Publication Ethics

COPE Standards

Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement

The journal maintains COPE membership and strict adherence to its guidelines as a condition of its editorial operation.

Zero Tolerance Policy: The journal does not tolerate data fabrication, falsification, image manipulation, duplicate or redundant submission, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or honorary and ghost authorship.
ETHICS & CONSENT

Human-Subjects Research

Institutional ethical approval and informed consent statements are mandatory for all human-subjects research. All reported studies must fully comply with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

TRANSPARENCY

Conflicts of Interest & Funding

Full conflict-of-interest and financial funding disclosures are strictly required from all involved parties, including authors, editors, and referees.

OPEN DATA

Data and Code Availability

Formal data and code availability statements must be submitted alongside the initial manuscript submission.

GOVERNANCE

Handling Allegations of Misconduct

Allegations of misconduct raised before or after publication are formally investigated following COPE's published flowcharts:

Clinical Integrity Matters Investigated by the Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Clinical Affairs.
Publishing Governance Matters Investigated directly by the Editor-in-Chief.
Outcomes of Investigations: Verified misconduct may result in manuscript rejection, formal published correction, or article retraction, accompanied by official notification to the corresponding author's institution where warranted.