The journal adheres strictly to the highest ethical standards outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), WAME, and ICMJE for authors, reviewers, and editorial board members.

Conflict of Interest Policy

A conflict of interest arises when personal, financial, institutional, or professional affiliations could potentially undermine or bias the objectivity, integrity, or execution of scholarly research and publishing decisions. The journal mandates strict transparency:

• Authors: Must explicitly disclose any potential financial conflicts (e.g., consultancies, employment, patent holdings, grants) or non-financial relationships (personal or academic rivalries) in the mandatory Conflict of Interest Statement in the manuscript.
• Peer Reviewers: Must decline invitations and recuse themselves immediately if they have co-authored research with the authors within the past 2 years, work at the same direct department, or hold competing interests.
• Editors: Section Editors or the Editor-in-Chief must delegate decision-making to an independent associate editor if a manuscript originates from their own research network or direct department.

Handling Research Misconduct & Plagiarism Policy

The Editorial Board upholds a strict zero-tolerance policy regarding all forms of academic and scientific fraud. Suspected violations are investigated following the official COPE Flowcharts:

• Data Fabrication & Falsification: Inventing artificial empirical findings, manipulating instrument outputs, or altering statistical values is strictly condemned. Raw data may be requested during peer review.
• Plagiarism & Text Recycling: Systematic text matching is conducted via Turnitin / iThenticate during initial desk evaluation and post-revision. Submissions must strictly maintain an overall Similarity Index ≤ 20% (with similarity to any single source below 2%–3%).
• Redundant / Duplicate Submission: Submitting identical or substantially similar manuscripts simultaneously to multiple journals is strictly prohibited.
• Authorship Manipulation: Listing ghost, gift, or honorary authors who did not contribute significantly violates publishing ethics.

⚠️ Sanctions for Proven Ethical Violations: Confirmed misconduct prior to publication will result in an immediate Desk Rejection and blacklisting of the offending author(s). If misconduct is identified post-publication, the article will be formally and permanently Retracted with public notifications sent to the author's institution and national indexing bodies.