Editors of the journal are expected to adhere to the highest standards of professional integrity, ethical responsibility, academic independence, and accountability in the performance of their editorial duties. This Editor Code of Conduct is established to ensure fairness, transparency, consistency, and trust throughout the editorial and publication process, and to safeguard the integrity and credibility of the scholarly record.
Editors shall act objectively, independently, and impartially at all stages of manuscript handling and decision-making. Editorial decisions must be based exclusively on the scholarly merit of the submitted work, including its originality, methodological rigor, ethical soundness, clarity of presentation, and relevance to the journal’s aims and scope, without discrimination based on authors’ nationality, institutional affiliation, academic rank, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, or other personal characteristics unrelated to the quality of the work.
Editors are accountable not only to the journal and its publisher, but also to authors, reviewers, readers, and the wider scholarly community. Editors are expected to exercise full editorial independence and must not allow their decisions to be influenced by commercial interests, institutional affiliations, funding bodies, sponsors, advertisers, or any form of external pressure. Any attempt to exert inappropriate influence on editorial decisions must be resisted and, where appropriate, reported through the journal’s established governance mechanisms.
Editors are responsible for maintaining the integrity, confidentiality, and fairness of the peer-review process and for ensuring that manuscripts are evaluated by suitably qualified and independent reviewers. Editors must not manipulate reviewer selection, peer-review outcomes, or editorial timelines for personal, institutional, or commercial advantage, nor engage in coercive citation practices, favoritism, or the suppression of legitimate scholarly debate.
Editors must avoid any form of misconduct, including abuse of editorial authority, conflicts of interest, or unethical editorial practices. Editors are required to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest and to recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which such conflicts exist. Unpublished information obtained through editorial activities must be treated as confidential and used solely for legitimate editorial purposes, and must not be used for personal research, financial gain, or competitive advantage.
When ethical concerns arise, including allegations of plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, image manipulation, authorship disputes, duplicate publication, or undisclosed conflicts of interest, editors are obligated to act in accordance with the journal’s ethical policies and internationally recognized publication ethics standards. Editorial actions must be fair, proportionate, transparent, timely, and appropriately documented, and editors may seek guidance from the editor-in-chief, ethics committees, or external experts when necessary.
Editors are expected to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record by supporting corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern when errors, misconduct, or ethical issues are identified. Editors must also handle complaints, appeals, and disputes in a fair, unbiased, and transparent manner, ensuring that authors are given the opportunity to respond and that decisions are not influenced by personal considerations or reputational concerns.
Editors are expected to cooperate fully with investigations related to ethical issues and to provide accurate information to the journal, publisher, or relevant institutions when required. Breaches of this Code of Conduct may result in corrective or administrative actions, including removal from editorial responsibilities, in accordance with the journal’s policies.
By accepting an editorial role, editors acknowledge their responsibility to comply with this Code of Conduct and to contribute to the journal’s mission of ethical, rigorous, and responsible scholarly publishing.
