Conflict of Interest

Authors
Authors must disclose any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the results or interpretation of their research. All sources of financial support must be transparently acknowledged.

Editors
Editors must not use unpublished material from submitted manuscripts in their own research without the authors’ explicit written consent.

Reviewers
Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of information and ideas obtained through peer review and must not use them for personal advantage. They must decline to review manuscripts when competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with the authors or affiliated institutions could compromise their impartiality.

Publisher
The publisher must ensure that commercial interests do not influence editorial decisions. Publication decisions must remain independent and be based on the scholarly merit of the work.