Best Practices Charter

The journal adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct and Best Practices, encompassing guidelines aimed at fostering integrity, transparency, and accountability throughout the publication process, including peer review and resolution of complaints.

These policies and principles are designed to uphold the highest standards of quality, integrity, and ethics in publishing, thereby earning trust and respect within the academic and research communities.

 Editors

Editors-in-chief hold full responsibility for all content published in the journal and undertake various tasks and actions:

- Meeting the needs of readers and authors while ensuring high journal quality.

- Establishing effective procedures to safeguard publication integrity.

- Supporting freedom of expression while upholding intellectual and ethical standards.

- Readily issuing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies as needed.

Editors also adhere to these best practices:

- Soliciting feedback from authors, readers, reviewers, and editorial board members to enhance journal performance.

- Promoting scientific research and combating research misconduct and publication malpractice.

- Educating on publication ethics and assessing policy impacts on author and reviewer behavior, adjusting policies accordingly.

- Ensuring accuracy in press releases reflecting scientific paper content.

New editorial board members receive comprehensive guidance on roles and responsibilities, while current members are informed about new policies and field developments.

Relationship with Authors

Editorial decisions to accept or reject papers for publication are based on scientific paper significance, validity, clarity, and relevance to the journal's scope. Changes to publication decisions are made only if fundamental issues arise in submitted manuscripts. New editors do not overturn previous editors' publication decisions without identifying fundamental problems.

Peer review process descriptions are published, and editors are prepared to justify significant deviations from stated processes. Journals provide mechanisms for authors to appeal editorial decisions and update author guidelines regularly.

Best practices include:

- Regularly reviewing and updating author guidelines, providing clear guidance and relevant links.

- Disclosing all contributors' relevant competing interests and publishing post-publication corrections for identified conflicts.

- Ensuring unbiased reviewer selection and honoring author requests to exclude specific reviewers when justified.

- Publishing protocols to address inappropriate behavior and making submission and acceptance deadlines public.

Relationship with Readers

Reader awareness of research funding sources and funders' roles is essential. Best practices include:

- Ensuring all research reports and reviews undergo qualified peer review, including statistical review, for accuracy and objectivity.

- Clearly identifying sections exempt from peer review to enhance publishing process transparency.

- Using editing processes that ensure accuracy, completeness, and clarity in research reports, adhering to appropriate guidelines and references.

- Considering transparency policies for maximum disclosure of non-research paper sources.

- Implementing authorship or contribution systems that promote good practices and prevent misconduct by clearly defining contributor roles.

Relationship with Reviewers

Editors provide reviewers with clear expectations, including handling submitted materials confidentially, regularly updating guidelines, and referencing them clearly. Reviewers disclose potential competing interests before accepting review requests.

Best practices involve:

- Encouraging reviewers to comment on ethical issues, potential research misconduct, and plagiarism.

- Assessing originality and identifying duplicate publications in submissions.

- Providing access to relevant publications for reviewer verification.

- Sending reviewers' comments in full to authors, excluding abusive or defamatory remarks.

- Acknowledging reviewers' contributions and monitoring performance for quality assurance.

- Maintaining and updating a reviewer database with diverse expertise and responsiveness to ethical concerns.

Relationship with the Publisher

Editors maintain editorial independence when making publication decisions based on content quality and relevance to journal scope, without publisher intervention. Editor-publisher relationships are governed by legal agreements ensuring compliance with COPE ethical publication principles.

Best practices include

- Regularly communicating constructively with the publisher.

- Ensuring fair, transparent, and timely peer review processes.

- Implementing systems to maintain article confidentiality during review.

Peer Review Process Management

Editors ensure fairness and transparency in peer review processes, maintaining confidentiality of submitted materials. Best practices include:

- Developing peer review methods tailored to the journal and research community needs.

- Providing training on peer review guidelines for all editorial process participants.

- Periodically reviewing peer review practices for updates and improvements.

- Establishing effective dispute resolution mechanisms and referring to COPE in ethical dilemmas.

Handling Potential Unethical Behavior

Editors address suspicions of unethical behavior or allegations seriously, reviewing published and unpublished papers as needed. Best practices include following COPE flowcharts for handling misconduct concerns, seeking clarifications from involved parties, and escalating investigations if necessary.

Quality Assurance and Personal Data Protection

Quality Assurance

Editors ensure published content quality through linguistic editing and data accuracy verification, maintaining ethical standards.

Personal Data Protection

Editors protect authors' privacy rights, handling submitted materials confidentially and obtaining consent for publishing personal data.

Promoting Ethical Research

Editors promote ethical research aligned with global standards, ensuring compliance with research ethics guidelines and institutional approvals. They update policies regularly, seek author clarifications on ethical issues, and verify research approvals when required.

Intellectual Property

Editors combat intellectual property violations through plagiarism detection systems, supporting affected authors against copyright infringements, and collaborating with publishers to address violations.

Ensuring Academic Record Integrity

Editors correct errors promptly, follow COPE guidelines for retracting documents, and safeguard published content through permanent online repositories.

Conflict of Interest

Editors manage scientific paper submissions impartially, disclosing and addressing conflicts of interest among editors, reviewers, and authors.

Encouraging Discussion

Editors foster open scientific dialogue by encouraging constructive criticism and responses from authors, including studies with negative results.

Handling Complaints

Editors respond promptly to complaints, ensuring a transparent mechanism for subsequent submissions and following COPE complaint handling procedures.

Authorship and Contribution

Editors uphold accountability by recognizing contributors' intellectual contributions, updating authorship guidelines, and verifying author consent for manuscript changes.

Data Sharing and Reproducibility

Editors promote data sharing to validate research findings, ensure data confidentiality, and facilitate access for future research.

Ethical Oversight Mechanisms Policy

Editors follow COPE guidelines for ethical oversight, investigate misconduct claims, and collaborate with relevant bodies for resolutions.

Post-Publication Discussion and Correction

Editors facilitate corrections and updates based on new data, ensuring accurate and complete scholarly records.

These best practices uphold the journal's commitment to excellence, transparency, and ethical conduct in scholarly publishing.