Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

This journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scientific record. According to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the journal follows the formal COPE guidelines to identify and handle potential acts of research misconduct. Authors must refrain from misrepresenting research outcomes, as fraudulent data or declarations undermine the integrity of the journal, the professionalism of scientific authorship, and the entire scholarly endeavor.

Upholding the integrity of research and its formal presentation shall be achieved by strictly adhering to the rules of good scientific practice, including:

• Simultaneous Submission: The manuscript has not been submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration.
• Originality and Text Recycling: The manuscript has not been previously published (in whole or in part), unless the new work constitutes an explicit extension of a prior study. Authors must ensure full transparency regarding material reuse to avoid text recycling ("self-plagiarism").
• Salami Slicing: A single study shall not be fragmented into multiple parts ("salami slicing") to artificially increase the number of submissions across multiple journals or within a single journal over time.
• Data Integrity: No data (including digital images) have been fabricated, falsified, or manipulated to support the study's conclusions.
• Plagiarism Prevention: Data, texts, or theories belonging to third parties shall not be presented as if they were the author's own ("plagiarism"). Appropriate acknowledgment must be given to prior works (including verbatim, abridged, or paraphrased material). Quotation marks must be used for verbatim text extraction, and formal permissions must be secured for copyrighted material. The journal routinely utilizes specialized software to detect plagiarism.
• Institutional Consent: Explicit consent to submit the manuscript has been received from all co-authors and the responsible authorities—either tacitly or explicitly—at the institute or organization where the research was conducted prior to submission.
• Authorship Responsibility: All authors listed in the manuscript must have contributed sufficiently to the scientific work and therefore share collective responsibility and accountability for the results.
• Authorship Changes: Authors are strongly encouraged to verify the composition, order, and corresponding status of the author group at the time of submission. No changes to authorship or order shall be accepted after the manuscript has been formally approved for publication.
• Justification During Review: Any addition or deletion of authors during the peer-review stage must be comprehensively justified. A formal letter must accompany the revised manuscript explaining the specific role of the added or removed author(s). Additional documentation may be requested to support the request.
• Authorship Disputes: Requests to add or remove authors due to post-acceptance disputes will only be honored following formal notification from the authors' institution or an independent body, or upon a signed consensus agreement among all original co-authors.
• Data Availability: Upon request, authors must be prepared to submit relevant source documentation or raw data to verify the validity of their results. This may include raw data sheets, samples, or research records. Confidential, proprietary, or sensitive data are excluded from this requirement.

Misconduct Investigations and Sanctions

If research misconduct is suspected, the journal will conduct a formal investigation following COPE guidelines. If the allegation raises valid concerns, the accused author will be contacted and given an opportunity to address the matter. If misconduct is established beyond a reasonable doubt, the Editor-in-Chief may implement measures including, but not limited to:

• Under Consideration: If the manuscript is still under review, it shall be immediately rejected and returned to the authors.
• Published Online: If the article has already been published online, depending on the nature and severity of the infraction, an official erratum/corrigendum will be appended to the article, or in severe cases, the article will be completely retracted. The specific justification will be detailed in the published erratum or retraction notice. The retracted paper will remain on the platform for transparency, permanently watermarked as "retracted," with a linked note explaining the editorial decision.
• Institutional Notification: The author's home institution or governing ethics committee may be formally informed of the misconduct.