Ethics & Malpractice Policy

The journal upholds the highest standards of publication ethics and actively enforces policies designed to safeguard scholarly integrity. This Ethics & Malpractice Policy is aligned with internationally recognized guidelines, including those of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and applicable academic and legal frameworks. It applies to all parties involved in the editorial process: authors, reviewers, editors, and institutional stakeholders.

1. Editorial Responsibilities

The Editorial Board is responsible for ensuring the academic and ethical quality of all published content. Editors operate independently, applying objective criteria to assess manuscripts without regard to the authors' affiliation, nationality, gender, or other personal characteristics.

Core obligations of editors include:

• Ensuring fair, timely, and confidential peer review processes.
• Making publication decisions based solely on scholarly merit, originality, and relevance.
• Investigating ethical concerns or reported misconduct impartially and thoroughly.
• Issuing retractions, corrections, or expressions of concern as required by the evidence.

Editors are required to recuse themselves from handling any manuscript in which they have a conflict of interest.

2. Author Responsibilities

Authors must adhere to the highest standards of academic integrity. Submission of a manuscript constitutes a declaration that the work is original, has not been published elsewhere, and is not under consideration by another journal.

Authors must:

• Ensure accurate representation of data, methods, and results.
• Disclose all conflicts of interest and relevant funding sources.
• Obtain appropriate ethical approvals for studies involving humans, animals, or sensitive data.
• Properly acknowledge all contributors and sources, avoiding ghostwriting or guest authorship.
• Cooperate fully with editorial and peer review processes, including responding promptly to revision requests.

Plagiarism, data fabrication, image manipulation, and redundant publication are strictly prohibited and will result in immediate editorial action.

3. Reviewer Responsibilities

Peer reviewers serve a critical role in maintaining the scientific integrity of the publication process. All reviewers are expected to conduct their evaluations objectively, constructively, and confidentially.

Reviewers must:

• Decline to review manuscripts in cases of potential conflict of interest.
• Report suspected ethical violations or substantial similarity to previously published work.
• Respect confidentiality and refrain from using privileged information for personal advantage.
• Provide evidence-based assessments within agreed timelines.

Reviewer misconduct, including breach of confidentiality or appropriation of intellectual content, will be formally investigated and reported to relevant authorities if necessary.

4. Misconduct Investigation & Resolution

The journal has a zero-tolerance policy toward ethical breaches. Allegations of misconduct—including but not limited to plagiarism, data falsification, citation manipulation, and unethical authorship practices—are investigated rigorously.

Procedure:

• All allegations are initially reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief or an Ethics Committee delegate.
• Where preliminary findings indicate misconduct, the journal may suspend review, retract published content, or notify affected institutions.
• Respondents are afforded the opportunity to respond to allegations with supporting evidence.
• Final decisions are documented and, where applicable, shared with relevant databases, indexing bodies, or funding agencies.
• Corrective actions will be proportional to the severity and nature of the violation.

5. Conflicts of Interest & Transparency

All participants in the publication process are required to disclose any financial, institutional, or personal relationships that could influence their objectivity.

Disclosure obligations apply to:

• Editors and reviewers assessing submissions.
• Authors at the time of submission and in the acknowledgements or funding statements.

The journal publishes conflict disclosures where material, and may reject submissions or reassign reviews to preserve impartiality.

6. Compliance & Oversight

This policy is reviewed periodically to ensure compliance with evolving international standards and legal frameworks governing academic publishing.

Compliance assurance measures include:

• Mandatory author declarations.
• Use of plagiarism detection software prior to acceptance.
• Ethical training and audit procedures for editors and reviewers.

Any deviation from this policy may result in the withdrawal of published content and notification to relevant professional or legal bodies.