Publication Ethics

Authors must confirm the following:

• Submitted manuscripts must be the original work of the author(s)
• Only unpublished manuscripts should be submitted
• It is unethical to submit a manuscript to more than one journal concurrently
• Any conflict of interest must be clearly stated
• The sources of data used in the development of the manuscript are acknowledged
• All errors discovered in the manuscript after submission must be swiftly communicated to the Editor

Reviewers are expected to evaluate a manuscript for critical analysis, comparative analysis and most importantly for integrity and novelty of the research work.

Therefore, reviewers must confirm the following:

• All manuscripts are reviewed in fairness based on the intellectual content of the article regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, citizenry nor political values of author(s)
• Any observed conflict of interest during the review process must be communicated to the Editor
• All information pertaining to the manuscript is kept confidential
• Any information that may be the reason for the rejection of publication of a manuscript must be communicated to the Editor

Editors must confirm the following:

• All manuscripts are evaluated in fairness based on the intellectual content of the paper regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, citizenry nor political values of authors
• Information pertaining to manuscripts is kept confidential
• Any observed conflict of interest pertaining to manuscripts must be disclosed
• The Editorial Board takes responsibility for making publication decisions for submitted manuscripts based on the reviewer's evaluation of the manuscript, the policies of the journal editorial board, and legal restraints acting against plagiarism, libel and copyright infringement

Publication decisions:

• Editors have complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept an article. This decision should only be based on the paper's relevance to the journal's scope and its academic quality, including the reviewers' judgments, the research's innovation, the experiment's validity, etc. An editor should only accept a paper when reasonably certain.

Confidentiality:

• Editors and the editorial staff must guarantee the confidentiality of submitted papers, which should be disclosed only to the authors, the reviewers, potential reviewers, the adviser from the relevant Editorial Committee, and the publisher if necessary before publication. Submitted papers must not be used for the editors' or editorial staff's own research without the authors' written authorization.

• Editors should have no conflict of interest with respect to articles they reject/accept.
• Adhere to the double-blind review in the peer review process.
• Preserve the anonymity of reviewers.
• When errors are found, promote the publication of corrections or retractions.

Guidelines for retracting articles

• Retraction of an article will be considered if there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g., data fabrication) or honest error (e.g., miscalculation or experimental error), or if the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification (i.e., cases of redundant publication), or if the paper constitutes plagiarism, or if the paper reports unethical research.
• The main purpose of retractions is to correct the literature and ensure its integrity rather than to punish authors.
• The retracted paper will not be removed from the journal's online issue. Notices of retraction will be promptly published and linked to the retracted article, accurately stating the information of the retracted article, the reason(s) for retraction, and who retracts the article. These notices will be freely available to all readers.
• Articles may be retracted by their author(s) or by the journal. In some cases, retractions are issued jointly. The journal has the final decision about retracting articles and will retract publications even if all or some of the authors refuse to retract the publication themselves, provided unethical behavior is confirmed.

Maintain the integrity of the academic record

• All authors commit to the integrity of the academic record, including the integrity of the data and figures in the paper, when they sign the journal's Copyright Form. Cross-check and peer review help the editors verify the originality and integrity of the submitted paper.
• Business needs must not compromise intellectual and ethical standards.

Dealing with fundamental errors

• When an author discovers fundamental errors in published work, it is the author's obligation to notify the editor promptly by e-mail. Editors and editorial staff should always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.