Authorship
All listed authors must have contributed substantively to the work and approved the submitted version. Anyone who contributed materially must be listed; ghost and gift authorship are not accepted.
Originality and plagiarism
Submitted work must be original. Reuse of the author's own previously published material must be declared and cited. Manuscripts found to contain unattributed material are rejected and the decision is recorded.
Simultaneous submission
A manuscript may not be under consideration at another journal at the same time. Authors confirm this at submission.
Research involving humans or animals
Studies involving human participants or animals must state the approving ethics body and reference number, or explain why approval was not required.
Data and references
Sources must be acknowledged and cited accurately. Fabricated data, manipulated images and citation manipulation are grounds for rejection or retraction.
Confidentiality
Manuscripts are confidential before publication. Reviewer identities and confidential comments to editors are never disclosed to authors or readers.