Review Policy

1. Surveillance of research ethical issues

1) Reviewers will review submitted manuscripts for ethical integrity as well as academic value. Reviewers can identify similarities or overlaps between submitted and previously published papers based on personal experience and knowledge and conduct further investigations.
2) Reviewers must not personally communicate with the author when they are aware of ethical issues in a submitted paper. Reviewers must inform the editorial board in detail and specifically about research ethical issues and provide relevant information.

2. Maintain confidentiality

1) Reviewers cannot use the ideas, unpublished data, or information in submitted manuscripts for their research or profit without the authors’ consent.
2) Reviewers cannot share information about manuscript reviews with anyone or contact the authors directly without the editor’s permission. Reviewers who will read a submitted manuscript must upload a confidentiality agreement when entering the review results into the online submission system.

3. Participate in manuscript improvement

1) Reviewers should not only evaluate submitted manuscripts but also contribute to improving them. Reviewers can provide authors with academic knowledge related to the submitted manuscript or provide advice for improving the manuscript. Reviewers should adhere to good reviewing etiquette in this process.
2) Reviewers must decline a review request if it is determined that they are not qualified to review the requested manuscript. Appropriate and candid refusal of a review request is essential to maintaining the academic quality of published papers and preventing delays in the review process

4. Fair evaluation

1) To ensure an objective review, reviewers must exclude personal bias while reviewing a manuscript. Reviewers’ comments on submitted manuscripts should be clear and specific, and evidence should be provided if necessary.
2) Despite the double-blind review system, if reviewers can guess the author of a submitted manuscript, they must immediately notify the editorial board and reject the review request.