Proposed policy, pending editorial approval. This text is a working draft and may change before the journal launches.
Research integrity
We follow COPE guidance and ICMJE recommendations on authorship, data fabrication and falsification, duplicate publication and image manipulation. Authorship requires substantial contribution and is documented with the CRediT taxonomy.
Conflicts of interest
Authors, reviewers and editors must disclose financial or personal relationships that could influence the work. Editors do not handle manuscripts in which they have a conflict.
Plagiarism and similarity
Manuscripts are screened for text similarity. Plagiarism, undeclared self-plagiarism and redundant publication are grounds for rejection or retraction.
Informed consent
Any case report, image or data that could identify a patient requires written informed consent. The document is kept on file and authors state that it was obtained.
Research with minors
Research with children requires ethics committee approval, consent from parents or guardians and assent from the child according to age and maturity. Images or data identifying a minor are not published without the legal guardian's written consent.
Corrections and retractions
Errors are fixed through an erratum or correction. Articles with confirmed misconduct or errors that invalidate the conclusions are retracted, and the retraction notice remains visible and linked to the article.
Artificial intelligence
Use of generative AI must be disclosed. AI cannot be an author. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts to external AI tools.
Complaints and appeals
Authors may appeal a decision and anyone may report suspected misconduct by writing to the editorial email. Each case is documented and answered.