This journal is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record. As a member of the The World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) the journal will follow the WAME, ICMJE and COPE guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct.

Authors should refrain from misrepresenting research results which could damage the trust in the journal and ultimately the entire scientific endeavor. Maintaining integrity of the research and its presentation can be achieved by following the rules of good scientific practice, which includes:

1. The manuscript has not been submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration.

2. The manuscript has not been published previously (partly or in full), unless the new work concerns an expansion of previous work (please provide transparency on the re-use of material to avoid the hint of text-recycling (“self-plagiarism”).

3. A single study is not split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time (e.g. “salami-publishing”).

4. No data have been fabricated or manipulated (including images) to support your conclusions.

5. No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the authors own (“plagiarism”). Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given (this includes material that is closely copied (near verbatim), summarized and/or paraphrased), quotation marks are used for verbatim copying of material, and permissions are secured for material that is copyrighted.

6. Important note: the journal may use software to screen for plagiarism.

7. Consent to submit has been received from all co-authors and responsible authorities at the institute/organization where the work has been carried out before the work is submitted.

8. Authors whose names appear on the submission have contributed sufficiently to the scientific work and therefore
share collective responsibility and accountability for the results