Overview
These policies describe the guidelines in the publication process of Higher Education Press (HEP) Frontiers journals. We adopt and stick to the standards and requirements of such organizations as the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE), International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). Submission of a manuscript to a Frontiers journal implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content and that the manuscript conforms to the journal’s policies. The manuscript must be original and it, or substantial parts of it, must not be under consideration by any other journal.
Authorship
An ‘author’ is generally considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study. We recommend that you adhere to the guidelines for authorship that are applicable in your research field or, in the absence of any guidelines, to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines. According to the ICMJE guidelines, to qualify as an author one should have:
1. made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and
interpretation of data;
2. been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
3. given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently
in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content; and
4. agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the
accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Please see individual journal’s Instructions for Authors for information on the format for listing author contributions.
Author change can only be made through the corresponding author by making a request to the editor of the specific journal. Please note that changes to authorship cannot be made after acceptance of a manuscript.
Acknowledgements
Individuals who participated in the development of a manuscript but do not qualify as an author should be acknowledged. Organizations that provided support in terms of funding and/or other resources should also be acknowledged.
Submission of manuscript
Authors should read the “Instruction for Authors” on the journal’s page before making a submission. Manuscript should be prepared according to the style and specifications of the journal’s policy.
Citations
Research articles and non-research articles (e.g., Opinion, Review, and Commentary articles) must cite appropriate and relevant literature in support of the claims made. Excessive and inappropriate self-citation or coordinated efforts among several authors to collectively self-cite is strongly discouraged.
Conflict of interest
Authors should disclose all financial/relevant interest that may have influenced the development of the manuscript.
Reviewers should disclose any conflict of interest and if necessary, decline the review of any manuscript they perceive to have a conflict of interest. Editors should also decline from considering any manuscript that may have conflict of interest. Such manuscripts will be re-assigned to other editors.
Human and Animal Rights
Depending on the nature of the regarding research, manuscripts submitted for publication in the Life Science and Medicine must contain a statement to the effect that the concerning legally binding ethical standards have been met.
Reports of animal experiments must state that the “Principles of Laboratory Animal Care” were followed. Moreover authors may have to state that specific national laws (e.g., the current version of the International Law on the Protection of Animals) have been observed, too.
All human studies must state that they have been approved by the appropriate ethics committee and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down by authority organization. The author hereby declares that the research documented in the submitted manuscript has been carried out in accordance with the above stated ethical standards.
Informed Consent for publications
Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information, including patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that a patient who is identifiable be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should identify Individuals who provide writing assistance and disclose the funding source for this assistance. Identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve, however, and informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note. When informed consent has been obtained it should be indicated in the published article.
Peer review
All articles published in HEP Frontiers Journals undergo thorough peer review. This usually involves review by at least three independent peer reviewers. Individual journals may differ in their peer review processes, usually a single or double blind one.
All submissions to our journals are assessed by an editor, who will decide whether they are suitable for peer review. Submissions felt to be suitable for consideration will be sent for peer review by appropriate independent experts. Editors-in-Chief or any authorized board members will make a decision based on the reviewers’ reports and authors are sent these reports along with the editorial decision on their manuscript. Authors should note that even in light of one positive report, concerns raised by another reviewer may fundamentally undermine the study and result in the manuscript being rejected.
Confidentiality
A submitted manuscript is a confidential material. HEP Frontiers journals will not disclose submitted manuscript to anyone except individuals who partake in the processing and preparation of the manuscript for publication (if accepted). These individuals include editorial staff, corresponding authors, potential reviewers, actual reviewers, and editors. However, in suspected cases of misconduct, a manuscript may be revealed to members of HEP's ethics committee and institutions/organizations that may require it for the resolution of the misconduct or may be shared with other editors at HEP. Frontiers Journals shall follow the appropriate COPE flowcharts wherever necessary.
Misconduct
Misconduct constitutes activities in violation of research ethics, publication ethics, or any applicable guidelines/policies specified by COPE, WAME, ICMJE, and STM. Any other activities that threaten/compromise the integrity of the research/publication process are potential misconducts.
HEP Frontiers journals employs CrossCheck’s plagiarism detection in the editorial process and takes seriously all cases of publication misconduct.
Suspected cases of misconduct will be investigated according to COPE guidelines. In cases of suspected research or publication misconduct, it may be necessary for the Editor to contact and share manuscripts with third parties, for example, author(s)’ institution(s) and ethics committee(s).
Corrections and retractions
Corrections to, or retractions of, published articles will be made by publishing an Erratum or a Retraction article, without altering the original article in any way other than to add a prominent link to the Erratum/Retraction article. The original article remains in the public domain and the subsequent Erratum or Retraction will be widely indexed. In the exceptional event that material is considered to infringe certain rights or is defamatory, we may have to remove that material from our site and archive sites.
Corrections to published articles will, at the Editor(s)’ discretion, bemade via publication of an Erratum that is indexed and linked to the original article.
Retractions of published articles will be made when the scientific information in an article is substantially undermined, or the articles contain misconducts in some way. HEP Frontiers journals will follow the COPE guidelines in such cases. Retraction articles are indexed and linked to the original article.
