AQCH welcomes the submission of original, high-quality scholarly work that falls within the scope of the journal. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts comply with the journal's submission requirements, ethical standards, and publication policies before submission.

Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the manuscript being returned to the authors for correction or rejected prior to peer review.

Submission Requirements

Before submitting a manuscript, authors must ensure that:

• The manuscript is original and has not been previously published.
• The manuscript is not under consideration by another journal.
• All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
• The research complies with applicable ethical and regulatory requirements.
• All necessary permissions have been obtained for copyrighted material.
• The manuscript falls within the scope of AQCH.
• The manuscript is written in clear and professional English.

Documents Required for Submission

Authors should submit the following:

• Complete manuscript file
• Title page containing author information
• Abstract and keywords
• Tables and figures (if applicable)
• Conflict of Interest Statement
• Funding Statement
• Author Contributions Statement
• Ethics Approval Statement (where applicable)
• Informed Consent Statement (where applicable)
• AI Disclosure Statement (if Generative AI tools were used)

Manuscript Preparation

The manuscript should be prepared according to the journal's Author Guidelines and should generally include:

• Title
• Author Names and Affiliations
• Corresponding Author Information
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements (if applicable)
• Funding Statement
• Conflict of Interest Statement
• Author Contributions
• References

Authorship Requirements

Submission of a manuscript confirms that:

• All listed authors have made substantial contributions to the work.
• All authors approve the submitted version.
• No guest, honorary, or ghost authors have been included.
• All authors agree to be accountable for the integrity and accuracy of the research.

Any change in authorship after submission must be approved by all authors and justified to the editorial office.

Research Ethics Requirements

For studies involving human participants, human tissues, clinical specimens, or animals, authors must provide:

• Approval from an appropriate Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board (IRB).
• Confirmation of informed consent where applicable.
• Compliance with relevant national and international ethical standards.

The journal may request supporting documentation during the review process.

Data and Image Integrity

Authors must ensure that:

• Research data are accurate and honestly reported.
• Images have not been manipulated in a misleading manner.
• Results are presented transparently.
• Raw data, original images, and supporting materials can be provided upon request.

Any evidence of data fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate image manipulation may result in rejection or further investigation.

Reference Style

AQCH requires authors to use the MLA (Modern Language Association) referencing style for both in-text citations and the reference list.

Authors should ensure that:

• All references cited in the manuscript are included in the reference list.
• All entries in the reference list are cited within the text.
• References are complete, accurate, and consistently formatted.
• DOI information is included whenever available.
• Authors verify all citations before submission.

Manuscripts with incomplete or improperly formatted references may be returned for correction prior to peer review.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, personal, or professional relationships that could influence the research or interpretation of findings.

If no conflict exists, authors should state:

"The authors declare no conflict of interest."

Funding Disclosure

Authors must disclose all sources of financial support for the research and publication of the manuscript.

The role of the funding organization in:

• Study design
• Data collection
• Data analysis
• Manuscript preparation
• Publication decisions

should be clearly stated.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Authors who use Generative AI tools during manuscript preparation must disclose such use in accordance with the journal's Generative AI Policy.

Generative AI tools:

• Cannot be listed as authors.
• Must not generate fabricated data, results, images, or references.
• Must be used transparently and responsibly.

Authors remain fully responsible for all submitted content.

Pre-Submission Checklist

Before submission, authors should confirm that:

• The manuscript is original and not under consideration elsewhere.
• All authors have approved the manuscript.
• Ethical approvals and informed consent statements are included where required.
• Figures and tables are properly labeled and cited.
• References are formatted according to MLA style.
• Conflict of Interest and Funding Statements are included.
• AI use has been disclosed where applicable.
• The manuscript complies with AQCH Author Guidelines.

Submission and Editorial Assessment

Upon submission, manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment to evaluate:

• Scope and relevance
• Completeness of submission
• Compliance with journal policies
• Ethical requirements
• Overall scientific quality

Manuscripts that meet the journal's requirements will proceed to the peer review process. Manuscripts that fail to meet these requirements may be returned to the authors for revision or declined prior to review.

Submission of a manuscript to AQCH signifies that all authors agree to the journal's editorial policies, ethical standards, peer review procedures, and publication requirements.

Note: Although Scopus itself does not prescribe a reference style, using a clearly defined style (MLA in your case) and having strong ethics, authorship, data integrity, and disclosure requirements aligns better with the standards expected of journals seeking indexing and evaluation.