Submission Guidelines

Language

This journal exclusively accepts manuscripts written in English. Submissions in other languages will not be considered.

Article types

Article Publishing Charge (APC)

As an open access journal with no subscription charges, a fee (Article Publishing Charge, APC) is payable by the authors, or their institution or funders, to cover the costs associated with publication. This ensures your article will be immediately and permanently free to access by everyone.

Declaration of generative AI use

Authors must declare the use of generative AI tools in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper. Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI tools”) have been rapidly adopted in research and scholarly publishing, offering significant benefits while requiring clear standards for responsible and transparent use.

Authors preparing a manuscript for this journal may use AI tools to support them. However, these tools must never be used as a substitute for human critical thinking, expertise and evaluation. AI tools may only be applied with human oversight and control. Authors remain responsible and accountable for the contents of their work. This includes accountability for:

• Carefully reviewing and verifying the accuracy, comprehensiveness and impartiality of all AI-generated output, including checking sources, as AI-generated references can be incorrect or fabricated.
• Editing and adapting all material thoroughly to ensure the manuscript represents the author’s authentic and original contribution and reflects their own analysis, interpretation, insights and ideas.
• Ensuring accuracy and originality of any AI-generated images and providing appropriate attribution where relevant.
• Ensuring the use of any tools or sources, AI-based or otherwise, is made clear and transparent to readers.
• Ensuring the manuscript is developed in a way that safeguards data privacy, intellectual property and other rights, by checking the terms and conditions of any AI tool that is used.

Authors must not list or cite AI tools as an author or co-author on the manuscript, since authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to, and performed by, humans.

The use of AI tools must be declared by adding a statement at the end of the manuscript when the paper is first submitted, in a new section placed before the reference list. For example — Title of new section: “Declaration of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the manuscript preparation process.” Statement: “During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the published article.”

The declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools, such as tools used to check grammar, spelling and references. Authors are also not required to disclose the use of AI features within specialist disability-related assistive technology, provided these are used solely for accessibility purposes.

Title page

You are required to include the following details in the title page:

• Article title — concise and informative. Please avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible, unless they are established and widely understood (e.g. DNA).
• Author names — the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author. The order of authors should match the order in the submission system, and all names must be accurately spelled.
• Affiliations — indicated with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author’s name and in front of the corresponding address, including the full postal address, country name and, if available, the email address of each author.
• Corresponding author — clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing, publication and post-publication, and keep their contact details up to date.
• Present/permanent address — if an author has moved since the work was carried out, indicate this by a footnote using superscript Arabic numerals; the address where the work was carried out must remain the main affiliation.

Abstract

You are required to provide a concise and factual abstract which does not exceed 250 words. The abstract should briefly state the purpose of your research, principal results and major conclusions.

• Abstracts must be able to stand alone, as they are often presented separately from the article.
• Avoid references. If any are essential, cite the author(s) and year(s).
• Avoid non-standard or uncommon abbreviations. If any are essential, define them within the abstract at first mention.

Structured abstract

A structured abstract, by means of appropriate headings, should provide the context or background for your research. State the purpose of your research; outline basic procedures followed, such as the selection of study subjects or laboratory animals and observational and analytical methods; include your main findings, providing specific effect sizes and their statistical significance where possible, together with your principal conclusions; and emphasise new and important aspects of your study or observations.

Keywords

You are required to provide 5 to 8 keywords for indexing purposes. Keywords should be written in English, and multi-word keywords (using “and” or “of”) should be avoided. We recommend that you only use abbreviations in keywords if they are firmly established in the field.

Highlights

You are encouraged to provide article highlights at submission. Highlights are a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as any new methods used during your study, and help increase the discoverability of your article via search engines.

• Submit highlights as a separate editable file in the online submission system, with the word “highlights” included in the file name.
• Highlights should consist of 3 to 5 bullet points, each a maximum of 85 characters including spaces.

Graphical abstract

You are encouraged to provide a graphical abstract at submission. The graphical abstract summarises the contents of your article in a concise, pictorial, professional form, highlighting important aspects of the research. It is designed to appeal to an interdisciplinary audience and draw more attention to your online article.

• Ensure you have obtained the necessary permission to include any third-party owned material in a graphical abstract.
• Use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in the production of graphical abstracts must align with the publisher’s GenAI policies for journals.
• Submit your graphical abstract as a separate file in the online submission system.
• Ensure the image is 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more, and is readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm.
• Preferred file types are TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files.