Terms of Use

Effective Date: January 1, 2025 | Last Updated: July 7, 2026

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using this website, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. If you do not agree, please do not use this website.

2. Intellectual Property

Website content: All content on this website — including but not limited to text, graphics, logos, icons, images, page layout, and the overall design — is the exclusive property of Hong Kong Guokang Future Publishing House Co., Limited or used under license, and is protected by applicable intellectual property laws including copyright and trademark laws. The names "GF Publishing," "Guokang Future," the GF logo, and the journal names and logos are trademarks of the company. Website content may not be reproduced, distributed, modified, or republished without prior written permission, except as expressly permitted below.

Journal articles: Articles published in our journals are distributed under Creative Commons licenses as indicated on each article. Unless otherwise stated, articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. Authors retain copyright of their published work.

3. Permitted Use

You may use this website for lawful, non-commercial, and academic purposes including:

• Browsing, reading, and citing published content for academic, educational, or personal reference.
• Sharing links to website pages or published articles through any medium.
• Downloading and printing journal articles (where available) for personal academic use, consistent with the applicable Creative Commons license.

4. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to:

• Use any automated means — including bots, crawlers, scrapers, or spiders — to extract, collect, or harvest data from this website without our express written permission.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of this website, its servers, systems, or networks.
• Upload, transmit, or distribute any malware, viruses, or other harmful code through or to this website.
• Use this website in any way that violates applicable laws or regulations.
• Misrepresent your identity or affiliation when contacting us through this website.

5. Disclaimer

This website and all content are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. GF Publishing makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding:

• The uninterrupted or error-free operation of this website.
• The accuracy, completeness, currency, or reliability of any content on this website.
• The availability of this website at all times.

The views and opinions expressed in published journal articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of GF Publishing. Content on this website is for informational and academic purposes only and does not constitute professional, medical, or legal advice.

6. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, GF Publishing, its directors, officers, employees, and agents shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages arising from or related to your use of, or inability to use, this website or its content.

7. Third-Party Links

This website may contain links to third-party websites — including indexing databases, partner organizations, and external resources. These links are provided for convenience only. GF Publishing does not endorse or assume responsibility for the content, accuracy, privacy practices, or availability of any third-party websites.

8. Governing Law

These Terms of Use are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. Any disputes arising from or relating to these terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Hong Kong.

9. Changes to These Terms

We reserve the right to update these Terms of Use at any time. Changes take effect upon posting to this page with a revised date. Your continued use of this website after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

10. Contact

For questions regarding these Terms of Use, please contact: