1 Duties of Editors

• Publication Decisions: Editors are responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal should be published based on the paper's importance, originality, and clarity.
• Fair Play: Manuscripts are evaluated for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.
• Confidentiality: Editors and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author and reviewers.

2 Duties of Reviewers

• Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and may assist the author in improving the paper.
• Promptness: Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor.
• Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.

3 Duties of Authors

• Reporting Standards: Authors should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance.
• Originality & Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original works. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior.
• Data Access: Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review.
• Multiple Publication: An author should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal.

Research Misconduct & Sanctions

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication, or plagiarism, the publisher—in close collaboration with the editors—will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification, or, in the most severe cases, the retraction of the affected work.