Policies

1. Peer Review Policy

All submissions undergo initial editorial screening to assess journal scope, scientific quality, clarity, and compliance with ethical standards. Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements may be declined without external review.

Manuscripts passing initial screening are evaluated through single-anonymous peer review, in which reviewer identities remain confidential. Each manuscript is normally reviewed by at least two independent experts, consistent with common international publishing practice. Reviewers assess originality, methodological soundness, technical quality, relevance, clarity, ethical compliance, and scholarly contribution.

Based on reviewer reports and editorial assessment, the journal may issue one of the following decisions:

Revised manuscripts may be reassessed by the original reviewers or by the editorial team, depending on the extent of revision required.

The journal is committed to a fair, timely, objective, and confidential peer-review process.

2. Post-Acceptance Editorial Policies

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity, accuracy, and transparency of the scholarly record. After acceptance or publication, editorial action may be taken where errors, ethical concerns, or reliability issues are identified.

1. Article Withdrawal Before Formal Publication

An accepted article may be withdrawn before formal publication, including articles published online ahead of issue assignment, if serious concerns are identified.

Withdrawal may apply where the article:

• • Contains serious errors affecting reliability;
• • Involves duplicate submission or publication;
• • Includes plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data;
• • Contains false authorship claims;
• • Breaches research or publication ethics;
• • Was accepted or published due to administrative error.

A withdrawn article will be removed from regular access and replaced with a withdrawal notice stating the reason where appropriate.

2. Corrections to Published Articles

A correction may be issued when a published article contains errors that do not invalidate its main findings or conclusions.

Corrections may address:

• • Errors in text, data, figures, or tables;
• • Author names, affiliations, or contact details;
• • Funding, acknowledgements, or conflict-of-interest statements;
• • Production or typesetting errors.

Correction notices will be linked to the original article, and the article record may be updated with a clear note.

3. Expressions of Concern

An expression of concern may be published when serious questions arise about a published article, but an investigation is ongoing or inconclusive.

It may be used where there are concerns about:

• • Data reliability;
• • Research or publication misconduct;
• • Ethical approval;
• • Authorship;
• • Peer-review or editorial process integrity.

The notice will remain linked to the article until the matter is resolved through correction, retraction, or other editorial action.

4. Article Retraction After Formal Publication

A published article may be retracted when its findings are unreliable or when serious ethical breaches are confirmed.

Grounds for retraction include:

• • Fabrication or falsification of data;
• • Plagiarism;
• • Duplicate or redundant publication;
• • Unethical research;
• • Invalid conclusions due to major error;
• • Manipulated peer review;
• • False or disputed authorship;
• • Undisclosed conflicts of interest affecting the work.

A retraction notice titled “Retraction: [Article Title]” will be published and linked to the article. The notice will identify the article, state the reason for retraction, and indicate who initiated the retraction. The original article will remain accessible but clearly marked as “Retracted.”

5. Removal of Published Content

Published content will be removed only in exceptional cases, such as legal requirements, privacy violations, defamatory content, or serious risk of harm. A removal notice will be published unless legally restricted.

6. Editorial Process

Post-acceptance and post-publication concerns will be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief, with input from authors, reviewers, institutions, or external experts where appropriate.

Editorial decisions will be:

• • Evidence-based;
• • Proportionate;
• • Transparent;
• • Consistent with publication ethics standards;
• • Properly documented.

Authors will normally be given an opportunity to respond before final action is taken.

7. Notification and Record Preservation

Authors, readers, reviewers, and institutions may notify the editorial office of errors or ethical concerns. All concerns will be assessed confidentially.

Formal notices, including corrections, withdrawals, expressions of concern, and retractions, will be permanently linked to the article record and communicated to indexing services where applicable.

3. Publication Ethics Policy

The journal is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics, research integrity, and responsible scholarly communication. Authors, editors, and reviewers are expected to follow recognized ethical principles, including those promoted by COPE and major academic publishers.

1. Author Responsibilities

Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are original, accurate, and properly referenced. Plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate submission, redundant publication, and misleading reporting are unacceptable.

All listed authors must have made a substantial scholarly contribution, approved the submitted and final versions, and accepted responsibility for the integrity of the work. Authorship should reflect both contribution and accountability.

Authors must disclose all funding sources and any financial, institutional, personal, or professional relationships that may influence, or appear to influence, the work.

2. Research Ethics

Research involving human participants, patient data, animals, biological materials, clinical materials, or regulated procedures must comply with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

Where relevant, authors must provide:

• • Ethical approval details;
• • Informed consent statements;
• • Trial registration information;
• • Permissions for use of identifiable data or images;
• • Confirmation of compliance with relevant institutional or national guidelines.

3. Editorial Responsibilities

Editors make decisions based on scholarly merit, originality, relevance, methodological quality, and ethical compliance.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by authors’ nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, institutional affiliation, political views, or commercial interests. Editors must treat submissions confidentially and manage conflicts of interest appropriately.

4. Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively, confidentially, and constructively.

Reviewers should:

• • Declare any conflict of interest;
• • Decline review where impartiality may be affected;
• • Assess the work fairly and professionally;
• • Avoid using unpublished material for personal advantage;
• • Notify the editor of suspected ethical concerns.

5. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any financial or non-financial interests that could affect, or reasonably be perceived to affect, the interpretation, review, or publication of a manuscript. Transparency in competing-interest declarations is a standard requirement across major publishers.

6. Plagiarism and Misconduct

All submissions may be screened for plagiarism, text overlap, duplicate publication, image manipulation, and other forms of misconduct before or during peer review.

Manuscripts involving substantial plagiarism, inappropriate text recycling, fabricated or falsified data, duplicate publication, or serious ethical breach may be rejected. If misconduct is identified after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other appropriate editorial notice.

7. Privacy and Data Use

Names, email addresses, and other personal information submitted to the journal will be used only for editorial, peer-review, publication, and journal-management purposes. Such information will not be shared with third parties except where required for journal operations, legal compliance, or publication processes.

4. Privacy Policy

The journal respects the privacy of authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and users of its website and submission system. Personal information is collected and processed only for legitimate editorial, publishing, administrative, legal, and communication purposes.

1. Information Collected

The journal may collect personal information such as:

• • Name, affiliation, email address, and contact details;
• • ORCID iD, academic profile, and areas of expertise;
• • Manuscript, review, and editorial correspondence;
• • Payment or billing information, where applicable;
• • Website usage data, IP address, cookies, and system logs.

Major publishers commonly collect information directly from users, through submission systems, and through automated website technologies such as cookies and server logs.

2. Use of Personal Information

Personal information may be used to:

• • Manage manuscript submission, peer review, editing, and publication;
• • Contact authors, reviewers, editors, and readers;
• • Verify identity, authorship, affiliations, and reviewer expertise;
• • Process publication charges, invoices, or payments where applicable;
• • Maintain publication records and editorial correspondence;
• • Improve journal services, website functionality, and user experience;
• • Comply with legal, ethical, indexing, and publishing requirements.

3. Confidentiality and Data Sharing

Personal information will be treated confidentially and accessed only by authorized journal staff, editors, reviewers, service providers, and publishing partners where necessary for journal operations.

The journal may share limited personal data with:

• • Editorial and peer-review system providers;
• • Indexing, abstracting, and archiving services;
• • Payment processors;
• • Technology and hosting providers;
• • Partner institutions or societies, where applicable;
• • Legal, regulatory, or ethical bodies when required.

Service providers must process personal data only for authorized purposes and under appropriate confidentiality and data-protection obligations. This reflects standard publisher practice for peer-review, editorial, production, payment, and technical services.

4. Cookies and Website Data

The journal website may use cookies, analytics tools, and similar technologies to ensure functionality, improve services, maintain security, and understand website use. Users may manage cookie preferences through browser settings or available cookie-management tools.

5. Data Security and Retention

The journal will apply reasonable technical and organizational safeguards to protect personal information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. Personal data will be retained only for as long as necessary for editorial, publishing, legal, accounting, archival, or research-integrity purposes.

6. International Data Transfers

Personal information may be stored or processed in countries other than the user’s country of residence where journal systems, service providers, or publishing partners operate. Where required, appropriate safeguards will be used to protect personal data during such transfers.

7. User Rights

Subject to applicable law, users may request access to, correction of, deletion of, restriction of, or portability of their personal data. Users may also object to certain processing activities or withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

8. Contact

Questions or requests concerning personal data should be directed to the journal’s editorial office or designated data-protection contact. The journal will respond in accordance with applicable data-protection laws and editorial requirements.

5. Article Processing Charges Policy

We are fully open access journal and do not charge any article processing charges (APCs).

All accepted articles are published open access and made freely available to readers worldwide without cost to authors.

Any future change to this policy will be clearly announced on the journal website in advance. At present, publication in this journal is entirely free of charge.

6. Frequently Asked Questions