Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The journal is committed to maintaining high standards of academic integrity, transparency, accountability, editorial independence, and responsible scholarly communication. Editorial and publication decisions are based on scholarly merit, originality, relevance, quality, and compliance with the journal's policies, without discrimination or improper influence.

• Make editorial decisions based on originality, quality, relevance, and policy compliance.
• Evaluate manuscripts fairly and without improper discrimination.
• Protect the confidentiality of manuscripts and reviewer identities in accordance with the journal's peer-review model.
• Declare and appropriately manage conflicts of interest.
• Avoid using unpublished information or material obtained through the editorial process for personal or professional advantage.
• Ensure that credible concerns relating to research or publication misconduct are investigated appropriately.
• Take reasonable steps to correct the scholarly record when necessary.

Term of Appointment

Editorial Board Members are appointed for a term of three (3) years. The appointment may be renewed upon mutual consent, subject to the member's active participation, scholarly contribution, and adherence to the journal's editorial and publication-ethics policies.

Roles and Responsibilities

Editorial Board Members may contribute to manuscript evaluation, reviewer recommendations, scholarly advice, special-issue development, and other editorial activities within their areas of expertise. The specific responsibilities of members may vary according to their editorial role and the needs of the journal.

Renewal

Appointments may be renewed following a review of the member's contribution, active participation, and continued mutual agreement.

Resignation and Termination

A member may resign by written notice. The journal may terminate an appointment in cases of prolonged inactivity, serious ethical misconduct, undisclosed conflict of interest, or persistent failure to fulfil assigned responsibilities.

• Submit original work and acknowledge all sources appropriately.
• Avoid simultaneous submission, redundant publication, and data manipulation.
• Provide accurate authorship and contribution statements.
• Disclose funding, conflicts of interest, related work, and material use of AI-assisted tools where required by the journal's policy.
• Obtain ethics approval and informed consent where applicable.
• Ensure that submitted work does not infringe copyright or other intellectual-property rights.
• Cooperate with reasonable requests for clarification, corrections, supporting data, ethics documentation, or investigations.

• Maintain confidentiality and provide objective, constructive, and scholarly reports.
• Declare conflicts of interest and decline a review when impartiality cannot be maintained.
• Complete reviews within the requested timeframe or notify the editor promptly if this is not possible.
• Identify important relevant work that has not been cited, without making coercive citation demands.
• Avoid using unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal or professional advantage.
• Report suspected research or publication misconduct confidentially to the editor.

The journal and publisher support editorial independence, communicate publication policies transparently, preserve the integrity of the published record, protect confidential information, respond appropriately to complaints and ethical concerns, and ensure that commercial or financial considerations do not override academic editorial decisions.

Serious misconduct includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism, duplicate submission, redundant publication, fabrication, falsification, improper image manipulation, citation manipulation, authorship abuse, undisclosed conflicts of interest, unethical research practices, copyright infringement, and attempts to interfere improperly with the peer-review process.

Concerns relating to research or publication misconduct are assessed fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with relevant ethical guidance. Relevant parties may be asked to provide explanations, original data, ethics documentation, authorship information, or other appropriate evidence. Actions are proportionate to the evidence and seriousness of the matter. Where appropriate, the journal may contact the author's institution, research organisation, funder, or other relevant authority.

Minor errors that do not invalidate the main findings may be corrected through an appropriate correction notice. Where substantial uncertainty exists concerning the reliability or integrity of a publication, the journal may issue an Expression of Concern. Articles may be retracted when their findings are unreliable because of major error, misconduct, duplicate publication, serious ethical violation, or other circumstances warranting retraction. Correction, Expression of Concern, and retraction notices will remain linked to the relevant publication and will state the reason for the action.

Authors, reviewers, readers, or other relevant parties may submit a reasoned complaint or appeal concerning an editorial or publication matter, together with relevant supporting evidence where available. Complaints and appeals will be considered fairly and confidentially. Where practicable, an appeal will be handled by an editor who was not improperly involved in the disputed decision. Submission of an appeal does not guarantee reversal of an editorial decision.

The journal takes reasonable measures to maintain the integrity, availability, and long-term accessibility of its published content through its journal platform and appropriate digital preservation arrangements.