Rating the Manuscript

During the manuscript evaluation, please rate the following aspects:

4.1 Novelty: Is the question original and well-defined? Do the results provide an advancement of the current knowledge?

4.2 Scope: Does the work fit the journal scope*?

4.3 Significance: Are the results interpreted appropriately? Are they significant? Are all conclusions justified and supported by the results? Are hypotheses carefully identified as such?

4.4 Quality: Is the article written in an appropriate way? Are the data and analyses presented appropriately? Are the highest standards for presentation of the results used?

4.5 Scientific Soundness: Is the study correctly designed and technically sound? Are the analyses performed with the highest technical standards? Is the data robust enough to draw conclusions? Are the methods, tools, software, and reagents described with sufficient details to allow another researcher to reproduce the results? Is the raw data available and correct (where applicable)?

4.6 Interest to the Readers: Are the conclusions interesting for the readership of the journal? Will the paper attract a wide readership, or be of interest only to a limited number of people? (Please see the Aims and Scope of the journal.)

4.7 Overall Merit: Is there an overall benefit to publishing this work? Does the work advance the current knowledge? Do the authors address an important long-standing question with smart experiments? Do the authors present a negative result of a valid scientific hypothesis?

4.8 English Level: Is the English language appropriate and understandable?

4.9 Publication ethics:

• Manuscripts should only report results that have not been submitted or published before, even in part.

• Manuscripts must be original and should not reuse text from another source without appropriate citation.

• The studies reported should have been carried out in accordance with generally accepted ethical research standards.

If the reviewer becomes aware of any scientific misconduct or fraud, plagiarism or any other unethical behavior related to the manuscript, they should raise these concerns with the in-house editor immediately.