Editorial Policy

1. Ethics and Consent

1.1 Ethics Approval
All research involving human subjects, materials, or data must adhere to the Declaration of Helsinki and receive approval from an ethics committee or an Institutional Review Board (IRB). Manuscripts should include:
    1. A statement confirming ethics approval, the name of the ethics committee/IRB, and the reference number (if applicable).
    2. A justification if the study is exempted from ethics approval, along with the name of the approving ethics committee/IRB.
The corresponding author may be asked to provide additional information or documentation regarding ethical compliance. The Editor reserves the right to contact ethics committees for verification. Studies that fail to comply with ethical standards may be rejected.

1.2 Informed Consent
For studies involving human participants, authors must:
    1. Obtain informed consent from all participants (or from parents/legal guardians for minors under 16).
    2. Include a statement in the manuscript confirming informed consent.
    3. For deceased participants, obtain consent from their next of kin.
If identifiable images, videos, or information are included, authors must provide written consent for publication. Unidentifiable images or data may not require consent.

1.3 Animal Research
Research involving animals must comply with institutional, national, or international ethical guidelines, such as the Basel Declaration or ICLAS standards. Manuscripts should include:
    1. A statement confirming compliance with relevant guidelines.
    2. Ethics committee approval details, including the name and reference number.
    3. Evidence of informed consent for studies involving client-owned animals.
Field studies must include necessary permissions or licenses and adhere to ethical standards.

1.4 Plant Research
For experimental and field studies involving plants:
    1. Comply with institutional, national, or international ethical guidelines.
    2. Obtain and disclose permissions or licenses required by local legislation.
    3. Deposit voucher specimens in a public herbarium or collection and specify details in the manuscript.

2. Clinical Trial and Systematic Review Registration

2.1 Clinical Trial Registration
All clinical trials must be prospectively registered in a publicly accessible database, such as those listed in the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). Manuscripts should include:
    1. The trial registration number (TRN).
    2. The registration date as the last line of the abstract.
If retrospectively registered, authors must:
    1. State this in the abstract.
    2. Provide the TRN and registration date.

2.2 Systematic Review Registration
Systematic reviews should be prospectively registered in registries like PROSPERO. 
If registered, include the registration number as the last line of the abstract.

3. Availability of Data and Materials
    1. Open Data Policy: Authors must ensure raw data supporting their conclusions is publicly accessible, provided participant confidentiality is not compromised. If data is stored in external repositories, include the repository name and access information in the manuscript.
    2. Biological Materials: Deposit materials like plasmids or cell lines in public repositories. Verify cell line authenticity through the International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC).
    3. Software and Code: Archive any novel software or code in repositories (e.g., Zenodo) and provide unique identifiers. If unavailable, focus on the underlying methodology rather than the tool itself.

4. Standards of Reporting
    1. Adhere to the EQUATOR Network and BioSharing Portal reporting standards.
    2. Systematic reviews must include a supplemental search strategy in the methods section.
    3. Statistical methods should be described in detail, including:
        ◦ Justification for statistical tests used.
        ◦ Clarification of whether p-values are one-tailed or two-tailed.

5. Authorship and Acknowledgments
5.1 Authorship Criteria
All authors must:
    1. Substantially contribute to the study's conception, design, data collection, or analysis.
    2. Participate in drafting or revising the manuscript.
    3. Approve the final version.
    4. Accept responsibility for the study's integrity.
Supervisory roles, funding acquisition, or data collection alone do not justify authorship. Changes to authorship are not permitted after manuscript acceptance.

5.2 Acknowledgments
List contributors who do not meet authorship criteria in the acknowledgments section. Disclose funding sources, including grant numbers.

6. Competing Interests
Authors must declare financial or non-financial competing interests. If no competing interests exist, include the statement:
"The authors declare no competing interests."

7. Corrections and Retractions
The journal adheres to COPE guidelines for corrections and retractions:
    1. Erratum: Corrects errors that affect findings.
    2. Retraction: Removes articles due to ethical breaches or compromised integrity.
Corrections and retractions will include prominent links to the original article. Retractions will also be clearly marked in the article PDF.

8. Appeals and Complaints
Authors may appeal editorial decisions or file complaints. Appeals will be reviewed transparently and fairly in line with COPE guidelines.
Procedure:
    1. Submit appeals or complaints in writing to the editorial office.
    2. Expect acknowledgment within five working days.
    3. The final decision will be communicated within 30 days of submission.

9. Duplicate Publication and Plagiarism
Manuscripts must be original and not under review elsewhere. Authors must disclose potential overlapping publications. The journal follows COPE and ICMJE guidelines to investigate duplicate submissions or plagiarism.