publication ethics

The editor

1. The editor is responsible for screening submissions under the Journal’s aims, scope, and academic standards. Such consideration process should be independent from any conflict of interest with the authors and/or the authors' affiliations.  

2. The editor’s consideration should be based on academic merits, and independent from racial, gender, ethnic or socio-cultural bias.

3. The editors and editorial staffs should not disclose any information regarding submission to anyone except for its reviewers or prospective reviewers.

4. The editor is responsible for keep anonymity for the authors and reviewers. Under the blind-review process, reviewers will only learn of the authors identities upon publication of accept manuscripts.

5. The editor should adhere to blind review standards and ensure that submission is assigned to qualified reviewers who have no conflict of interest with the authors. 

6. The editor’s ethical oversight should cover research stakeholders who may be affected by the publication,  for example, informed consent, dissemination of unpublished or copyrighted data, and particularly issues that may be harmful to informants.

Reviewers

1. Reviews must be conducted under the Journal’s aims, scope, and academic standards.

2. Reviewers will not be informed of authors’ identities ahead of the publication. Reviewers should not disclose content of the manuscripts and may not disclose review comments to those without authorised access to review process.

3. Reviewers should inform the editor of any possible conflict of interest with the author and consider withdraw from review process. 

4. Reviewers should conduct unbiased review with succinct and systematic comments and recommendations. Suggestion for revision should be constructive and feasible.

5. Reviewers should inform the editor of any substantial reproduction of other published materials and of any suspected malpractice such as fabrication of research data.

Authors

1. Authors should ensure that submitted manuscripts are drawn from their own or collaborative research and should make clear reference to any related work published prior to their current submission.

2. Submissions must not be previously published or being under review process of other journals. 

3. Submissions must not contain any form plagiarism including self-plagiarism.

4. Submissions should be accompanied by accurate disclaimers of any possible conflict of interest associated with their sources of funding.