Authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher share responsibility for maintaining the integrity of scholarly communication. SAGA expects all parties involved in publication to act honestly, transparently, independently, fairly, and responsibly.

Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, relevance, originality, methodological quality, ethical compliance, and contribution to the journal's field, without discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, institutional affiliation, political belief, or other irrelevant personal characteristics.

Authorship should accurately reflect individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the research and manuscript. All listed authors should approve the submitted manuscript and accept accountability for their contributions.

• Individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution, analysis, interpretation, or preparation of the work should be appropriately credited.
• Individuals who do not meet appropriate authorship criteria should not be listed as authors.
• Guest, gift, honorary, and ghost authorship are not acceptable.
• Contributions that do not justify authorship should be appropriately acknowledged where relevant.
• All authors should agree to the authorship, author order, and submitted version of the manuscript.
• Requests for changes in authorship after submission must be justified and are subject to editorial evaluation and agreement from the affected contributors.

Manuscripts submitted to SAGA must represent original scholarly work and must appropriately acknowledge the ideas, data, methods, text, figures, and other intellectual contributions of others.

• Plagiarism, including inappropriate copying or unattributed use of another person's work, is unacceptable.
• Data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation that misrepresents research findings, and deliberate distortion of research results constitute serious misconduct.
• Manuscripts must not be simultaneously submitted to another journal while under consideration by SAGA.
• Redundant, duplicate, or substantially overlapping publication must be disclosed and appropriately managed.
• Authors must accurately cite relevant sources and must not engage in inappropriate citation manipulation or excessive citation practices intended primarily to influence citation metrics.

SAGA takes allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously, whether concerns arise before or after publication. Allegations will be evaluated fairly, confidentially, and with appropriate consideration of the available evidence.

Potential misconduct may include, but is not limited to:

• Plagiarism;
• Data fabrication or falsification;
• Inappropriate image manipulation;
• Duplicate or redundant publication;
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest;
• Authorship manipulation;
• Citation manipulation;
• Peer-review manipulation;
• Paper-mill activity or fabricated manuscripts;
• Misrepresentation of ethical approval or research consent; and
• Other practices that compromise the integrity of the scholarly record.

Where credible concerns arise, the Editor may request explanations, supporting documentation, original data, ethics documentation, authorship information, or other evidence necessary to evaluate the concern.

Where appropriate, the journal may contact relevant institutions, research-integrity offices, funders, or other responsible bodies. Cases will be handled with reference to applicable COPE guidance or other recognized publication-ethics procedures.

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose financial, professional, institutional, personal, academic, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived to influence their responsibilities in the publication process.

Authors should provide an appropriate conflict-of-interest declaration. The absence of a conflict should also be stated where required by the journal.

Editors must not handle manuscripts where circumstances create a significant conflict that could compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, editorial independence. Appropriate alternative editorial arrangements should be made in such cases.

Research involving human participants, personal or confidential information, animals, or other activities requiring formal ethical oversight must comply with applicable ethical standards, laws, regulations, and institutional requirements.

• Authors must obtain appropriate ethical approval where required.
• Informed consent must be obtained where applicable, including appropriate consent for publication of identifiable information.
• Privacy, confidentiality, and protection of personal or sensitive data must be maintained.
• Authors should provide information concerning ethics approval, consent, or exemption when relevant to the research.

The journal may request supporting ethical documentation where necessary to evaluate compliance.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of the data, analyses, methods, software, algorithms, and results reported in their manuscripts.

• Research methods should be described with sufficient clarity to support scholarly evaluation and, where appropriate, reproducibility.
• Data should not be fabricated, falsified, selectively altered, or presented in a misleading manner.
• Authors should preserve relevant research records and supporting materials in accordance with applicable institutional, disciplinary, legal, and ethical requirements.
• Where ethically and legally possible, authors are encouraged to make data, code, algorithms, protocols, or other materials supporting the research available through appropriate repositories or supplementary materials.
• Restrictions on data availability due to privacy, confidentiality, legal, commercial, security, or ethical considerations should be clearly explained where relevant.

Authors must respect intellectual property rights and obtain permission where necessary for copyrighted material reproduced from other sources.

Copyright ownership, open-access licensing, permitted reuse, repository deposition, and other licensing conditions are governed by SAGA's separate Copyright and Licensing Policy.

Published SAGA content is subject to the journal's stated open-access licence. Authors and readers should consult the Copyright and Licensing Policy for the complete terms applicable to published articles.

SAGA is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record after publication.

When a significant error, omission, ethical concern, or integrity issue is identified in a published article, the journal will evaluate the matter and may issue an appropriate post-publication notice.

Depending on the nature and severity of the issue, actions may include:

• Correction or corrigendum;
• Editorial notice;
• Expression of concern;
• Retraction; or
• Other appropriate amendment to the scholarly record.

Retractions and other significant post-publication actions will be clearly identified and linked to the affected article where technically possible. The original scholarly record will be preserved where appropriate rather than silently removed or altered.

Authors, readers, reviewers, and other stakeholders may raise legitimate concerns regarding editorial decisions, journal procedures, publication ethics, published content, or the conduct of individuals involved in the publication process.

Complaints and appeals should clearly describe the concern and, where possible, provide relevant evidence or supporting documentation.

Appeals against editorial decisions should identify the specific grounds for reconsideration and should address substantive scientific, methodological, ethical, or procedural matters rather than disagreement with the outcome alone.

Complaints and appeals will be considered objectively and, where appropriate, by an editor or responsible person who was not directly involved in the matter under dispute.

Editorial decisions must remain independent from commercial, financial, institutional, personal, or other inappropriate influence.

The payment or waiver of article processing charges, where applicable, must not influence editorial evaluation or decisions regarding acceptance or rejection.

Manuscripts submitted by editors, editorial board members, reviewers, publisher-affiliated individuals, or other persons associated with the journal must be handled in a manner that preserves editorial independence and avoids conflicts of interest.