Submission guidelines
Contents
Instructions for Authors
(Revised on 6 December 2023)
General
Limnology is the official English-language journal of the Japanese Society of Limnology (JSL), and publishes original articles in the fields of basic, theoretical, or applied limnology that present significant findings for the community of scholars. The scope of Limnology comprises all aspects of physics, chemistry, biology, or related fields of rivers, lakes, ground waters, flood plains, and other inland wetlands, including human-made wetlands such as farm ponds, paddy fields, and irrigation ditches. Preference will be given to hypothesis- or prediction-driven studies. Descriptive studies on natural phenomena or studies performed in oceans will be considered only when they have significant contributions to advances in limnological sciences and are likely to interest a wide range of readers. The journal accepts contributions from both members of the society and non-members.
Of the papers published in the past two years in Limnology, the Editorial Board members choose one or two papers each year that represent exceptional achievements in the field of Limnology. Such papers will be honored as “Limnology Excellent Paper Award”. Please see below for the past Limnology Excellent Paper Award nominees.
Types of papers
Manuscripts should be in the form of Rapid communications, Research papers, Review articles, Research reports, Comments or Editorials. Limnology also publishes Special features. Potential guest editors of Special features are encouraged to contact the Editor-in-Chief for guidance before submitting their proposals.
There are no formal limits to the length of papers, but since page space in the journal is tight, the authors should consider the following word limits of the main text (excluding title page, abstract, acknowledgments, references, tables, figure legends). If the main text exceeds the limit of words, we encourage authors to clearly state the scientific validity in the cover letter to the editor.
Poorly prepared and unnecessarily lengthy manuscripts have less chance of being accepted. Authors are strongly encouraged to consider using electronic supplementary material (ESM), which is viewable in the online edition of the journal although will not be published in the print edition.
Rapid communications should be notes on timely topics including new methods, novel findings, or suggestive results that may have an impact on future studies. They are limited to be maximum of 4000 words (main text only). For Rapid communications, authors must include a brief statement justifying rapid publication in the cover letter, so that the editors will endeavor to handle it on an accelerated timetable in the peer review process.
Research papers should contain fully developed analysis and detailed accounts of significant findings for the community of scholars. Taxonomic papers are also considered under this category. They are limited to be maximum of 7000 words (main text only).
Review articles should provide novel insight and syntheses of topical subjects. We do not publish papers that simply review the literature. They are limited to be maximum of 10000 words (main text only).
Research reports, which were renewed from Asia/Oceania reports since October 2023, include scientific descriptions of unique phenomena in poorly known study systems from all over the world or presentation of long-term and/or broader spatial scale data with brief descriptions. Descriptive manuscripts without full discussion can be considered under this category provided that they make significant contributions to advances in the limnological sciences. According to the FAIR Data Principles, data sets should be presented as electronic supplementary material. They are limited to be maximum of 4000 words (main text only).
Comments generally provide alternative interpretations of or insight into articles published in Limnology. Comments should be short and concise. They are limited to be maximum of 1500 words (main text only). The authors of the original Limnology article are provided an opportunity to respond to comments in the same issue in which they are published.
Editorials generally provide information, such as news, announcements and obituaries, which are relevant for readers of Limnology. Editorials are not externally peer reviewed and should not be submitted via the Editorial Manager System. Please directly contact to Editorial office (limnologyjsl@gmail.com) if you wish to provide any information for readers of Limnology.
Special Feature
Limnology welcomes special feature proposals from members of the society as well as non-members. All Special feature articles will be reviewed according to the same standards as Research papers or Review articles. Please note that Limnology does not publish conference proceedings. If you wish to propose a Special feature, please submit the following information to the Limnology editorial office.
- 1. Special feature proposal
(1 Preface + 5 or more Research papers / Review articles)
1) Title of the special feature
2) Contents, aims and scopes of the special feature
3) Names and affiliations of the guest editors
4) Tentative titles, names and affiliations of potential authors (you don't need to contact the authors at this stage)
5) Review and publication schedule
- 2. Guest editors' CVs (including a list of publications and editorial experience)
Limnology is published three times per year (January, April and August). The deadline for acceptance of articles intended for publication will be approximately two and half months before the publication date of the respective issue:
-> 15 October for the Jan issue (Issue 1)
-> 15 January for the April issue (Issue 2)
-> 15 May for the August issue (Issue 3)
Editorial office
Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Noboru Okuda
Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
Managing Editor: Dr. Toshiyuki Ishikawa
Shiga University, Otsu, Japan
For queries and submissions, please contact: limnologyjsl@gmail.com
Language
All manuscripts are to be written in clear and concise English. Authors who are not fluent in English must seek the assistance of a colleague who is a native English speaker and is familiar with their field of work. Alternatively, authors may use a professional English language editing service. It is authors’ responsibility to pay for any fees associated with using a professional English language editing service.
Manuscript submission
- Legal requirements. Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before; that it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else; that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities — tacitly or explicitly — at the institute where the work has been carried out. The publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.
- Permissions. Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online format and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors.
- Online submission. Authors should submit their manuscripts online. Electronic submission substantially reduces the editorial processing and reviewing times and shortens overall publication times. Please follow the hyperlink “Submit online” on the right and upload all of your manuscript files following the instructions given on the screen.
Excess-page charges
There is no submission fee for Limnology.
Excess-page charge is not applied from the submission of a manuscript later than January 1st, 2021.
Cover letter
When submitting an article to Limnology, please include a cover letter describing the background, objective, and originality of your study. In addition, a justification for rapid publication is required for an article intended for Rapid communications. Please also include a statement about potential conflict of interests associated with the publication of the manuscript. The authors may use the cover letter template below.
Cover letter template (Download docx, 22 kB)
Referees
Authors are required to suggest the names, affiliations, and email addresses of five potential referees. The suggested referees should not be members of the same institutions and should not be current collaborators. The suggested referees should not have published with any of the authors of the manuscript in the past five years.
Manuscript structure
Manuscripts should be prepared with numbered lines with 3-cm margins and double line spacing on A4 (or U.S. letter-size) paper. Pages should be numbered consecutively and arranged in the following order:
- Title page
The title page should include:
- A concise and informative title of paper
- The names and affiliations of all authors
- The email address of the corresponding author (Up to two authors can be corresponding in the manuscript. Please note that only one corresponding author can take primary responsibility for communication with the journal, from the manuscript submission via Editorial Manager (EM) to publication of the accepted paper.)
- The number of words (main text only)
- The number of figures and tables
- Abstract
Please provide an abstract of 250 words or less. The abstract should not contain any undefined abbreviations or unspecified references.
- Keywords
Please provide three to five keywords which can be used for indexing purposes. Keywords should be basically different from words already included in the manuscript title.
- Introduction
- Methods
- Results
- Discussion
For Rapid communications, Research papers, and Research reports, the IMRAD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) is recommended. Results and Discussion can be combined if appropriate.
- Conclusions (if appropriate)
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section (or subsection of the Discussion or Results and Discussion section).
- Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section before the reference list. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.
Ethical standards – Please include at the end of the acknowledgments a declaration that the experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.
- References
The list of References should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should only be mentioned in the text. Do not use footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference list. Titles of publications written in languages other than English must be translated; the original language should be indicated in parentheses at the end of the title.
- Tables
Tables should be prepared in editable formats of MS Word or Excel formats; pasted images are not acceptable. Each table should be typed with a table legend and footnote (if necessary) on a separate page at the end of the main text after the references, and numbered with sequential Arabic numerals. All tables should be referred to in the text.
- Figure legends
Figure legends should be included in the main text of the manuscript after references (or tables, if any) on separate page(s).
- Figures
Figures should be prepared as a separate file (or multiple files). Each figure should appear on a separate page, and be numbered with sequential Arabic numerals. All figures should be referred to in the text.
- Electronic supplementary material (ESM) (if any)
If any ESM is supplied, this material will not be published in the print edition of the journal, but will be viewable in the online edition. All ESM should be referred to in the text (e.g. “see Table S1”).
Text Formatting
| Text | |
- Use a normal, plain 12-point Times Roman font for text. - Use italics for emphasis. - Use the automatic page-numbering function to number the pages. - Do not use field functions. - Use tab stops or other commands for indents, not the space bar. - Use the table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables. - Use the equation editor or MathType for equations. | |
| ・Heading levels Please use no more than three levels of displayed headings. | |
| ・Abbreviations and acronyms Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently thereafter. | |
| ・SI units, numbers The International System of Units (SI) should be used, but Celsius is recommended for temperature. | |
| ・Terminology The complete scientific name (genus, species, and authority, e.g., Daphnia galeata Sars) should be cited for every organism at the time of first mention in the text. Genus and species names should be in italics. The common names of animals should not be capitalized. | |
| ・Geographical names Use of geographical names should follow the international conventions currently in force and approved by Japanese authority. If you are unsure about the appropriate use of geographical names, please contact the Editor-in-Chief. | |
| ・Equations and statistics Please use the standard mathematical notation for formulae, symbols etc.: - Italic for single letters that denote constants, variables, and unknown quantities in mathematics and statistics - Roman/upright for numerals, operators, and punctuation, and commonly defined functions or abbreviations, e.g., cos, det, e or exp, lim, log, max, min, sin, tan, d (for derivative) - Bold for vectors, tensors, and matrices. |
| References | |
| ・Citation in text Cite references in the text by name and year in parentheses. In a case in which there are multiple works with the same first author and publication year, give them alphabet a-z after the publication year in order of appearance in the citation. Some examples: - This effect has been widely studied (Abbott 1991; Barakat et al. 1995; Kelso and Smith 1998; Medvec et al. 1993a). - This hypothesis was supported (Medvec et al. 1993b). | |
| ・List style Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last names of the first author of each work. The list should be arranged in order of appearance in the citation in the case in which there are multiple works with the same first author and publication year. | |
| ・Journal article Yoshimura S, Miyadi D (1936) Limnological observation of two crater lakes of Miyake Island, western North Pacific. Jpn J Geol Geogr 13:339–352 | |
| ・Article by DOI Sudo M, Okubo T, Kaneki R (2005) Paddy herbicide inputs in the entire river inflow reaching Lake Biwa, Japan. Limnology 6:91–99. doi: 10.1007/s102010050145-x - DOI should be put on all articles in References whenever it is available. Brutemark A, Karin Rengefors K, Anderson NJ (2005) An experimental investigation of phytoplankton nutrient limitation in two contrasting low arctic lakes. Polar Biol. doi: 10.1007/s0030000500790 | |
| ・Journal paper in languages other than English: Sugawara K (1936) Studies on the freshly precipitated deposits in Lake Takasuka-numa (in Japanese). Jpn J Limnol 6:102–115 | |
| ・Online document Doe J (1999) Title of subordinate document. In: The dictionary of substances and their effects. Royal Society of Chemistry. Available via DIALOG. http://www.rsc.org/dose/title of subordinate document. Cited 15 Jan 1999 | |
| ・Book Andersen T (1997) Pelagic nutrient cycles: herbivores as sources and sinks. Springer, Heidelberg | |
| ・Book chapter Allen GP, Sauzay G, Castaing P, Jouanneau JM (1975) Transport and depositions of suspended sediment in the Gironde estuary, France. In: Wiley ML (ed) Circulation, sediments, and transfer of material in the estuary. Academic, New York, pp 63–81 (Estuarine processes, vol 2) |
The author is solely responsible for the accuracy of the bibliographic data.
Always use the standard abbreviation of a journal's name according to the ISSN List of Title Word Abbreviations, see
http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php
For authors using EndNote, Springer provides an output style that supports the formatting of in-text citations and reference list.
Tables and Figures
Tables
- All tables are to be numbered using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.).
- Tables should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
- For each table, please supply a table title. The table title should explain clearly and concisely the components of the table.
- Identify any previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference at the end of the table title.
- Footnotes to tables should be indicated by superscript lowercase letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data) and included beneath the table body.
Figures
- Figures should match the size of either the column width (8.4 cm) or the printing area (17.4 × 23.4 cm).
- All figures are to be numbered using Arabic numerals.
- Figure parts should be denoted by lowercase letters. If illustrations are supplied with uppercase labeling, lowercase letters will still be used in the figure legends and citations.
- Figures should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
- For each figure, please supply a figure caption.
- Make sure to identify all elements found in the figure in the caption.
- Identify any previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference at the end of the caption.
- The publisher reserves the right to reduce or enlarge figures.
Electronic supplementary material
Electronic supplementary material (ESM) will be published in the online version only.
ESM may consist of
- information that cannot be printed: animations, video clips, sound recordings
- information that is more convenient in electronic form: sequences, spectral data, etc.
- large original data, e.g. additional tables, illustrations, etc.
Submission
-Supply all supplementary material in standard file formats.
-Please include in each file the following information: article title, journal name, author names; affiliation and e-mail address of the corresponding author.
After acceptance
Upon acceptance of your article you will receive a link to the special Author Query Application at Springer’s web page where you can sign the Copyright Transfer Statement online and indicate whether you wish to order OpenChoice and offprints. Once the Author Query Application has been completed, your article will be processed and you will receive the proofs.
Offprints can be ordered by the corresponding author.
Publication of color illustrations is free of charge.
Proof reading
The purpose of the proof is to check for typesetting or conversion errors and the completeness and accuracy of the text, tables and figures. Substantial changes in content, e.g., new results, corrected values, title and authorship, are not allowed without the approval of the Editor.
After online publication, further changes can only be made in the form of an Erratum, which will be hyperlinked to the article.
Online First
The article will be published online after receipt of the corrected proofs. This is the official first publication citable with the DOI. After release of the printed version, the paper can also be cited by issue and page numbers.
Copyright transfer
Authors will be asked to transfer copyright of the article to The Japanese Society of Limnology (or grant the Publisher exclusive publication and dissemination rights). This will ensure the widest possible protection and dissemination of information under copyright laws.
Open Choice
Open Choice allows you to publish open access in more than 1850 Springer Nature journals, making your research more visible and accessible immediately on publication.
Article processing charges (APCs) vary by journal – view the full list
Benefits:
- Increased researcher engagement: Open Choice enables access by anyone with an internet connection, immediately on publication.
- Higher visibility and impact: In Springer hybrid journals, OA articles are accessed 4 times more often on average, and cited 1.7 more times on average*.
- Easy compliance with funder and institutional mandates: Many funders require open access publishing, and some take compliance into account when assessing future grant applications.
It is easy to find funding to support open access – please see our funding and support pages for more information.
*) Within the first three years of publication. Springer Nature hybrid journal OA impact analysis, 2018.
Copyright and license term – CC BY
Open Choice articles do not require transfer of copyright as the copyright remains with the author. In opting for open access, the author(s) agree to publish the article under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
This journal is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record. As a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) the journal will follow the COPE guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct.
Authors should refrain from misrepresenting research results which could damage the trust in the journal, the professionalism of scientific authorship, and ultimately the entire scientific endeavour. Maintaining integrity of the research and its presentation is helped by following the rules of good scientific practice, which include*:
- The manuscript should not be submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration.
- The submitted work should be original and should not have been published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full), unless the new work concerns an expansion of previous work. (Please provide transparency on the re-use of material to avoid the concerns about text-recycling (‘self-plagiarism’).
- A single study should not be split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time (i.e. ‘salami-slicing/publishing’).
- Concurrent or secondary publication is sometimes justifiable, provided certain conditions are met. Examples include: translations or a manuscript that is intended for a different group of readers.
- Results should be presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation (including image based manipulation). Authors should adhere to discipline-specific rules for acquiring, selecting and processing data.
- No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own (‘plagiarism’). Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given (this includes material that is closely copied (near verbatim), summarized and/or paraphrased), quotation marks (to indicate words taken from another source) are used for verbatim copying of material, and permissions secured for material that is copyrighted.
Important note: the journal may use software to screen for plagiarism.
- Authors should make sure they have permissions for the use of software, questionnaires/(web) surveys and scales in their studies (if appropriate).
- 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.
- Authors should avoid untrue statements about an entity (who can be an individual person or a company) or descriptions of their behavior or actions that could potentially be seen as personal attacks or allegations about that person.
- Research that may be misapplied to pose a threat to public health or national security should be clearly identified in the manuscript (e.g. dual use of research). Examples include creation of harmful consequences of biological agents or toxins, disruption of immunity of vaccines, unusual hazards in the use of chemicals, weaponization of research/technology (amongst others).
- Authors are strongly advised to ensure the author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors are all correct at submission. Adding and/or deleting authors during the revision stages is generally not permitted, but in some cases may be warranted. Reasons for changes in authorship should be explained in detail. Please note that changes to authorship cannot be made after acceptance of a manuscript.
*All of the above are guidelines and authors need to make sure to respect third parties rights such as copyright and/or moral rights.
Upon request authors should be prepared to send relevant documentation or data in order to verify the validity of the results presented. This could be in the form of raw data, samples, records, etc. Sensitive information in the form of confidential or proprietary data is excluded.
If there is suspicion of misbehavior or alleged fraud the Journal and/or Publisher will carry out an investigation following COPE guidelines. If, after investigation, there are valid concerns, the author(s) concerned will be contacted under their given e-mail address and given an opportunity to address the issue. Depending on the situation, this may result in the Journal’s and/or Publisher’s implementation of the following measures, including, but not limited to:
- If the manuscript is still under consideration, it may be rejected and returned to the author.
- If the article has already been published online, depending on the nature and severity of the infraction:
- an erratum/correction may be placed with the article
- an expression of concern may be placed with the article
- or in severe cases retraction of the article may occur.
The reason will be given in the published erratum/correction, expression of concern or retraction note. Please note that retraction means that the article is maintained on the platform, watermarked “retracted” and the explanation for the retraction is provided in a note linked to the watermarked article.
- The author’s institution may be informed
- A notice of suspected transgression of ethical standards in the peer review system may be included as part of the author’s and article’s bibliographic record.
Fundamental errors
Authors have an obligation to correct mistakes once they discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published article. The author(s) is/are requested to contact the journal and explain in what sense the error is impacting the article. A decision on how to correct the literature will depend on the nature of the error. This may be a correction or retraction. The retraction note should provide transparency which parts of the article are impacted by the error.
Suggesting / excluding reviewers
Authors are welcome to suggest suitable reviewers and/or request the exclusion of certain individuals when they submit their manuscripts. When suggesting reviewers, authors should make sure they are totally independent and not connected to the work in any way. It is strongly recommended to suggest a mix of reviewers from different countries and different institutions. When suggesting reviewers, the Corresponding Author must provide an institutional email address for each suggested reviewer, or, if this is not possible to include other means of verifying the identity such as a link to a personal homepage, a link to the publication record or a researcher or author ID in the submission letter. Please note that the Journal may not use the suggestions, but suggestions are appreciated and may help facilitate the peer review process.
Authorship principles
These guidelines describe authorship principles and good authorship practices to which prospective authors should adhere to.
Authorship clarified
The Journal and Publisher assume all authors agreed with the content and that all gave explicit consent to submit and that they obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institute/organization where the work has been carried out, before the work is submitted.
The Publisher does not prescribe the kinds of contributions that warrant authorship. It is recommended that authors adhere to the guidelines for authorship that are applicable in their specific research field. In absence of specific guidelines it is recommended to adhere to the following guidelines*:
All authors whose names appear on the submission
1) made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work;
2) drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content;
3) approved the version to be published; and
4) agree 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.
* Based on/adapted from:
ICMJE, Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors,
Disclosures and declarations
All authors are requested to include information regarding sources of funding, financial or non-financial interests, study-specific approval by the appropriate ethics committee for research involving humans and/or animals, informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved animals (as appropriate).
The decision whether such information should be included is not only dependent on the scope of the journal, but also the scope of the article. Work submitted for publication may have implications for public health or general welfare and in those cases it is the responsibility of all authors to include the appropriate disclosures and declarations.
Data transparency
All authors are requested to make sure that all data and materials as well as software application or custom code support their published claims and comply with field standards. Please note that journals may have individual policies on (sharing) research data in concordance with disciplinary norms and expectations.
Role of the Corresponding Author
One author is assigned as Corresponding Author and acts on behalf of all co-authors and ensures that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately addressed.
The Corresponding Author is responsible for the following requirements:
- ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript before submission, including the names and order of authors;
- managing all communication between the Journal and all co-authors, before and after publication;*
- providing transparency on re-use of material and mention any unpublished material (for example manuscripts in press) included in the manuscript in a cover letter to the Editor;
- making sure disclosures, declarations and transparency on data statements from all authors are included in the manuscript as appropriate (see above).
* The requirement of managing all communication between the journal and all co-authors during submission and proofing may be delegated to a Contact or Submitting Author. In this case please make sure the Corresponding Author is clearly indicated in the manuscript.
Author contributions
In absence of specific instructions and in research fields where it is possible to describe discrete efforts, the Publisher recommends authors to include contribution statements in the work that specifies the contribution of every author in order to promote transparency. These contributions should be listed at the separate title page.
Examples of such statement(s) are shown below:
• Free text:
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [full name], [full name] and [full name]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [full name] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
• Conceptualization: [full name], …; Methodology: [full name], …; Formal analysis and investigation: [full name], …; Writing - original draft preparation: [full name, …]; Writing - review and editing: [full name], …; Funding acquisition: [full name], …; Resources: [full name], …; Supervision: [full name],….
For review articles where discrete statements are less applicable a statement should be included who had the idea for the article, who performed the literature search and data analysis, and who drafted and/or critically revised the work.
For articles that are based primarily on the student’s dissertation or thesis, it is recommended that the student is usually listed as principal author:
Affiliation
The primary affiliation for each author should be the institution where the majority of their work was done. If an author has subsequently moved, the current address may additionally be stated. Addresses will not be updated or changed after publication of the article.
Changes to authorship
Authors are strongly advised to ensure the correct author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors at submission. Changes of authorship by adding or deleting authors, and/or changes in Corresponding Author, and/or changes in the sequence of authors are not accepted after acceptance of a manuscript.
- Please note that author names will be published exactly as they appear on the accepted submission!
Please make sure that the names of all authors are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are current.
Adding and/or deleting authors at revision stage are generally not permitted, but in some cases it may be warranted. Reasons for these changes in authorship should be explained. Approval of the change during revision is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. Please note that journals may have individual policies on adding and/or deleting authors during revision stage.
Author identification
Authors are recommended to use their ORCID ID when submitting an article for consideration or acquire an ORCID ID via the submission process.
Deceased or incapacitated authors
For cases in which a co-author dies or is incapacitated during the writing, submission, or peer-review process, and the co-authors feel it is appropriate to include the author, co-authors should obtain approval from a (legal) representative which could be a direct relative.
Authorship issues or disputes
In the case of an authorship dispute during peer review or after acceptance and publication, the Journal will not be in a position to investigate or adjudicate. Authors will be asked to resolve the dispute themselves. If they are unable the Journal reserves the right to withdraw a manuscript from the editorial process or in case of a published paper raise the issue with the authors’ institution(s) and abide by its guidelines.
Confidentiality
Authors should treat all communication with the Journal as confidential which includes correspondence with direct representatives from the Journal such as Editors-in-Chief and/or Handling Editors and reviewers’ reports unless explicit consent has been received to share information.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
To ensure objectivity and transparency in research and to ensure that accepted principles of ethical and professional conduct have been followed, authors should include information regarding sources of funding, potential conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved animals.
Authors should include the following statements (if applicable) in a separate section entitled “Compliance with Ethical Standards” when submitting a paper:
- Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
- Research involving Human Participants and/or Animals
- Informed consent
Please note that standards could vary slightly per journal dependent on their peer review policies (i.e. single or double blind peer review) as well as per journal subject discipline. Before submitting your article check the instructions following this section carefully.
The corresponding author should be prepared to collect documentation of compliance with ethical standards and send if requested during peer review or after publication.
The Editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned guidelines. The author will be held responsible for false statements or failure to fulfill the above-mentioned guidelines.
Competing Interests
Authors are requested to disclose interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication. Interests within the last 3 years of beginning the work (conducting the research and preparing the work for submission) should be reported. Interests outside the 3-year time frame must be disclosed if they could reasonably be perceived as influencing the submitted work. Disclosure of interests provides a complete and transparent process and helps readers form their own judgments of potential bias. This is not meant to imply that a financial relationship with an organization that sponsored the research or compensation received for consultancy work is inappropriate.
Editorial Board Members and Editors are required to declare any competing interests and may be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists. In addition, they should exclude themselves from handling manuscripts in cases where there is a competing interest. This may include – but is not limited to – having previously published with one or more of the authors, and sharing the same institution as one or more of the authors. Where an Editor or Editorial Board Member is on the author list we recommend they declare this in the competing interests section on the submitted manuscript. If they are an author or have any other competing interest regarding a specific manuscript, another Editor or member of the Editorial Board will be assigned to assume responsibility for overseeing peer review. These submissions are subject to the exact same review process as any other manuscript. Editorial Board Members are welcome to submit papers to the journal. These submissions are not given any priority over other manuscripts, and Editorial Board Member status has no bearing on editorial consideration.
Interests that should be considered and disclosed but are not limited to the following:
Funding: Research grants from funding agencies (please give the research funder and the grant number) and/or research support (including salaries, equipment, supplies, reimbursement for attending symposia, and other expenses) by organizations that may gain or lose financially through publication of this manuscript.
Employment: Recent (while engaged in the research project), present or anticipated employment by any organization that may gain or lose financially through publication of this manuscript. This includes multiple affiliations (if applicable).
Financial interests: Stocks or shares in companies (including holdings of spouse and/or children) that may gain or lose financially through publication of this manuscript; consultation fees or other forms of remuneration from organizations that may gain or lose financially; patents or patent applications whose value may be affected by publication of this manuscript.
It is difficult to specify a threshold at which a financial interest becomes significant, any such figure is necessarily arbitrary, so one possible practical guideline is the following: "Any undeclared financial interest that could embarrass the author were it to become publicly known after the work was published."
Non-financial interests: In addition, authors are requested to disclose interests that go beyond financial interests that could impart bias on the work submitted for publication such as professional interests, personal relationships or personal beliefs (amongst others). Examples include, but are not limited to: position on editorial board, advisory board or board of directors or other type of management relationships; writing and/or consulting for educational purposes; expert witness; mentoring relations; and so forth.
Primary research articles require a disclosure statement. Review articles present an expert synthesis of evidence and may be treated as an authoritative work on a subject. Review articles therefore require a disclosure statement. Other article types such as editorials, book reviews, comments (amongst others) may, dependent on their content, require a disclosure statement. If you are unclear whether your article type requires a disclosure statement, please contact the Editor-in-Chief.
Please note that, in addition to the above requirements, funding information (given that funding is a potential competing interest (as mentioned above)) needs to be disclosed upon submission of the manuscript in the peer review system. This information will automatically be added to the Record of CrossMark, however it is not added to the manuscript itself. Under ‘summary of requirements’ (see below) funding information should be included in the ‘Declarations’ section.
Summary of requirements
The above should be summarized in a statement and placed in a ‘Declarations’ section before the reference list under a heading of ‘Funding’ and/or ‘Competing interests’. Other declarations include Ethics approval, Consent, Data, Material and/or Code availability and Authors’ contribution statements.
Please see the various examples of wording below and revise/customize the sample statements according to your own needs.
When all authors have the same (or no) conflicts and/or funding it is sufficient to use one blanket statement.
Examples of statements to be used when funding has been received:
- Partial financial support was received from [...]
- The research leading to these results received funding from […] under Grant Agreement No[…].
- This study was funded by […]
- This work was supported by […] (Grant numbers […] and […]
Examples of statements to be used when there is no funding:
- The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.
- No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.
- No funding was received for conducting this study.
- No funds, grants, or other support was received.
Examples of statements to be used when there are interests to declare:
- Financial interests: Author A has received research support from Company A. Author B has received a speaker honorarium from Company W and owns stock in Company X. Author C is consultant to company Y.
Non-financial interests: Author C is an unpaid member of committee Z.
- Financial interests: The authors declare they have no financial interests.
Non-financial interests: Author A is on the board of directors of Y and receives no compensation as member of the board of directors.
- Financial interests: Author A received a speaking fee from Y for Z. Author B receives a salary from association X. X where s/he is the Executive Director.
Non-financial interests: none.
- Financial interests: Author A and B declare they have no financial interests. Author C has received speaker and consultant honoraria from Company M and Company N. Dr. C has received speaker honorarium and research funding from Company M and Company O. Author D has received travel support from Company O.
Non-financial interests: Author D has served on advisory boards for Company M, Company N and Company O.
Examples of statements to be used when authors have nothing to declare:
- The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
- The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
- All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
- The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.
Authors are responsible for correctness of the statements provided in the manuscript. See also Authorship Principles. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject submissions that do not meet the guidelines described in this section.
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