Editorial Policies

1. Peer Review Policy

The journal employs a double-blind peer review system, with an acceptance rate of approximately 30%. The review process is as follows:

1) Initial Review: The editors and editorial board's preliminary review group (comprising 5 experts) conducts the initial review together. Manuscripts lacking originality, suspected of academic misconduct, having serious scientific flaws, lacking valuable information, or not fitting the journal's scope will be directly rejected.

2) External Review: Manuscripts that pass the initial review are sent to at least two external experts for peer review.

3) Final Review: The Editor-in-Chief conducts the final review, combining the external reviewers' opinions to make the final decision. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the content of the entire journal.

After submission, the editorial office usually provides feedback within half a month. If no response is received within two months, authors may submit to another journal after informing the editorial office. Duplicate submissions are strictly prohibited.

2. Submissions by Editorial Board Members/Editors/Reviewers

Submissions from the journal's editorial board members, editors, or reviewers must adhere to the same review process as other submissions. The review process will be conducted independently of the related editorial board member, editor, reviewer, and their research group. Additionally, they must not participate in the review process of manuscripts submitted by authors with whom they have competitive, cooperative, or other conflicting interests.

3. Academic Misconduct Detection and Handling

The editorial office uses the "Academic Misconduct Literature Check System (AMLC)" provided by China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) to conduct two plagiarism checks: during the initial review stage and the final typesetting stage. The overall similarity rate should not exceed 20%, and the similarity rate against any single source should not exceed 8%. If any academic misconduct is detected, the manuscript will be rejected, and the journal will not accept submissions from the related authors and their team for 5 years.

4. Corrections and Retractions

The journal generally does not correct or retract published articles except in necessary cases:

1) Corrections: If an unintended scientific error is found in a published article that does not significantly affect the results and conclusions, the editorial office will publish a correction notice in the journal. The correction notice will detail the changes made to the original article and provide the source of the article. A corrected version of the article will be published, detailing the changes and noting the update date. The pre-correction version will be archived and accessible, but citations should refer to the latest version.

2) Retractions: Retractions will be processed under the following circumstances:

1) When an article contains severe scientific errors that render the results and conclusions unreliable.

2) When an article is suspected of plagiarism, data fabrication, or other academic misconduct, the editorial office will initiate an investigation and publish a statement informing readers of the risks. The results of the investigation will be made public after its conclusion. Upon confirming academic misconduct, the editorial office will retract the article and publish a retraction statement.