The author affirms the author representations noted below and confirms that have reviewed and complied with the relevant instructions to authors, Ethics in Publishing Policy, Declarations of interest disclosure, and information for authors from different countries. Please note that some journals may require that all co-authors sign and submit Declarations of Interest disclosure forms. The author is also aware of the publisher’s policies concerning retractions and withdrawal. For further information on services, see https://www.hintree.org/publications.

Representations And Warranties

The author(s) represent(s) and warrant(s) that:

1. The manuscript is original and has not been published before in its current or substantially similar form in another publication, i.e., the publication in the journal shall be the first publication of the manuscript.

2. For the avoidance of doubt, theses and non-peer-reviewed conference presentations do not qualify as “another publication”; but published papers in conference proceedings do.

3. The manuscript is not under consideration for publication by another publisher.

4. The manuscript does not contain any unlawful statements or content and does not infringe any existing third-party copyright, moral right, or other intellectual property rights.

5. The manuscript does not contain any defamatory material, is not in violation of any rights of privacy or any other rights of third persons, and does not violate any existing common law or statutory copyrights.

6. The author(s) possess(es) all rights in the manuscript necessary to grant the licenses.

7. Where the manuscripts report on research involving human or nonhuman vertebrates, the research meets the highest reporting standards and has been approved by an institutional ethics committee.

8. “Proof of consent” has been obtained for studies of named organisations and people.

9. All author(s) have received a final version of the manuscript, have reviewed its content and agree(s) to its publication and the order of the authors as listed.

10. Any person that has made a significant contribution to the research and the paper has been listed as an author and that minor contributors and works of others mentioned in the manuscript have been appropriately attributed in the manuscript.

11. The author(s) has/have disclosed any potential conflict of interest in the research and that any support from a third party has been noted in the acknowledgements.

12. The author(s) will not deposit the final version of the manuscript into a subject or institutional repository until the manuscript has been published.

13. The author(s) shall hold harmless from any third-party claims resulting from the publication of the manuscript should there be a breach of the above warranty.

14. The author(s) authorise(s) in co-operation with the author(s), the necessary steps to prevent third-party infringement of the copyright in the manuscript.

Publishing Process

The authors have followed the submission and review processes identified for the journal, as generally described below, or as more specifically described in our step-by-step submission guide.

1. The authors have selected a corresponding author and authorized the corresponding author (or designee) to agree to and execute this agreement on their behalf, and to prepare the information required for the publishing process as outlined herein.

2. The corresponding author has communicated in writing (which may be in email form) the terms and conditions outlined herein to the other authors, and can make those communications available to the publisher on request.

3. During the publishing process, the authors will have provided the identity and contact information of all co-authors and other contributors, along with acknowledgements of relevant funding agency sources, and the selection of a public use license as described.

4. The authors will respond in a timely fashion to editorial communications such as those concerning reviews and revisions.

5. The authors understand and agree that certain personal information about them including contact information will be used by the editor and the publisher to communicate concerning the submission and review process. It is the practice of the publisher when identifying an author in the introductory section of an article to note the author’s institutional affiliation and contact email address. The authors will be asked whether they wish to opt-out of any other promotional information by the publisher.

Author Responsibilities

The authors have reviewed this agreement and the publishing guidelines and policies identified herein, agree with their terms, and accept the responsibilities as outlined below.

1. The article is the original work of the authors concerning the preparation of the manuscript, and all contributors who have been involved in such research or preparation have been appropriately identified (please refer to our relevant author guidelines).

2. Any third-party quotations or figures have been appropriately noted in the article and fully identified in the references, and in the case of illustrations in particular the authors have obtained full permission (distribution rights in all media and all territories) from the illustrator or their agent for re-publication in the article. The same permissions process would be required for any re-use of any substantial third-party text elements.

3. All institutional approvals and protocols have been obtained and followed in conjunction with the research and the preparation of the manuscript and submission to the journal. Similarly, any related requirements of relevant research funding agencies have been followed. Any funding agencies providing support for the underlying research have been identified.

4. Any unusual hazards inherent in the chemicals, equipment or procedures used in the underlying research as described in the article are identified therein as hazardous and have been disclosed to the editor.

5. The authors have used appropriate research terms and descriptions of compounds, as outlined in the relevant author guidelines.

6. The authors hereby warrant that nothing in the submitted work is defamatory, libellous, or otherwise unlawful, violates any right of privacy, infringes any duty of confidentiality which the author(s) may owe to another party or violates any contract, express or implied, that the author(s) may have entered.