Research Ethics and Ethical Approval

• Research involving human participants, personal data, vulnerable populations, or animal subjects must strictly comply with recognized ethical standards, institutional policies, and applicable national or international regulations.
• Where ethics committee approval is required, authors must explicitly state the name of the approving institution/committee and provide the official reference or approval number in the manuscript.
• Authors must obtain informed consent from participants (or their legally authorized representatives) prior to conducting the research, where applicable.
• Studies involving identifiable individuals, personal information, or sensitive data must strictly adhere to relevant privacy, confidentiality, and data-protection laws.
• The Editorial Board reserves the right to request documentation verifying ethical approval, informed consent forms, or institutional permits at any stage of the review process.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must transparently disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the research findings, peer-review process, or editorial decisions.

Conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to:

• Financial relationships (e.g., funding, honoraria, stock ownership, or patent licensing).
• Employment, consultancies, or board memberships.
• Personal, family, or professional relationships.
• Academic competition or direct research collaborations.
• Institutional affiliations or organizational interests.
• Any other circumstances that could reasonably compromise impartiality.

Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest constitutes a violation of publication ethics and may be treated as publication misconduct.

Use of Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI

Authors must fully disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the preparation of their manuscript, particularly when such tools have materially influenced the research or writing process.

AI tools and Large Language Models (LLMs) must not be listed as authors, as they cannot fulfill the criteria for authorship nor assume legal or ethical responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, or originality of the work.

Authors remain solely and fully responsible for:

• The accuracy, integrity, and originality of the entire manuscript.
• Critical verification and fact-checking of all AI-generated content or claims.
• Proper citation, attribution, and reference integrity.
• Protecting confidential, proprietary, or sensitive research data.
• Ensuring that the use of AI tools does not lead to plagiarism or infringe upon intellectual property rights.

AI technologies must not be used to fabricate or falsify data, generate non-existent references, manipulate images/visuals, or otherwise misrepresent research findings.

Reviewers and editors are strictly prohibited from uploading confidential manuscript content, data, or peer-review materials into external, unauthorized AI tools that lack proper confidentiality and data-security protections.

Comprehensive requirements are available in the EnNRJ Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy.