Ethics

We aim to adhere to the Best Practice Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in publishing articles in this journal. Authors are expected to be aware of, and comply with, best practice in publication ethics in relation to guest authorship, dual submission, plagiarism, and competing interests. Authors must obtain the required ethics approval from their affiliated institutions where applicable. Reviewers and editors are required to treat manuscripts fairly and in confidence, and to declare any competing interest. Editors should also abide by the code of conduct for editorial board members.

Competing Interest & funding declaration: All authors should disclose any financial or other conflict of interest that may be deemed to influence the results or interpretation of their study. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Correction & Retraction: In accordance with Guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics (where applicable), the publisher handles different kinds of error. All articles have their proofs checked prior to publication by the author and the editor, which should ensure that content errors are not present. Post-publication changes to the publication are only permitted in exceptional circumstances. If an error is discovered in a published article then the publisher will assess whether a Correction Paper or Retraction is required.

Editors and Editorial Staff as Authors: Editorial staff or editors shall not be involved in the processing of their own academic work. Research and reflection articles authored by editorial staff/editors will be assigned to two and one independent reviewers respectively. Decisions will be made by other Editorial Board Members who do not have a conflict of interest with the author on whether their submissions ought to be published or not.

Appeals & Complaints: Should an individual wish to submit an appeal, complaint or raise an issue of potential misconduct regarding the journal or its content, they should contact the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) and/or the publisher to explain their concerns. The EiC and/or publisher will assess the nature of the complaint and/or appeal following the Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)