Fair play and editorial independence
Submitted manuscripts shall be evaluated solely on the basis of their relevance to the journal’s topic of interest and academic excellence. The author’s race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion, political views and institutional affiliation are not to be taken into account. No external body can influence the editors in the process of selecting, editing and publishing manuscripts.
Confidentiality
No information about a submitted manuscript may be disclosed to anyone other than its author, the editors, reviewers, potential reviewers and the publisher.
Disclosure and conflict of interest
Unpublished manuscripts or their parts may not be used in research conducted by the editorial team or reviewers without the written consent of the author.
Publication decisions
The Editor-in-Chief must comply with the existing law on defamation, infringement of copyright and plagiarism. He/she is responsible for deciding which of the submitted manuscripts should be published. He/she may consult thematic editors and/or reviewers.
Where any scientific misconduct is detected, the Editors, based on the guidelines proposed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), will apply the following procedures:
- Suspected redundant publication in a submitted manuscript
- Suspected redundant publication in a published manuscript
- Suspected plagiarism in a submitted manuscript
- Suspected plagiarism in a published manuscript
- Suspected fabricated data in a submitted manuscript
- Suspected fabricated data in a published manuscript
- Corresponding author requests addition of extra author before publication
- Corresponding author requests removal of author before publication
- Request for addition of extra author after publication
- Request for removal of author after publication
- What to do if you suspect ghost, guest or gift authorship
- How to spot authorship problems
- What to do if a reviewer suspects undisclosed conflict of interest (Col) in a submitted manuscript
- What to do if a reader suspects undisclosed conflict of interest (CoI) in a published article
- What to do if you suspect an ethical problem with a submitted manuscript
- What to do if you suspect a reviewer has appropriated an author’s ideas or data
- How to respond to whistle blowers when concerns are raised directly
- How to respond to whistle blowers when concerns are raised via social media
