

The journal encourages editors and journal administrators to consider potential conflicts of interest when assigning reviewers.

Fair editing and reviewing:

Editorial independence:

Editors have full editorial independence.

Peer review:

Manuscripts are reviewed by two independent experts in the relevant area. The reviewers make a scientific assessment and a recommendation to the editors. Reviewers remain unknown to authors. The Handling editor considers the manuscript and the reviewers’ comments before making a final decision either to accept, accept with revision or to reject a manuscript.

Promoting ethical research:

Wherever appropriate, we expect published research based on human subjects to provide the name of the local ethics committee that approved the study (or confirmation that such approval is not needed) and/or to state how the study conforms to recognized standards (e.g. declaration of Helsinki). Any manuscripts describing studies not meeting acceptable criteria will be rejected.

Patient confidentiality:

Studies using human subjects should ensure that a patient's right to privacy has not been infringed without prior consent. For publication of material that contains detailed patient information about a living individual, it is compulsory for a signed patient consent to be obtained. Any identifier that might reveal a patient’s identity must be removed (i.e., x-rays, MRIs, charts, photographs, etc.). Written informed consent is required from any potentially identifiable patient or legal representative, and should be presented in either the Methods section or the Acknowledgements.

Animal experimentation:

Where animals are used in research we expect them to have been treated in a humane manner and in line with the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) guidelines. The International Council for Laboratory Animal Science has published guidelines specifically for editors and Reviewers on how to handle submissions involving animal research. The journal supports these guidelines and, wherever possible, encourages editors and society partners to adopt them. Authors may be required to provide evidence that they obtained ethical and /or legal approval prior to conducting the research.

Falsification and fabrication:

Submitted papers found to include false or fabricated data prior to publication will be returned to the author immediately with a request for an explanation. If no explanation is received or if the explanation provided is considered unsatisfactory, the journal will notify the authors’ institution or local ethical committee. The journal may also refuse to accept further submissions from the author for a defined period.

Examples of data falsification or fabrication include: image manipulation; cropping