If the research involves living subjects (humans, animals, or other living organisms), authors are required to include an appropriate research ethics statement when submitting their manuscript. The most suitable place to include this statement is normally within the Methods section of the paper. However, to maintain anonymity during the double-blind peer review process, the ethical statement should not be included in the manuscript text, but rather provided in the submission system when uploading the article.

The editorial team will review all ethical statements to ensure they are appropriate for the type of study being reported. Any manuscript submitted without an adequate ethical statement will be returned to the authors and will not be processed further until a clear and explicit statement is included.

When submitting a paper, authors should include the following points in the ethical statement, if applicable:

• The name of the institutional or national research ethics committee or review board that approved the study must be stated, including the approval number or ID if one was provided.
  If the research received a waiver of approval or did not require ethical approval, please indicate this and briefly explain the reason.
• For research involving animal testing, plant trials, or other biological materials, authors should state that all procedures followed the relevant institutional and/or national guidelines for the care, use, and treatment of experimental organisms.
• For research involving human participants (such as farmers, field operators, or survey respondents):
• Authors must confirm that the research was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and in compliance with applicable national and institutional regulations.
• Authors must confirm that all participants (or their parent or legal guardian, in the case of minors) provided written informed consent to participate in the study.
• For studies that involve identifiable individuals (for example, photographs, videos, interviews, or personal data), a statement must be included confirming that consent for publication was obtained from all individuals concerned.
• For research involving field experiments, prototype testing, or agricultural machinery trials, please include the registration or permit number (if applicable) issued by the relevant institution, university, or government agency.

Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Submissions

To preserve anonymity, ethical statements should not be included in the manuscript file but must be completed in the submission system under the relevant section. This information is not shared with reviewers and therefore does not need to be anonymized.
If a reviewer wishes to verify the ethical statement, they may contact the editorial office for clarification.

Participant Consent to Publish

Researchers should not publish or share identifiable individual data collected during the course of research without specific consent from the individual or their legal representative.
Written informed consent to publish must be obtained from participants (or from a parent or legal guardian in the case of minors) for any research involving identifiable human subjects.

This requirement also applies to deceased individuals, in which case consent should be obtained from the next of kin. Authors must confirm that such consent was obtained and that any identifiable participants were informed of the intention to publish. Examples of identifying materials include personal case descriptions, photographs, videos, X-ray images, or genetic profiles.

To protect participant anonymity, authors are not required to submit proof of consent to the journal. However, a statement confirming that informed consent for publication was obtained for all identifiable individuals should be declared in the Mandatory Author Declaration.