The journal takes all forms of misconduct seriously and will take all necessary action, in accordance with COPE guidelines, to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.
Examples of misconduct include (but are not limited to):
Manuscripts that have already been published or are concurrently under review by another journal will be subject to sanctions for duplicate submission or publication. If authors build upon their own previously published work or work currently under review, they must clearly reference the earlier material and explicitly describe how the submitted manuscript presents new and original contributions beyond the prior work.
Manuscripts submitted with references that appear to be included primarily to artificially boost the citation count of a specific author or journal may be subject to sanctions for citation manipulation.
Manuscripts determined to contain fabricated or falsified experimental data including altered or manipulated images will be subject to sanctions for data fabrication and falsification.
Every author listed on the manuscript must have contributed meaningfully to the scientific aspects of the research and must have approved all the statements and findings presented. It is essential to acknowledge all individuals who played a substantial scientific role in the work, including students and lab technicians.
Redundant publication refers to the unethical practice of splitting the results of a single study into multiple separate articles without proper justification.
Intentionally altering or fabricating images in a deceptive manner is considered a serious violation of research ethics, as it aims to mislead readers and undermines the credibility of the scholarly record, potentially resulting in significant and lasting consequences.
The journal requires that all images submitted in manuscripts accurately reflect the original data and remain free from inappropriate manipulation. Image elements must not be selectively enhanced, hidden, repositioned, deleted, or artificially inserted unless the nature of the alteration is clearly described. Minor adjustments to brightness, contrast, or color balance are permissible, provided they do not distort or conceal any part of the original information. When images are composed from different sections such as in gels, western blots, or microscopic fields this must be transparently indicated either in the figure layout or in the accompanying figure legend.
If authors are unable to provide the original, unmodified image files upon request, the manuscript may be rejected or a published article may be subject to retraction.
