Research Missconduct

Research or publication misconduct includes, but is not limited to, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, data or image manipulation, unethical authorship practices, undisclosed Conflicts of Interest, duplicate submission, redundant publication, misrepresentation of ethical approval or consent, and other serious violations of research or publication ethics.

Concerns may be reported by Authors, readers, Reviewers, Editors, institutions, research participants, whistleblowers, funders, or other relevant parties. Reports should, where possible, identify the manuscript or article concerned, describe the issue clearly, and provide relevant evidence or supporting information.

The journal may suspend peer review, editorial decision-making, acceptance, production, or publication while a serious ethical or research-integrity concern is being assessed. Depending on the findings and publication status of the manuscript or article, editorial actions may include clarification, revision, rejection, Withdrawal, Correction, Erratum, Corrigendum, Expression of Concern, Retraction, Article Removal, Article Replacement, or referral to an appropriate institution or authority.