Information for Reviewers

The peer-review process is founded upon confidentiality, professional integrity, scholarly independence, and critical human judgement. Manuscripts submitted for review must be treated as confidential documents, and reviewers are expected to protect the privacy, intellectual property, and unpublished research of authors throughout the review process.

Reviewers must not upload submitted manuscripts, sections of manuscripts, figures, datasets, review reports, or confidential correspondence into public Generative AI systems or external AI-assisted platforms. Doing so may compromise author confidentiality, intellectual property rights, unpublished research data, and privacy obligations. The use of Generative AI technologies to produce, automate, or substantially influence peer-review evaluations is not permitted. Peer review requires expert human interpretation, disciplinary knowledge, critical reasoning, contextual understanding, ethical judgement, and scholarly assessment that cannot be delegated to automated systems. AI-generated assessments may contain inaccuracies, incomplete evaluations, hidden biases, or misleading interpretations that could compromise the integrity and fairness of the review process.

Reviewers are therefore expected to prepare all review comments, recommendations, and evaluations independently using their own professional expertise and scholarly judgement. Reviewers remain fully responsible and accountable for the content, quality, objectivity, and integrity of their review reports.

Where authors disclose the use of AI-assisted technologies within submitted manuscripts, reviewers should assess whether such use has been appropriately described, ethically applied, and adequately supervised by the authors. If reviewers identify concerns relating to undisclosed AI usage, fabricated content, manipulated outputs, or ethical misconduct, they should notify the editorial office confidentially.