Authorship and interests
Authorship must reflect actual contributions and responsibilities. Declare relevant financial and non-financial interests, funding and any material assistance.
Research evidence
Data, methods and references should be accurately reported. Fabrication, manipulated evidence and invented citations undermine the scholarly record. Explain limitations and availability of supporting materials.
Confidential review
An operational review process requires qualified, consenting reviewers, conflict checks and secure manuscript access. Editorial decisions must be made by authorized editors.
Corrections and concerns
Publication policies must define concerns, corrections, retractions, appeals and record preservation. Full journal-specific policies require editorial and legal adoption before a journal opens.