For the policies on research and publication ethics that are not stated in these instructions, the Good Publication Practice Guidelines for Medical Journals [1, 2] or the Guidelines on Good Publication Practice [3] can be applied. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned requirements. The author will be held responsible for false statements or failure to fulfill the above-mentioned requirements.

     □ Authorship

All authors must have participated in the research and/or article preparation. Individuals listed as authors must: 1) agree to be listed; 2) have contributed to the research reported; and 3) approve the submitted version of the manuscript. Each author should sign the Authorship Responsibility and Copyright Transfer Agreement Form attesting that he/she fulfils the authorship criteria. The statement that all authors have approved the final article should be true and be included in the disclosure.

     □ Conflict of interest statement

A conflict of interest may exist when an author (the author's institution or employer) has financial or personal relationships or affiliations that could bias the author's decisions regarding the manuscript. Authors are expected to provide detailed information about all relevant financial interests and relationships or financial conflicts, particularly those present at the time the research was conducted and through publication, as well as other financial interests (such as patent applications in preparation), that represent potential future financial gain. All disclosures of any potential conflicts of interest, including specific financial interests or relationships and affiliations (other than those affiliations listed on the title page of the manuscript) relevant to the subject of the manuscript will be disclosed by the corresponding author on behalf of each co-author, if any, as part of the submission process. Likewise, authors without conflicts of interest will be requested to state as such as part of the submission process. If authors are uncertain about what constitutes relevant financial interests or relationships, they should contact the editorial office.

     □ Statement of informed consent

Copies of written informed consent and institutional review board (IRB) approval for clinical research should be kept. If necessary, the editor or reviewers may request copies of these documents to resolve questions about IRB approval and study conduct.

     □ Statement of human and animal rights

Clinical research should be performed in accordance with the Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects, outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki [4]. Clinical studies that do not comply with these requirements will not be considered for publication. For human subjects, personal information such as patient names, individual registration numbers, date of birth, or other private matters should not be disclosed. For animal subjects, research should be conducted according to the National or Institutional Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and these facts must be declared in the manuscript. Copies of the protocol approved by the IRB or Animal Ethical Committee (AEC) should be available for review if necessary. Please consult the ’Editorial and Publishing Policies’ for more information.