Conflict of Interest

The publisher requires a declaration of conflict of interest (COI) from all parties involved in the processing of an article. The editorial office of the journal strictly excludes any potential conflict of interest (e.g., affiliation) that may arise from financial or non-financial factors such as sponsorship, project support, affiliate, etc., in order to maintain the objectivity and scientific integrity of scholarly publishing.

 

Any potential conflict of interest must be disclosed in the Conflict of Interest section. If there is no potential conflict of interest, please add the statement, such as “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

 

Authors should provide the statement of conflict of interest during the submitting stage. The journal has the right to reject an article lacking COI. Authors may mark a list of excluded or recommended reviewers, and these materials are considered to be confidential.

 

Reviewers should disclose the potential conflict of interest when assigned the review task. If there are any relationships between the reviewers and authors considered by the editorial office, then they will be substituted by other experts. Reviewers have the right to recommend other experts to be reviewers.

 

Editors should also disclose the COI when assigned the article processing work. Editors must not be colleagues, co-authors, or any supporting or cooperating part with the authors. Any potential link should be disclosed to avoid the possibility of peer review manipulation.