Publication policies

Peer review

The journal uses confidential double-blind review: authors' identities are withheld from reviewers and vice versa. Each manuscript goes to at least two specialist reviewers, with a third adjudicating reviewer where reports conflict. A review cycle normally takes four to eight weeks. The editorial board holds the final decision.

Publication ethics

The journal follows the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE):

• Authors: originality, accuracy of results, disclosure of conflicts of interest and funding sources.
• Reviewers: strict confidentiality, objectivity, and recusal in cases of conflict of interest.
• Editors: fair treatment of all manuscripts regardless of the authors' gender, nationality, or institution.

Plagiarism

All manuscripts are screened with similarity-detection software before review; manuscripts exceeding a 20% similarity rate are declined. Plagiarism established after publication leads to retraction, announced on the journal website in line with COPE procedures.

Open access and licensing

The journal is fully open access: all articles are freely available on publication, with no subscription or reading fees. Authors retain copyright, and articles are published under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license.

Fees

The journal charges no submission fees. Any publication fees adopted in the future will be announced on this page before taking effect, and will not apply retroactively to manuscripts submitted before the announcement.

Archiving

All issues are preserved on the journal website in PDF format. The journal is working toward membership of international archiving and indexing services once its first issues appear and its ISSN is granted.