Reporting standards

Authors of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and the results, followed by an objective discussion of the significance of the work. Authors shall record, organize, and retain evidence for any statistical analysis, experiment, and/or interview performed during the course of research and shall not fabricate or falsify information. Such evidence should be provided if requested by the reviewer(s) and/or editor(s).

The manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Review articles should be accurate, objective and comprehensive, while editorial 'opinion' or perspective pieces should be clearly identified as such. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Data access and retention

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data available if it is necessary. In any event, authors should ensure accessibility of such data to other competent professionals for at least 10 years after publication (preferably via an institutional or subject-based data repository or other data center), provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.

Originality and plagiarism

Authors should write and submit only entirely original works, and ensure whether they have used the work and/or words of others that have been appropriately cited. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the work reported in the manuscript should also be cited. Plagiarism takes many forms, from "passing off" another's paper as the author's own, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Confidentiality

Authors shall not use any information obtained through the review process for personal advantage without permission.

Conflict of Interest

Authors shall clearly reveal all the information about any conflict of interest or source of support which might influence the results in the course of research. Authors shall notify editors and readers about any support provided to the research so that editors and readers are informed when evaluating the output of the research.

Multiple, duplicate, redundant or concurrent submission/publication

Authors shall not submit a manuscript published previously in a different journal whether it is a domestic or international journal. Papers describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal or primary publication. Hence, authors shall not simultaneously submit the same manuscript to other journals. Authors may submit their manuscript to a different journal only when the final decision is rejection, or the withdrawal of the manuscript for review is approved.

Authorship of the manuscript

In the case of joint research with other researchers, the researcher should clarify the roles and interrelationships and take responsibility accordingly. Before undertaking research, authors should discuss and mutually agree on the research objective, each role in the cooperative relationship, the methods of data collection/storage/sharing, the listing of authors, the selection of the main (first) author, copyright and other related issues.

First author: The first author has the responsibility for research data and for the listing of author(s) in general and, he/she also has the responsibility for research conducted by co-author(s). Authors shall provide evidence for their contribution when requested.

Co-author: Only persons who meet these authorship criteria should be listed as authors in the manuscript as they must be able to take public responsibility for the content: (i) made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation of the study; and (ii) drafted the manuscript or revised it critically for important intellectual content; and (iii) have seen and approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication.

Corresponding author: The corresponding author has to be the person who can take responsibility for research results and provide relevant proofs. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate coauthors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate coauthors are included in the author list and verify that all coauthors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.

Acknowledgements: All persons who made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript (such as technical help, writing and editing assistance, general support) but who do not meet the criteria for authorship must not be listed as an author, but should be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgements" section after their written permission to be named has been obtained.

Authors are responsible for the content of the paper. Authors are also responsible for any research work that has been consigned to a third party.

Acknowledgement

Authors should ensure that they have properly acknowledged the work of others, and should also cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. The person who has not contributed to research contents or research results should not be included as an author as a gesture of gratitude, courtesy or the like. However, authors may acknowledge any contribution from the people they worked with (e.g. data collection or translation into different languages) who have helped in some way in the preparation of the written version or the research itself. Information obtained privately (from conversation, correspondence or discussion with third parties) must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source. Authors should not use information obtained in the course of providing confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, unless they have obtained the explicit written permission of the author(s) of the work involved in these services.

Peer review

Authors are obliged to participate in the peer review process and cooperate fully by responding promptly to editors’ requests for raw data, clarifications, and proof of ethics approval, and copyright permissions. In the case of a first decision of "revisions necessary", authors should respond to the reviewers’ comments systematically, point by point, and in a timely manner, revising and re-submitting their manuscript to the journal by the deadline given.

Fundamental errors in published works

When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, it is their obligation to promptly notify the journal’s editors or publisher and cooperate with them to either correct the paper in the form of an erratum or to retract the paper. Authors shall respect requests from editors or readers even after a submitted manuscript has been published. When an error or inaccuracy in a published paper is discovered, authors should cooperate with editors to resolve the problem.

For retracting or correcting articles, we follow the standard policy.