Publication Ethics

Authorship

Authorship is limited to those who made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution or interpretation of the reported study. All those who meet this standard must be listed as authors; those who contributed in lesser ways should be acknowledged.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all named authors have seen and approved the final manuscript and agree to its submission.

Originality and plagiarism

Submitted work must be original and must not be under consideration elsewhere. All sources must be properly cited. Every submission is screened for textual similarity against published literature.

Plagiarism in any form — including the reuse of an author's own previously published text without attribution — is grounds for rejection, and for retraction if discovered after publication.

Research involving human participants

Studies involving students, teachers or other human participants must confirm that appropriate institutional ethical approval was obtained and that informed consent was given. Where minors participated, the manuscript must state how consent was obtained from parents or guardians.

Participants and institutions must not be identifiable in published work unless explicit consent for identification was given.

Conflicts of interest

Authors must declare any financial, institutional or personal relationship that could be seen to influence the reported work. Reviewers must decline invitations where such a conflict exists. Editors recuse themselves from decisions on manuscripts from their own institution or close collaborators.

Corrections and retractions

Where a significant error is identified after publication, we will issue a correction notice linked to the original article. Where findings are found to be invalid or the work is found to breach research ethics, the article will be retracted with a public notice explaining why.

Retracted articles remain accessible with a clear retraction notice — the scholarly record is corrected, never quietly erased.