I Report Compiling

Peer reviewers should assess the major strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript as well as look at the statistical power of the study if relevant.

They should then provide numbered comments detailing points to be addressed by the author(s). All requested major revisions should be clearly outlined. Minor revisions should also be mentioned where the peer reviewer feels these will improve the clarity and purpose of the manuscript.

When writing numbered comments, reviewers can refer to the following questions:

● In general, is the paper easy to follow and does it have a logical flow?

● Do the title and abstract cover the main aspects of the work?

● Are the results novel? Does the study provide an advance in the field?

● Did the study gain ethical approval appropriate to the country in which the research was performed if human or animal subjects were involved and is it stated in the manuscript?

● Does the paper raise any ethical concerns?

● Are the methods clear and replicable?

● Do all the results presented match the methods described?

● Is the statistical analysis appropriate to the study design?

● Are the controls appropriate for the study design?

● Is the data clearly and appropriately presented using clear language?

● Did the authors make the underlying data available to the readers?

● Do the conclusions correlate to the results found?

● Are the figures and tables clear and legible?

● Are images appropriate for the article? If there are any concerns about duplication or manipulation in images, please raise potential issues by email or in your report. Please refer to our image manipulation policy.

● Does the paper use appropriate references in the correct style to promote understanding of the content?

● Does the English grammar, punctuation or spelling need to be corrected?

II Decision making

1.Manuscript Ranking:

10% - The manuscript is excellent, ranking among the top 10% of relevant manuscripts.

25% - The manuscript is good, but need minor improvements

50% - The manuscript is not bad, but need major improvements

75% - The manuscript is poor, and should be rejected generally

2.Review Decision:

Accept: Paper is well written and a significant contribution to the literature.

Minor Revisions: Issues that must be addressed by the author(s) before publication in order to adhere to scientific reporting standards, or issues affecting clarity.

Major Revisions: Major revisions needed which may consist of a lack of ethical consent statement, a conclusion contradicted by results, further experiments needed to support the conclusions (e.g. controls), unclear figures and tables etc.

Reject: The manuscript has major flaws that cannot be improved with revisions. Rejection without option to resubmit recommended.

***If any form of misconduct is suspected such as plagiarism, undeclared conflicts of interest, falsification of results etc., these should be expressed directly in confidence to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.