This journal is committed to ethics and quality in publishing. We adhere to standards of ethical behaviour expected of all parties involved in publishing in our journal: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer, and the publisher. We do not tolerate plagiarism or any other unethical behaviour.

Duties of Editors:

• Publication decision: The journal editor is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editor is guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by legal requirements such as defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editor may consult with the editorial board or reviewers when making decisions.
• Fair Play: The editor must evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the author's race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.
• Confidentiality: The editor and any member of the editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisors, and the publisher, as appropriate.
• Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: The editor should not use unpublished information in his/her own research without the express consent of the author. The editor should refrain from evaluating manuscripts in which he/she has conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or (possibly) institutions related to the articles.
• Involvement and cooperation in investigations: The editor must take reasonable steps to respond when there are ethical complaints about a submitted manuscript or published article.

Duties of Reviewers:

• Contribution to editorial decision: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communication with the author, can also help the author improve the article.
• Timeliness: Any selected reviewer who feels unable to review the research presented in a manuscript or knows that he or she will not be able to review it in a timely manner should notify the editor and excuse himself or herself from participating in the review process.
• Confidentiality: Any manuscript received for review must be treated as a confidential document. It must not be shown to or discussed with others.
• Objectivity standards: Reviews should be objective, and reviewers should express their opinions clearly and with supporting arguments.
• Acknowledgement of sources: Peer reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. The reviewer should also draw the editor's attention to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published article of which he or she has personal knowledge.
• Disclosure and conflicts of interest: Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review should be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts with conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any authors, companies, or institutions related to the articles.

Authors' Duties:

• Reporting Standards: Authors of original research reports must present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. The underlying data must be accurately represented in the article. The article must contain sufficient detail and references to allow others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or deliberately inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.
• Originality and plagiarism: Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original work and, if they have used the work and/or words of others, these must be properly cited or referenced. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical behaviour and is unacceptable.
• Multiple, redundant, or simultaneous publications: An author should generally not publish manuscripts describing the same research in more than one journal or major publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously and/or publishing the same article in different journals constitutes unethical behaviour and is unacceptable.
• Acknowledgement of sources: Acknowledgement of the work of others should always be given. Authors should cite publications that were influential in determining the nature of the work reported. Information obtained privately, such as in conversations, correspondence, or discussions with third parties, should not be used or reported without the explicit written permission of the source. Information obtained while performing confidential services, such as reviewing manuscripts or applying for grants, should not be used without the author's explicit written permission of the work involved in such services.
• Authorship of the article: Authorship should be limited to those who have contributed significantly to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where others have participated in certain substantial aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the article and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the article and agreed to its submission for publication.
• Disclosure and conflicts of interest: All authors must disclose in the manuscript any financial or other conflicts of interest that could be construed as influencing the results or interpretation of their manuscript. They must also disclose all sources of financial support for the project.
• Fundamental errors in published work: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his or her own published work, the author must notify the journal editor or publisher promptly and cooperate with the publisher to retract or correct the article.

Duties of the Editor:

We are committed to ensuring that advertising, reprints or other commercial revenue does not impact or influence editorial decisions.

*This statement is based on Elsevier's recommendations and the COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors