Stakeholders Responsibilities

The integrity of scholarly publishing depends on the shared commitment of all participants in the research and publication process. Authors, editors, and reviewers each play distinct but interconnected roles in upholding scientific standards, ensuring ethical conduct, and maintaining public trust in the research enterprise. This section outlines the specific responsibilities and expectations for each stakeholder group.

Authors

Authors bear primary responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, and ethical conduct of their research. Their obligations encompass all stages of the research and publication process, from initial conception through post-publication responsibilities.

Key Author Responsibilities

Authors must ensure their work meets the journal's standards in the following areas:

  • Research Integrity and Originality: All submitted work must be original, properly attributed, and free from plagiarism or duplicate publication.
  • Authorship and Contributions: Authorship is limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the work and contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be appropriately acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section.
  • Ethical Compliance: Research involving human participants, animals, or other regulated materials must receive proper ethical approval. Informed consent is mandatory for human subjects, and identifiable information cannot be published without explicit written permission.
  • Data Integrity and Transparency: Authors must provide accurate and unbiased data. Fabrication, falsification, data or image manipulation, and selective reporting is strictly prohibited. Original data and materials must be retained and made available upon request to ensure transparency and reproducibility.
  • Disclosure Requirements: Authors must declare all funding sources, use of AI tools, and any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the objectivity or integrity of their research.
  • Permissions and Attribution: Authors must secure necessary permissions for third-party material and provide rigorous attribution for all ideas, data, and previously published content integrated into their work.
  • Professional Conduct: Authors must respond promptly to editorial queries, reviewer comments, and requests for revisions; follow the journal's specific instructions regarding manuscript formatting, style, and submission procedures; cooperate fully with any investigation of ethical concerns or alleged misconduct, and address post-publication questions or issues, including cooperation with corrections or retractions when necessary.

Authors are expected to familiarize themselves with all applicable guidelines prior to submission. By submitting a manuscript, the corresponding author warrants on behalf of all co-authors that the work complies with these standards and that all authors will cooperate transparently with any editorial inquiry.

Editors

Editors serve as guardians of the scientific record and are responsible for ensuring the integrity, quality, and ethical standards of the publication process. The following responsibilities apply to all editors, including the Editor-in-Chief, handling editors, and members of the editorial board.

Key Editor Responsibilities

  • Fairness and Objectivity: Editors must ensure fair, objective, and transparent evaluation of all manuscripts based solely on scientific merit, originality, quality, and relevance to the journal's scope. Editorial decisions must be free from bias, discrimination, and undue commercial or personal influence.
  • Confidentiality and Integrity: Editors must maintain the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts and must not disclose or use unpublished information for personal gain or advantage.
  • Conflicts of Interest Management: Editors must recuse themselves from handling any manuscript in which they have a potential conflict of interest—whether financial, personal, professional, or institutional—and ensure that it is reassigned to an independent, qualified editor.
  • Handling Ethical Concerns and Misconduct: The Editor-in-Chief must investigate all allegations of research or publication misconduct—including plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, unethical research practices, and authorship disputes—in accordance with Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. Investigations must be conducted fairly, confidentially, and thoroughly, with appropriate action taken in coordination with the authors' institutions when necessary.
  • Maintaining the Scientific Record: The Editor-in-Chief must ensure the integrity of the scientific record by issuing corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions in cases of confirmed misconduct or significant publishing errors, in accordance with COPE guidelines and the journal's Post-Publication Policies.

Reviewers

Reviewers play a critical role in maintaining the quality and integrity of scientific publishing through rigorous, constructive, and ethical evaluation of submitted manuscripts.

Key Reviewer Responsibilities

  • Confidentiality: Manuscripts under review must be treated as strictly confidential documents. Reviewers must not share, discuss, or use submitted work for personal benefit or the benefit of any other individual or organization outside the formal peer-review process. Reviewers are prohibited from submitting, uploading, or otherwise exposing any portion of a manuscript under review to generative AI tools, as this compromises confidentiality and violates the intellectual property rights of the authors. Unpublished data, methods, or ideas from manuscripts under review must not be used in the reviewer’s own research without explicit written permission from the authors and the formal approval of the Editorial Office.
  • Objectivity and Constructive Feedback: Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively, impartially, and without bias. Reviews should provide clear, constructive, and evidence-based feedback focused on scientific quality, methodology, data interpretation, and presentation. Reviewers must avoid personal criticism, discriminatory language, or comments unrelated to the scientific content of the manuscript.
  • Recognition of Ethical Issues: Reviewers must promptly report to the handling editor any suspected ethical issues identified in the manuscript, including but not limited to plagiarism or substantial overlap with other published work, data manipulation, fabrication, or falsification, redundant or duplicate publication, missing or inadequate ethical approvals (IRB/IACUC), undisclosed conflicts of interest, and inappropriate authorship practices.
  • Timeliness and Expertise: Reviewers should accept review assignments only when they possess the necessary expertise to evaluate the manuscript competently and can complete the evaluation within the agreed timeframe. If reviewers encounter unforeseen delays or realize they lack sufficient expertise after accepting an assignment, they must promptly inform the handling editor and, if necessary, decline the review.
  • Conflicts of Interest Disclosure: Reviewers must disclose any personal, financial, academic, or institutional conflicts that may affect their objectivity and should decline to review manuscripts where such conflicts exist. Potential conflicts include recent or ongoing collaborations with the authors, employment at the same institution as the authors, personal or professional relationships with the authors, direct competition with the authors' research, and financial interests in the research outcomes. Reviewers who are uncertain about potential conflicts should consult with the editor before proceeding with the review.