• Fabrication and falsification: Inventing research records or misleadingly altering data, evidence, images, methods, or findings.
• Misappropriation and concealed duplication: Presenting others’ work as one’s own or concealing overlapping publication contrary to the journal’s policies.
• Authorship manipulation: Buying, selling, coercing, fabricating, or concealing author positions and substantive contributions.
• Peer-review manipulation: Reviewer impersonation, fabricated reports, concealed collusion, or interference intended to secure a predetermined outcome.
• Citation manipulation: Coercive or irrelevant citation requests, fabricated references, or arrangements intended primarily to distort citation indicators.
• False documentation or concealment: Forged permissions, ethics approvals, affiliations, declarations, or deliberate concealment of material interests.
• Improper editorial or commercial influence: Offering or accepting benefits to dictate acceptance, suppress legitimate concerns, or misrepresent the assessment a manuscript received.

Honest error, a justified methodological difference, and good-faith scholarly disagreement are not automatically misconduct. Assessments consider the evidence, context, effect on reliability, and relevant explanations.

Similarity percentages, automated flags, or suspicions alone do not establish malpractice. Tool outputs require appropriate human assessment under the relevant policy.

Corrective action may be necessary when findings are unreliable even if misconduct has not been established. Protecting the scholarly record is distinct from determining personal culpability.

Concerns are received under Allegations of Misconduct and examined under Integrity Investigations. Relevant parties are given an appropriate opportunity to respond. Outcomes are based on evidence rather than automatic penalties.

Depending on the findings, action may include requests for clarification, rejection, reassessment of compromised review, or referral to a competent institution. Decisions concerning editorial or reviewer appointments follow the applicable governance arrangements.

Changes affecting a published article follow Corrections, Retractions, Expressions of Concern, and Scholarly Record Updates. Detailed criteria and notice procedures are maintained on those pages rather than repeated here.