Acadlore adheres to the COPE Core Practices and maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward publication malpractice. Misconduct includes, but is not limited to: plagiarism and text recycling; duplicate or concurrent submission; data fabrication or falsification (including image manipulation); citation manipulation; peer-review manipulation; undisclosed conflicts of interest; and misuse of third-party content.

All submissions are screened for similarity and, where appropriate, for image/metadata irregularities. Such tools are indicators only; editors make the final assessments. Allegations of misconduct are handled impartially and confidentially. Editors may request original data, code, images, and ethics approvals to verify the record. Proven cases lead to proportionate editorial actions—rejection during review, or after publication a correction, expression of concern, or retraction—with clear notices that state the reasons and link to the affected article where applicable. In serious cases we may inform the authors’ institutions or funders.

Complaints and appeals are considered by an editor not involved in the original decision, and may include additional expert input. Editorial independence is strictly observed: commercial considerations do not influence peer review or decisions. Concerns or allegations can be raised at info@acadlore.com.

Acadlore expects research that is accurate, original, reproducible, and transparent. Authors should describe methods and analyses with enough detail for verification and reasonable replication; present statistics and images without selective reporting or misleading enhancement; and provide a clear data and materials availability statement consistent with ethical, legal, and privacy requirements. Where applicable, underlying data and code should be shared or made available on reasonable request.

Authorship and contributorship must reflect substantial scholarly contributions and accountability; contributorship statements are encouraged. Conflicts of interest and funding roles must be disclosed in the manuscript. Research involving humans, animals, or sensitive materials requires prior ethical oversight (e.g., IRB/ethics-committee approval), compliance with relevant regulations, and—in human research—appropriate consent and privacy protections.

Authors are responsible for intellectual-property and permissions for any third-party content. Substantive use of generative tools must be transparent and follow the journal’s GenAI policy set out on this page: only natural persons qualify as authors; any GenAI use beyond minor language editing requires a disclosure of the tool/provider, model/version, date(s) of use, purpose, and how outputs were checked; confidential or personal data must not be uploaded to unprotected external tools; and synthetic or illustrative media must be clearly labeled.

Integrity concerns about published work are assessed in line with COPE guidance and our malpractice procedures. Where needed, we will issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction to maintain the reliability of the scholarly record.

Effective date: June 2024; Reviewed/Updated: June 12, 2025; Next review by: June 2026; Applies to: all Acadlore journals (authors, reviewers, editors); Version: 1.1

“Generative AI” (“GenAI”) refers to tools that generate or transform text, code, images, audio, video, or data in response to prompts (e.g., large language models, code assistants, image generators). This statement complements our policies on research integrity, authorship, data, images, privacy, and copyright.

• Human responsibility. Only natural persons qualify as authors. GenAI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors.

• Transparency. Substantive use of GenAI must be disclosed (Section D).

• Integrity. GenAI must not be used to fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent data, images, or citations.

• Confidentiality & privacy. Do not upload confidential manuscripts, proprietary materials, or personal data to external tools without appropriate contractual safeguards.

• Rights. Authors remain responsible for permissions, licenses, and third-party rights.

Allowed where authors retain intellectual control and verify outputs:

• Language polishing of the authors’ own text (grammar, clarity), outline or structure suggestions, reference formatting tips.

• Code scaffolding/refactoring with human testing and proper citation of any external sources.

• Accessibility or resolution improvements to figures that do not alter scientific meaning.

When GenAI contributes beyond minor editing, authors must describe the use in Methods (research use) or Acknowledgments (writing/formatting), including tool name/provider, model/version, date(s), purpose, and human verification steps. Typical cases:

• GenAI-assisted data analysis, statistical code, or simulations.

• Generation of clearly labeled synthetic data or conceptual/illustrative images (not real observations).

• Translation of content, with human verification of accuracy and nuance.

• Fabrication or manipulation of data, images, or citations; “citation invention.”

• Generating or importing reference lists without verification, or relying on unverified citations produced by GenAI.

• Undisclosed ghostwriting of substantial sections by GenAI.

• Paraphrasing others’ work to evade originality checks.

• Presenting synthetic media as real observations or experimental results.

• Uploading confidential or personal information to unprotected external tools.

Where GenAI meaningfully affects analyses, code, or visuals, provide enough detail for understanding and reasonable reproducibility (e.g., prompts where material, parameters/seeds, model/version, post-edits). Synthetic or illustrative content must be prominently labeled (e.g., in figure captions/legends) to avoid misleading readers.

Reviewers must not upload any manuscript content to external GenAI tools. Reviewers may use GenAI to improve the clarity of their own prose; if more than minor editing, add a brief note to the review.

GenAI may be used, with human oversight, for administrative aids (e.g., metadata checks, triage assistance, copyediting support). GenAI does not make acceptance/rejection decisions. Confidential content will not be processed through external tools lacking contractual protections.

The journal may use software (including GenAI) to flag integrity risks (e.g., text overlap, image irregularities, citation anomalies). These are indicators only; editors make determinations and may request clarifications, underlying data/code, or revisions. AI-assisted screening will not be used as the sole evidence to establish misconduct. Proven breaches may lead to rejection, corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions, and—where appropriate—notifications to institutions or funders.

Submission implies that contributors have read and will follow this statement. Non-compliance may affect editorial decisions and lead to post-publication actions. Questions: info@acadlore.com.

Acadlore requires every contributor to our journals to observe strict ethical guidelines, which include but are not limited to:

(1) Submit the manuscript to only one journal at a time;

(2) Ensure the originality of research results;

(3) Obtain permission from the copyright holder to publish any previously published content;

(4) Describe his/her findings and highlight the significance of the findings in the manuscript;

(5) List all those qualifying for authorship and clearly state their contribution in the manuscript;

(6) Disclose every potential conflict of interest in the manuscript;

(7) Present replicable research data and methodologies in the manuscript;

(8) Abide to the local regulations and academic norms.

Authors must ensure that any third-party content is used with permission and proper attribution, and that a data and materials availability statement is included in the manuscript consistent with ethical, legal, and privacy requirements.

Authorship of a manuscript is limited to individuals who have contributed substantially to the work; only natural persons qualify as authors, and tools or services cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. Authorship requires substantial contributions to the following:

(1) The conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;

(2) The drafting of the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content;

(3) The final approval of the version to be submitted;

(4) The agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Those who contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgments (e.g., technical support, editing assistance, funding administration).

The corresponding author is responsible for: (1) Correcting and proofreading the manuscript; (2) Revising and resubmitting up to acceptance; (3) Paying any APCs required; (4) Responding to post-publication queries related to publishing ethics, content reuse, data availability, etc. (This is not an exhaustive list.)

Author contributions. For transparency, each manuscript is recommended to include an author contributions statement. Each author is expected to contribute significantly to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work; or to have drafted the work or substantively revised it; and has approved the submitted version (and any version substantially edited by journal staff that involves the author’s contribution to the study); and agrees to be personally accountable for the author’s own contributions and for ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work—even those in which the author was not personally involved—are appropriately investigated, resolved, and documented in the literature.

Recommended format: “Conceptualization, X.X. and Y.Y.; methodology, X.X.; software, X.X.; validation, X.X., Y.Y. and Z.Z.; formal analysis, X.X.; investigation, X.X.; resources, X.X.; data curation, X.X.; writing—original draft preparation, X.X.; writing—review and editing, X.X.; visualization, X.X.; supervision, X.X.; project administration, X.X.; funding acquisition, Y.Y. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.”

To increase transparency, Acadlore integrates with established standards such as ORCID and supports the CRediT taxonomy.

Changes to authorship. The author list should be final at submission. The corresponding author confirms that all listed authors meet the journal’s authorship criteria and that no qualified contributor has been omitted.

Before acceptance. Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors are rare and must be justified in writing. Such requests require (i) a signed statement from all authors, including those added/removed; (ii) a description of each author’s contributions; and (iii) editorial approval. The editor may pause processing and, if needed, seek additional peer review.

After acceptance (before publication). Authorship changes are not permitted as a rule. Only clerical corrections will be considered (e.g., spelling/diacritics, given/family-name order, ORCID, affiliation updates). No addition, removal, or reordering of authors will be allowed. If a genuine authorship error is alleged, the editor may require withdrawal and resubmission with the correct author list.

After publication. Authorship changes are not allowed. Where necessary, minor corrections to names or affiliations may be issued via a formal Correction notice.

Authorship disputes or fabricated/guest/ghost authorship constitute research misconduct and will be handled under the journal’s malpractice procedures.

Deceased author. The corresponding author or co-authors must inform the editorial office if a manuscript is submitted with a deceased author in the authorship, or if an author passes away during the editorial process. If the deceased author was the corresponding author, the group should nominate a co-author for this role. The new corresponding author must state the contribution of the deceased author and any potential conflicts of interest. The manuscript will be published with a note below the author list.

Affiliations. Article affiliations should represent the institution(s) at which the research was conducted and/or supported and/or approved. For non-research content, affiliations should represent the institution(s) with which each author is currently affiliated.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism can occur all types of sources and media, including but not limited to:

(1) text, illustrations, musical quotations, extended mathematical derivations, and computer code;

(2) material downloaded from websites or drawn from manuscripts or other media;

(3) published and unpublished materials.

Any composite or adjusted images must be clearly described in the legend, and the original, unprocessed files may be requested by the editors to verify the record.

Acadlore does not tolerate any form of plagiarism. Others' work and/or words cannot be used without explicit citation or quotation. Any text, image, data, or idea borrowed from others' work or even your previous work must be credited to the original source. The journal also investigates text recycling, redundant (“salami”) publication, and citation manipulation; irrelevant or coerced citations will be removed.

We reserve the right to screen for unoriginal material through appropriate plagiarism checking tools, e.g., CrossRef and iThenticate. If plagiarism is detected during the peer review, the manuscript will be rejected; if plagiarism is detected after publication, we will launch an investigation and may retract the publication. We welcome readers, reviewers, and editors to raise any suspicions of plagiarism via info@acadlore.com.

Self-plagiarism

Self-plagiarism refers to the repeated publication by the authors of a work or substantial parts of a work without appropriate cross-referencing or justification for the overlap, whether in the same language or in a different language. Substantial overlap between publication can only be accepted if:

(1) the academic discourse can be strengthened editorially;

(2) the original publication grants the approval;

(3) the original source is clearly cited.

Note that self-plagiarism does not include:

(1) a preprint deposited on the personal website of the author;

(2) a preprint deposited in an institutional repository;

(3) a preprint deposited in a preprint archive. We welcome readers, reviewers, and editors to raise any suspicions of plagiarism via info@acadlore.com.

If your manuscript is based on a thesis, it should be a reworking of the material in the thesis, and follow the style required by the journal. Remember to inform us that the manuscript draws on the thesis in the cover letter. Do not cite or reference any extracts copied or adapted from the thesis. If the thesis was published previously and is publicly accessible, please obtain the permission from the publisher.

Data fabrication

Acadlore requires that all data presented in the manuscript must be original. Inappropriate selection, manipulation, enhancement, and fabrication of data are not acceptable, e.g., overstating the significance of conclusions by excluding data points, supporting a conclusion by selecting partial results from contradictory data, supporting a conclusion by choosing tools or methodologies, and deliberately fabricating data.

Image manipulation

Sometimes, research data are presented in the form of images. The results or their significance may be misrepresented if these images are modified. Although there can be legitimate reasons for image modification, Acadlore expect authors to avoid irregular manipulation of images that could cause the misinterpretation of the information in the original image.

The specific forms of irregular manipulation include:

(1) introducing, enhancing, and moving/removing image features;

(2) grouping images that should be presented separately;

(3) obscuring, hiding, or highlighting some information by modifying the contrast, brightness, or color balance.

Any research involving humans, animals, or plants must receive approval from relevant ethics committees, and obey the ethical and legal standards for research. Acadlore expects authors to respect the privacy of human subjects, and gain the necessary consent before submission.

Research with humans

Any research involving human subjects, human material, human tissues, or human data must be carried out in line with the rules of the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, and the following statement must be included in the manuscript: “Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.” Manuscripts must name the approving ethics committee/IRB and include the approval reference number where applicable. Interventional clinical trials must be prospectively registered in a publicly accessible registry, with the registration ID reported in the manuscript.

For questionnaire survey and other non-interventional studies, every participant must be fully informed of:

(1) the assurance of anonymity or not;

(2) the reasons for carrying out the research;

(3) the utilization of their data;

(4) the risks (if any) associated with their data.

For any research involving humans, the authors must obtain a written informed consent for publication from the participants before submitting to an Acadlore journal. The private information identifying participants need not be included, unless the identifiable materials are related to the study. The details of patients, such as age, race, and occupation, should be kept anonymous as far as possible.

In addition, if groups are classified by race, gender, disability, etc., the authors must explain clearly in the manuscript why such categorization was necessary.

Research with animals

To minimize the harm to animals, and avoid offense to most readers, the authors must replace animals by alternatives wherever possible, reduce the number of animals used, and refine experimental conditions and procedures. Housing, husbandry and pain management must be detailed in the manuscript.

The procedures of any research involving animals must be in line with all relevant national and institutional regulations. If client-owned animals are involved in the research, the owners must be fully informed of any risk associated with the research procedures, and the future publication of the research. The highest standard of veterinary care should be provided, if available.

The authors must observe the ARRIVE guidelines (arriveguidelines.org/) for reporting experiments using live animals. Acadlore reserves the right to reject submissions based on concerns of ethics or animal welfare. Authors should describe measures for refinement, reduction, and replacement (3Rs) and provide details on housing, husbandry, analgesia, and humane endpoints.

Research with plants

If cultivated or wild plants are involved in an experimental research, the authors should comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and provide supporting genetic information and origin in the manuscript. For research with rare and non-model plants, voucher specimens must be deposited in an accessible herbarium or museum. Acadlore reserves the right to reject submissions that fail to meet the above requirements.

Acadlore is strongly against any discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, religion, or socioeconomic status. The authors are expected to write in inclusive language, which acknowledges diversity, and conveys respect to all people. Do not contain anything in your manuscript that may imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of race, gender, culture, or any other characteristic.

Acadlore stays neutral regarding jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. If your manuscript involves any potential dispute over borders and territories, our editorial team will attempt to find a resolution that satisfies parties involved.

Acadlore recognizes freedom of expression as a fundamental right. However, we reject any false statement that tarnishes the reputation of any person, group, or organization. Our legal team can advise on pre-publication libel reviews, and address allegations of libel in any publication.

The authors retain the copyright for their articles published in Acadlore journals. The articles can be downloaded for free, and reused and quoted with a citation of the original published version, under an open access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. The authors consent to publishing their articles under this license. Acadlore will include the following note in the published text:

© 2025 by the author(s). Published by Acadlore Publishing Services Limited, Hong Kong. This article is available for free download and can be reused and cited, provided that the original published version is credited, under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Please inform the editorial office of the journal, if the license does not apply to your situation. Exceptions may be granted at the discretion of the publisher.

Reproducing copyrighted work

Permission should be sought from the rights holder to reproduce any substantial part of a copyrighted work. Unless explicated stated otherwise, the rightsholder of published material is the publisher (please refer to the imprint of the individual publications to identify the copyright holder). Copyrighted material can include figures, tables, photos, and text excerpts. Acadlore cannot publish material from other publications without permission.

Permission is required for:

a) Your own works published elsewhere and for which you did not retain copyright.

b) Unaltered or slightly modified images, tables, and artworks.

c) Photos for which you do not hold copyright.

Permission is not required for:

a) Your own figures and tables published by other publishers. Please cite the data source in the form of “Adapted from…”

b) Images, tables, and artworks completely redrawn or significantly changed. Please cite the data source in the form of “Adapted from…” Please cite the data source in the form of “Adapted from…”

c) Reasonably short quotes.

Translations

You may publish a high-quality article that you have published previously in another language, provided that:

a) Obtain permissions from the publisher and copyright holders.

b) Upload these permissions in the additional materials section during the submission.

c) Inform the journal editor about the publishing history of the original article.

d) Mention the original article in the Acknowledgements:

Patents

Once your manuscript is accepted, Acadlore provides rapid publication services. The accepted article will be online with a DOI in the upcoming issue. The authors must resolve all issues related to patent applications and intellectual property before publication. The entire publication procedure, including editorial process and production process, will be not postponed for such issues.

Any publication of Acadlore should be free from undue influence. It is mandatory for all authors to disclose any relationship or interest that may bias their work. Conflicts of interests refer to the situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on the presentation, review or publication of a work. A statement of the funders’ role (design, data collection, analysis, writing, decision to publish) must be included.

The typical conflicts of interest include financial interests like membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, and grants, and non-financial interests like personal connections, professional relationships, and affiliations. Please declare conflicts of interest as follows:

A (author name) serves as a consultant to X (entity name);

B (author name) is a member of Y (entity name);

C (author name) is a paid expert of Z (entity name).

If there are no conflicts of interest, please state:

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

We welcome readers, reviewers, and editors to raise any suspicions of conflicts of interests via info@acadlore.com.

In addition to the statement of conflicts of interest, Acadlore requires the inclusion of a funding declaration, which clarifies the funding sponsors in the design of the study, in the collection, analyses or interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

The authors must state how the research and publication of their article was funded, by naming each funder followed by the associated grant number in round brackets. All funding sources of the study should be listed in this standard way: “This work is funded by name of funder (Grant No.: XXX).” Do not include details on the program or type of grants and awards. Please use the standard spelling of funding agency names at search.crossref.org. Editors may request supporting documents (e.g., grant agreements) to verify funding disclosures where necessary.

Following COPE Guidelines, Acadlore expects the authors to take original wording from publications by other researchers, and their own work, in quotations marks with proper citations. If any material in your manuscript is taken from another source, including your own published article, please cite the source clearly, and obtain the appropriate permission.

a) Do not cite your own work excessively.

b) Do not cite advertisements or advertorial material.

c) Do not copy references from other articles without reading the cited work.

d) Put the original wording taken directly from others' publications in quotation marks, with proper citations.

Editors will not request citations to the journal or to themselves that are not directly relevant. Patterns of citation cartels or manipulation will be investigated and may lead to editorial action.

Acadlore advocates transparency and openness around data, code, and other materials associated with research, which enable our authors to achieve best practices in sharing and archiving research data. We expect all authors to record the supporting evidence to allow others to understand, verify, and replicate new findings, and to share the evidence on reasonable request, except in the presence of ethical, legal or privacy issues. In accordance with TOP Guidelines, our authors are encouraged to (1) deposit evidence in a suitable repository or storage location, for sharing and further use by others, and (2) describe where the supporting evidence may be found in a data availability statement.

Below are template examples of a data availability statement:

The authors are permitted to submit and publish additional materials that are not essential for inclusion or that cannot be accommodated in the main text, but that would benefit the understanding of the research. Unless otherwise stated, these additional materials will not be peer-reviewed.

Acadlore attaches great importance to peer review, which is crucial to the quality of the manuscript. Our peer review process involves at least two independent reviewers selected by the professional in-house editor. The reviewers are preferably experts in the relevant fields. The reviewers must be independent from the authors and their institutions, qualified for evaluating the technical aspects of the article, and available to evaluate the article within the required period.

To ensure the rigor, fairness, and effectiveness of peer review, we provide sufficient trainings and support to familiarize our editors and peer reviewers with the best practices of peer review, and with the COPE's Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers, and welcome the reporting of any sign of manipulated peer review to info@acadlore.com.

Before inviting a person as reviewer, the editorial team will check whether he/she holds any conflict of interest, which may bias the reviewer comments. Reviewers who are invited to assess a manuscript they previously reviewed for another journal does not constitute a conflict of interests.

Every reviewer is expected to keep the confidentiality of the manuscript contents, including the abstract. If he/she wants to have another person (e.g., a junior colleague) to complete the review on his/her behalf, he/she must inform the journal editor. The co-reviewing needs to be approved by the editorial office of the journal. The co-reviewer must also declare any relevant competing interests. Reviewers must not upload any manuscript content (including the abstract, figures, tables, or data) to external tools or services; confidential material may only be discussed with the editor.

The peer review of Acadlore journals is double-blind. The reviewers should not reveal their identity to the authors in any file. Acadlore will not reveal the name or any other personal information of reviewers.

Acadlore is fully committed to editorial independence, and embedding diversity and promoting equity in our editorial process. We strongly prohibit any discrimination against any party, namely, authors, reviewers, and editors, based on personal features or identity. Diversity of our contributors is highly valued. We welcome submissions from contributors of diverse backgrounds, including nationality, religion, race, and gender identity, to name but a few.

We do not tolerate any abusive behavior or correspondence towards our staff members, and reserve the right to take actions against this abuse, such as manuscript withdrawal or challenging abusive comments of peer reviewers. The integrity of our editorial process is overseen by the entire editorial team.

If any ethical concern is raised about a manuscript during the editorial process, or any report about a possible ethical problem is received after publication, the editorial team of Acadlore will carry out an investigation following COPE guidelines.

Our editors will check the following ethical concerns: (1) background and qualification of authors; (2) permissions for research with humans; (3) plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and permission for use of previously published images.

During the decision of whether to accept a manuscript, the academic editor must consider the following ethical issues: (1) whether any fact that may be perceived as a conflict of interest of the authors is disclosed in the manuscript; (2) whether the research results are presented accurately, and the significance of the results are discussed objectively; (3) whether the data and methodologies are introduced in sufficient details to enable replication by other researchers in future.

Editors must declare and avoid handling any submission when a conflict of interest exists (e.g., recent collaboration, shared affiliation, financial interest, or close personal relationship). Manuscripts authored by editors or editorial board members are handled by an independent editor, with standard peer review and no access to the decision process.

This policy applies to all academic journals published under Acadlore. It provides a formal and transparent procedure for handling (i) appeals against editorial decisions and (ii) complaints concerning editorial conduct, peer review processes, publishing ethics, or any aspect of Acadlore’s publishing practices. All appeals and complaints will be handled in accordance with the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines.

A. Appeals against editorial decisions

Authors may appeal only following a “reject and decline resubmission” decision. Appeals must be submitted within three (3) months from the decision date. Appeals submitted after this period will not be considered.

Authors should submit their appeal by email to either the specific journal’s editorial office or info@acadlore.com, with the subject line clearly indicating it is an appeal request. The appeal must include:

(a) manuscript ID and title; (b) author name(s), affiliations, and contact information; (c) a point-by-point response to each reviewer’s or editor’s comment; (d) any other supporting materials directly addressing the grounds of rejection.

Upon receiving a complete appeal, the assigned Associate Editor (who did not participate in the original decision) will evaluate the materials. If needed, the Associate Editor may consult with the original reviewers or invite new independent reviewers for further input.

The Associate Editor will provide an advisory recommendation on the manuscript (e.g., uphold rejection, invite revision, or proceed to further peer review). The final decision will be made by the Editor-in-Chief or one of the Advisory Committee Members of Acadlore.

Appeals will be acknowledged within 5 business days, and outcomes will generally be communicated within 4–6 weeks, depending on whether additional reviews are required. All appeal-related materials are handled in strict confidence.

Appeals must be respectful, fact-based, and focused on scientific or ethical issues. Attempts to influence decisions through non-academic pressure will not be considered.

B. Complaints

Authors, reviewers, editors, readers, institutions, or other stakeholders may lodge complaints about potential ethical concerns, editorial misconduct, biased behavior, review manipulation, excessive delay, or violations of Acadlore policies.

Complaints can be submitted by email to the relevant journal office or to info@acadlore.com. Please include all relevant details (e.g., manuscript ID, correspondence history, dates, evidence).

The initial assessment will be conducted by an Associate Editor. If necessary, the matter may be escalated to the Editor-in-Chief and/or an Advisory Committee Member of Acadlore for an independent review. COPE flowcharts and institutional consultations may be used as reference tools where applicable.

Outcomes may include issuing a correction or retraction, changing editors or reviewers, revising workflows, or publishing a formal response such as a Correction, Retraction, or Expression of Concern as outlined in Section VI.

All complaints and their outcomes will be logged internally to support transparency, quality control, and audits by indexing services or governing bodies.

Note: Acadlore journals welcome good-faith appeals and complaints. However, repetitive or vexatious submissions may be closed after due evaluation.

Acadlore is committed to full transparency regarding the financial, promotional, and marketing practices across its entire journal portfolio. The following policies apply to all journals published by Acadlore.

A. Revenue sources

Acadlore journals are supported by multiple funding mechanisms, including but not limited to:

Where APCs are applied, they are only charged after manuscript acceptance and are never a factor in editorial or peer-review decisions. The existence of any fee structure, along with waiver and discount policies, is disclosed on each journal's official website. No hidden fees are applied at any stage.

Editorial decisions are made independently of any commercial considerations. All peer-reviewed content is evaluated solely on the basis of scholarly merit, originality, and compliance with ethical standards.

B. Advertising policy

Acadlore permits a limited number of advertisements across its platforms, subject to strict evaluation and ethical oversight.

(1) Acceptance criteria

Advertisements are accepted only if directly relevant to the academic or scientific community, such as academic conferences, research tools, educational services, or scholarly publishing solutions. All advertisements must be:

(2) Separation and labelling

To preserve editorial independence:

(3) No editorial influence

Advertisers have no influence over any part of the editorial or peer-review process. The presence, nature, or financial value of an advertisement does not affect manuscript handling, review outcomes, or publication timing.

(4) Targeting and tracking

(5) Transparency and oversight

Acadlore reserves the right to reject or remove any advertisement that does not align with the publisher’s editorial standards or scholarly mission.

Advertising policies are reviewed regularly and made publicly accessible via journal websites to ensure ongoing transparency, accountability, and community trust.

C. Direct marketing

Acadlore may engage in direct outreach activities, including calls for papers, issue announcements, and journal updates, via email or other professional communication channels.

Such communications are:

Each message contains a clear and functional unsubscribe or opt-out mechanism.

Direct marketing practices are periodically reviewed and updated to maintain professionalism and integrity.

Acadlore will consider corrections, retractions, and expression of concern in accordance with COPE's Retraction Guidelines. Any publication found to include fraudulent results will be retracted, or an appropriate correction or expression of concern will be issued.

If an error does not affect readability or meaning, the published papers will not be updated. Examples of such errors include typos, grammatical mistakes, and spacing errors. The metadata of a paper, such as title and abstract, can be corrected on a reasonable request. The paper will be updated on our website.

The following errors will be corrected with a Correction notice: (1) errors that affect scientific interpretation (e.g., incorrect data that does not affect the final conclusions); (2) formatting errors related to science (e.g., missing figures); (3) adding or removing a reference; (4) adding or removing a significant amount of text in author contributions, funding statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgements, conflicts of interest, etc.

The Correction notice will appear in the most current issue of the journal, as a separate publication linked to the updated paper. The aim of Correction is to inform readers that the paper has been changed significantly.

Retractions are reserved for articles involving inadvertent research errors, gross ethical breaches, data fabrication, outlandish plagiarism, or other problems.

Once a Retraction is published, the original publication is added a “RETRACTED” watermark, but still be available on the journal website. The retracted publication should not be cited for future research, because they are so seriously flawed that their findings or conclusions should not be relied upon. The Retraction notice will appear in the most current issue of the journal.

In exceptional cases, Acadlore may remove an article from online publication, where it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations. For example, the article is defamatory, violates personal privacy or confidentiality laws, is the subject of a court order, or might pose a serious health risk to the general public. In this case, the reason for removing the article will be explained in a Retraction notice.

Acadlore may publish an Expression of Concern for complex, inconclusive, or prolonged situations. If a suspected research misconduct has not been fully investigated, or the investigation is inconclusive, the points of concern and countermeasures may be described in an Expression of Concern.

To safeguard long-term access to the scholarly record, the journal preserves all published content in multiple ways: (i) assignment of persistent DOIs via Crossref; (ii) regular off-site backups of article files and metadata; and (iii) participation in trusted third-party archives. Acadlore content is preserved with Portico and the CLOCKSS (Controlled LOCKSS) Archive. If publisher content becomes unavailable due to catastrophic events, title cessation, or similar trigger events, these services provide preservation and access in accordance with their governance policies.

Acadlore welcomes readers, reviewers, and editors to help us adhere to the core principles of COPE's publication ethics. To maintain the research integrity of all our publications, we encourage everyone to enquire anything related to the integrity of our published contents, raise concerns related to publishing ethics, report counterfeiting, copyright infringement or suspected piracy, etc. via info@acadlore.com.