Plagiarism, data falsification and image manipulation

Plagiarism is unacceptable in the journal. Plagiarism involves copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source, even your own publications, without acknowledging the original source.

Reuse of text copied from another source must be enclosed in quotation marks, and the original source must be quoted. If the study design, structure, or language of the manuscript was inspired by previous studies, those studies should be cited.

All submitted materials are checked for plagiarism using the Unicheck software. If plagiarism is found during the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected. If plagiarism is found after publication, it will be investigated and action taken in accordance with our policies.

 Image files must not be modified or adjusted in any way that could lead to misinterpretation of the information contained in the original image. If incorrect image manipulations are identified and confirmed during the peer review process, we may reject the manuscript. If image manipulation is identified and confirmed after publication, we may correct or retract the article.

The data presented must be original and must not be inappropriately selected, altered, improved or fabricated. This includes: 1) excluding data points to increase the significance of findings, 2) falsifying data, 3) selecting results that support a particular conclusion at the expense of inconsistent data, 4) deliberately choosing tools or methods of analysis to support a particular conclusion.