Publication policies

Peer review and editorial principles

The journal uses double-blind peer review. For manuscripts sent for external review, author identities are in principle withheld from reviewers and reviewer identities are withheld from authors. Authors should provide an anonymized manuscript in accordance with submission requirements and address identifying information in the text, file properties and supplementary materials.

The editorial office first assesses whether a manuscript fits the journal’s scope and meets requirements for research completeness, reporting quality and ethics. Manuscripts suitable for further consideration proceed to peer review, which focuses on the research question, methods, results, interpretation and limitations. Editorial decisions take account of manuscript quality, reviewer comments and author revisions.

Double-blind review aims to reduce bias related to author identity, but cannot guarantee complete anonymity where preprints, public datasets or distinctive research contexts make authors identifiable. Authors, editors and reviewers should disclose conflicts of interest that could affect objective judgment.

Acceptance depends on scholarly quality and fit with the journal’s scope. Institutional affiliation, membership, collaborative relationships or commercial considerations should not replace scholarly assessment and do not guarantee acceptance.

Research ethics and publication integrity

The journal values research ethics, transparent reporting and scholarly integrity. Research involving human participants, identifiable personal information, human biological samples or animal experiments should comply with applicable legal and ethical requirements and report relevant ethics approvals, grounds for exemption and any necessary informed consent arrangements.

Authors are responsible for the research and manuscript content. They should accurately report author contributions, funding and conflicts of interest, and secure appropriate rights to use and publish data, images, software and other materials. Manuscripts must not contain fabricated, falsified, plagiarized or misleadingly presented research content and must not be submitted to multiple journals simultaneously.

When tools such as generative AI assist research or writing, authors should disclose their use as appropriate and verify the accuracy and compliance of facts, references, data and images. AI tools cannot assume authorship responsibilities and should not be listed as authors; responsibility for the manuscript remains with the authors.

Errors, conflicts of interest and integrity concerns identified during research or publication should be assessed on the basis of the facts and addressed in proportion to the nature of the issue. When published content requires correction or further explanation, the accuracy of the scholarly record should be maintained transparently.

Open access and scholarly exchange

The journal operates an open-access model, making published articles available for readers to support the dissemination, scrutiny and scholarly discussion of research findings.

Open access does not remove protections for copyright, personal privacy, informed consent or the rights of third-party material owners. Copying, reusing and distributing an article must comply with its stated license conditions and applicable law. Open access also does not mean that all research data, code or restricted materials can be made available without conditions.