Authorship, contributions & disputes
Authorship should reflect meaningful scholarly contribution and accountability. All authors should approve the final manuscript, agree author order and describe their contributions. Guest or purchased authorship is unacceptable. Requested changes require a reason and written agreement from affected authors. Unresolved disputes would pause processing and may require institutional investigation rather than a publisher deciding who owns the work.
Originality & concurrent submission
Submit original work that is not under consideration elsewhere. Disclose related manuscripts, prior dissemination, preprints and reused material so an editor can assess overlap transparently. Quote, attribute and seek permissions as necessary. Plagiarism and redundant publication would be evaluated in context; no similarity percentage guarantees that a manuscript is acceptable.
Human participants, consent & sensitive data
Research involving people requires appropriate ethics review or a justified exemption under applicable rules, documented before research where required. Explain informed consent, voluntary participation, confidentiality and safeguards for vulnerable participants. For minors, describe guardian permission and age-appropriate assent where required. Identifiable or sensitive information should not be published without explicit appropriate consent and a sound ethical basis.
Research & data integrity
Report methods, exclusions, uncertainty and limitations honestly. Fabrication, falsification and deceptive image or data manipulation are unacceptable. Authors should retain relevant evidence and provide a truthful data availability statement, explaining ethical, legal or access restrictions. Sharing must protect participant privacy; open data is not a reason to expose confidential information.
Editorial board publishing
Proposed policy: the editor, editorial board members and advisory board members will not publish research articles in this journal during their term of service. Ownership of the imprint confers no editorial control over manuscript acceptance; decisions rest with the independent editor and external peer review.
Conflicts & editorial independence
Authors, reviewers and editors should disclose financial, personal and professional relationships that could influence judgement. Conflicted editors would recuse themselves. Paid Global Hub assistance is neither required nor a factor in editorial decisions; it is handled separately from the journal. Buying a service cannot secure review priority, acceptance or publication.
AI use & author accountability
AI tools cannot be authors. Authors remain responsible for every claim, citation, analysis and permission. Disclose material AI-assisted drafting, translation, coding or analysis with the tool and its role, and verify its output. Do not fabricate evidence or use AI to evade originality rules. Authors, editors and reviewers must not upload confidential manuscripts or private participant data to third-party AI systems without an authorized, lawful basis.
Reviewer confidentiality
Invited reviewers should accept only within their expertise, declare conflicts, provide constructive evidence-based reports and keep manuscripts and reports confidential. Do not use unpublished ideas or data for personal advantage. Sharing with another person or service requires prior editorial authorization and suitable confidentiality safeguards.
Complaints & appeals
A future editorial contact and documented procedure will be published before intake. Complaints should identify the issue and supporting evidence. Appeals should explain a procedural error or substantive reason for reconsideration—not merely dissatisfaction. A non-conflicted person, independent of the original decision where practicable, would assess the matter and record the outcome without retaliation.
Corrections, concerns & retractions
Credible concerns would be assessed with authors and, where appropriate, institutions. Minor errors may warrant a linked correction; unreliable findings or serious breaches may warrant retraction. An expression of concern may be appropriate during unresolved investigation. Notices should state the reason transparently, preserve the scholarly record and distinguish honest error from misconduct where evidence permits.
Proposed access, copyright & licensing
Open access and an author-retained copyright model with a CC BY 4.0 license are proposed, subject to owner and editorial approval. No license is currently granted by this draft, and third-party material may carry separate restrictions. Final terms must be published and agreed before any article is accepted.
Preservation & continuity
A digital preservation plan is still to be established. No preservation service, archive contract, DOI registration arrangement or indexing membership is claimed. A verified continuity and preservation approach should be disclosed before launch.
Privacy & minimal collection
Collect only information necessary for legitimate editorial purposes, with clear notice, appropriate access controls and retention rules. The present draft site accepts no manuscripts or journal registrations. Publication enquiries use the existing Global Hub contact channel and its privacy policy; do not send confidential research or participant data there.
Recognition & identifiers
An ISSN identifies a serial; it is not an endorsement of quality. Online ISSN is not assigned and HEC recognition is not held. No application already submitted, institutional affiliation, COPE membership or other endorsement is claimed. Official HEC and ISSN guidance is linked below for background, not as evidence of compliance.