Human authorship and accountability
All listed authors must have made a substantive contribution, approved the submission and agreed to take responsibility for their contributions. The corresponding author must have permission to act for the other authors. Independent researchers are welcome; an institutional affiliation is not required.
AI systems cannot be listed as authors. Describe substantive use of generative tools in the research, analysis, coding, images or writing. Human authors remain responsible for accuracy, sources, permissions and the final text.
Originality and evidence
Do not submit fabricated data, invented citations, manipulated results or unattributed work. Clearly identify synthetic data, simulations, illustrative examples and hypotheses. Reused material requires appropriate attribution and permission where needed.
Disclose prior publication, preprints and overlapping manuscripts. A disclosed preprint is allowed. Do not present the same work as a new original contribution in more than one journal.
Ethics, consent and sensitive information
Research involving people, animals or sensitive data must describe applicable oversight, approval or exemption and relevant consent. The author is responsible for compliance with applicable research requirements.
Do not upload identifiable participant records, raw neural data, health records, confidential third-party information or other sensitive source data. Refer to appropriately controlled repositories instead. Remove identifying details from cases unless disclosure is authorized and appropriate.
Funding, interests and materials
Include funding sources, potential competing interests, author contributions, and a data and code availability statement where relevant. Explain restrictions that prevent sharing. Authors should retain the supporting research materials needed to address reasonable questions about the work.
Commercial interests and publication fees do not excuse failures of integrity. Concerns may lead to requests for explanation, a decision not to publish, or a published correction or retraction after publication.
Last updated: October 19, 2026