Citation Policy

  1. Academic integrity

Academic Integrity refers to the high academic standards and values of being responsible, honest, ethical, and respectful of researchers and the studies cited in the study. Both researchers and the journal's editing staff can adopt these values to ensure better continuity in the research publishing procedures.

  1. Transparent Attribution

Researchers must consider transparent attribution to those who contributed to their studies. Additionally, they must make references to the contents drawn from other sources, especially those cited in the research and the authors’ previous studies. Besides, researchers should use direct quotation marks for those directly taken from different sources, with the exact wording, and also for those that are summarised and paraphrased. Modifications to quotations must be stated between brackets.

  1. Responsible Self-Citation

Excessive self-citation to one’s previous studies must be stated publicly, on the condition of rejecting overuse of such excessive self-citation. The peer-reviewing process and editing staff must accept only relevant instances of direct self-citation and reject those that inflate the citation matrix.

  1. Firsthand Use of Sources

Authors are responsible for the firsthand use of sources by citing only those that were actually used and consulted, and rejecting instances of fabricating lists of unconsulted sources.

  1. Avoiding Preferential Citations

Authors are called to avoid their self-irrelevant citations. Additionally, the same procedure must be followed for the author’s collaborators, team members, and members of the author’s institution or university. If cited, satisfactory justification is needed.

  1. Exclusion of Non-Scholarly Sources

Examples of material not suitable for our journal include commercial advertisements, promotional, and sponsored content.

  1. Compliance with COPE Guidelines

Following the standards and guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), citation practices must be free from manipulation and bias. The Editorial Board must prohibit these procedures aiming at increasing and influencing instances of the reference matrix.

  1. Ethical Conduct in Referencing

 Authors are responsible for manipulating citation patterns that increase citation metrics or influence decisions made by the Editorial Board. These behaviours are directly influencing the transparency and integrity of both the author’s and the journal's academic record. Consequently, our journal has the legal rights and procedures for retracting a submitted manuscript or imposing editorial sanctions.