Submissions

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

• I, the submitting author, warrant that I shall be the point of contact throughout the peer-review and proofreading (if applicable) processes. I also warrant the following:
• I am authorized by all co-authors to submit this version of the manuscript and to be their spokesperson during the review process and beyond.
• The Author Guidelines have been strictly followed; furthermore, all references are in accordance with journal style.
• The manuscript is original, and neither it nor any illustration or supplementary material, or any part thereof, are in any way in violation of any existing original or derivative copyright.
• The manuscript has not been previously published, nor is it under consideration elsewhere (or an explanation will be provided in the 'Comments for the Editor' box during the submission process).
• Any interests that may have a bearing on the credibility of the manuscript are disclosed in a cover letter to the Editor, which is also ready for upload as a separate file.
• If submitting a research article, I, the submitting author, confirm that the research meets ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements of the study country. I confirm that all necessary consents and approvals have been obtained, and that the research and publication has been approved by the relevant ethics committee/review board where this is required.
• I have secured the necessary funds to pay the entire publication fee, in case the manuscript is accepted for publication. Alternatively, my application for a publication-fee waiver has already been submitted and approved.