Submission guidelines
Contents
Instructions for Authors
Editing Services
English
How can you help improve your manuscript for publication?
Presenting your work in a well-structured manuscript and in well-written English gives it its best chance for editors and reviewers to understand it and evaluate it fairly. Many researchers find that getting some independent support helps them present their results in the best possible light. The experts at Springer Nature Author Services can help you with manuscript preparation—including English language editing, developmental comments, manuscript formatting, figure preparation, translation, and more.
You can also use our free Grammar Check tool for an evaluation of your work.
Please note that using these tools, or any other service, is not a requirement for publication, nor does it imply or guarantee that editors will accept the article, or even select it for peer review.
Chinese (中文)
您怎么做才有助于改进您的稿件以便顺利发表？
如果在结构精巧的稿件中用精心组织的英语展示您的作品，就能最大限度地让编辑和审稿人理解并公正评估您的作品。许多研究人员发现，获得一些独立支持有助于他们以尽可能美好的方式展示他们的成果。Springer Nature Author Services 的专家可帮助您准备稿件，具体包括润色英语表述、添加有见地的注释、为稿件排版、设计图表、翻译等。
您还可以使用我们的免费语法检查工具来评估您的作品。
请注意，使用这些工具或任何其他服务不是发表前必须满足的要求，也不暗示或保证相关文章定会被编辑接受（甚至未必会被选送同行评审）。
Japanese (日本語)
発表に備えて、論文を改善するにはどうすればよいでしょうか？
内容が適切に組み立てられ、質の高い英語で書かれた論文を投稿すれば、編集者や査読者が論文を理解し、公正に評価するための最善の機会となります。多くの研究者は、個別のサポートを受けることで、研究結果を可能な限り最高の形で発表できると思っています。Springer Nature Author Servicesのエキスパートが、英文の編集、建設的な提言、論文の書式、図の調整、翻訳など、論文の作成をサポートいたします。
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これらのツールや他のサービスをご利用いただくことは、論文を掲載するための要件ではありません。また、編集者が論文を受理したり、査読に選定したりすることを示唆または保証するものではないことにご注意ください。
Korean (한국어)
게재를 위해 원고를 개선하려면 어떻게 해야 할까요?
여러분의 작품을 체계적인 원고로 발표하는 것은 편집자와 심사자가 여러분의 연구를 이해하고 공정하게 평가할 수 있는 최선의 기회를 제공합니다. 많은 연구자들은 어느 정도 독립적인 지원을 받는 것이 가능한 한 최선의 방법으로 자신의 결과를 발표하는 데 도움이 된다고 합니다. Springer Nature Author Services 전문가들은 영어 편집, 발전적인 논평, 원고 서식 지정, 그림 준비, 번역 등과 같은 원고 준비를 도와드릴 수 있습니다.
또한 당사의 무료 문법 검사도구를 사용하여 여러분의 연구를 평가할 수 있습니다.
이러한 도구 또는 기타 서비스를 사용하는 것은 게재를 위한 필수 요구사항이 아니며, 편집자가 해당 논문을 수락하거나 피어 리뷰에 해당 논문을 선택한다는 것을 암시하거나 보장하지는 않습니다.
Instructions for Authors
The mission of the Journal of Nonlinear Science is to publish papers that augment the fundamental ways we describe, model, and predict nonlinear phenomena. Papers should make an original contribution to at least one technical area and must in addition illuminate issues beyond its boundaries. Excellent papers in a narrow field of interest may not be appropriate for the journal. Papers can be oriented toward theory, experimentation, algorithms, numerical simulations, or applications as long as the work is creative and sound. Excessively theoretical works in which the application to natural phenomena is not apparent (at least through similar techniques) or in which the development of fundamental methodologies is not present are probably not appropriate. In turn, papers oriented toward experimentation, numerical simulations, or applications must not simply report results without an indication of what a theoretical explanation might be.
The following are some questions to ask yourself about a paper:
- Is the work creative or seminal? Will it inspire others with new ways of looking at things beyond its own scope?
- Will more than a few people in a narrow subspecialty be interested in this paper? Better, will people from more than one discipline be interested in this paper? Example of a narrow topic that probably belongs in a specialty journal: proof of a new C2 closing lemma on the three-sphere. Example of a desirable topic: an explanation of the periodicity of asteroid X using a new C2 closing lemma.
- Does this paper reflect a genuine and deep understanding of the phenomena it addresses - does it deal with fundamentals? Is the author aware of the historical context and literature on the subject that may have been published outside of his or her field of interest? If not, can the author place the work in a broader context by suitable revisions?
- If the paper involves topics that are relevant to experimental work, is the author familiar with that work? If not, can the author bridge that gap by suitable additions?
- If the paper is mainly computational in nature, has the author validated the result, e.g., by using finer discretizations and/or a proof of convergence or by corroborating them with alternative methods? Does the author provide sufficient information for the reader to, in principle, reproduce the numerical results? (Note that ancillary materials may be placed on the Journal's web site.)
- Does the paper employ sound reasoning, methods, and/or models?
- Is the exposition sufficiently clear that a non-specialist can grasp the main results and purpose of the paper? Is the introduction well written, and does it place the paper in a sufficiently broad context?
Every paper does not have to be on the level of Newton, Hilbert, or Poincaré. They do have to be original, multidisciplinary in nature, and of high quality. The journal would rather err on the side of publishing innovative work in which some issues are outstanding than strive for perfect completeness.
Finally, clear writing is essential if the journal is to be truly multidisciplinary. Papers must be written in simple, direct, unambiguous sentences that scientists from other disciplines can follow. Obscure prose is a good reason to reject a paper. The Introduction in particular must be comprehensible, and the reader should be able to grasp what the main results of the paper are.
Manuscript Submission
All submissions must be made thru the Journal's online manuscript management system at http://jnls.edmgr.com/
http://www.editorialmanager.com/jnls/
Types of Articles
Original research articles and review articles are sought. Reviews should provide new insights and a unification of ideas concerning their subjects and should not merely be summaries of previously published papers.
In addition, preliminary research reports in the form of short letters are solicited. These must contain some new understanding, method, or technique that apparently constitutes a breakthrough in the subject area. The letters will be published in a separate section of the journal so that they can appear in print as rapidly as possible.
All papers must be submitted in English and must meet common standards of usage and grammar. In addition, because ours is a multidisciplinary subject, at minimum the introduction to the paper should be readable to a broad range of scientists and not only to specialists in the subject area. The scientific importance of the paper and its conclusions should be made clear in the introduction-this means that not only should the problem you study be presented but its historical background, its relevance to science and technology, the specific phenomena it can be used to describe or investigate, and the outstanding open issues related to it should be explained. Failure to achieve this could disqualify the paper.
Review Procedures
All papers will undergo a thorough peer review unless the Editor notes at once that the subject matter of the paper is not appropriate for the journal; in this case, it will be returned promptly to the author. Each paper is assigned to an editorial board member, who selects referees and oversees the reviewing process. Authors are encouraged to suggest suitable editors for their papers. Please refer to the editorial board list. Every effort will be made to secure a decision about the paper in 2-3 months and to publish accepted papers within a year of submission. As part of the "Online First" service offered by this journal, papers will be published online shortly after corrected proofs and copyright forms have been received. They will subsequently appear in the next available print issue.
Manuscript Preparation
TeX papers-Plain TeX or LaTeX are preferred, although other forms of TeX can be used. There is no specific style necessary for submission; the manuscript file will be modified by the compositor to the Journal style after it has been accepted.
Title page-The title should be brief, descriptive, and appropriate for indexing. Each author's name and affiliation should be listed.
Abbreviated title-On the bottom of the title page, list the essence of the title using no more than 50 characters for use as a running head.
Abstract-Provide an abstract that summarizes what was studied, the main results, and the conclusions stemming from those results. The abstract should not exceed a double-spaced typed page. Because abstracts are reproduced in abstracting and indexing services, abbreviations should be kept to a minimum, and bibliographic citations should be written out in full.
Abbreviations-Define abbreviations when they first occur in the text and then use only the abbreviation.
References-List the references on a separate sheet of paper. Authors may use their own style of referencing, including style of citations in text, provided it is consistent and sensible. References must include the author(s), title, journal or series name when applicable, publisher, and place and date of publication. Please provide complete and accurate information; if a reader cannot locate the reference in less than three hours with the information you provide, your referencing is a sterile exercise at best.
Acknowledgments-Technical assistance, advice, etc. should be acknowledged in a separate section at the end of the text before the references.
Tables-Number tables consecutively in order of appearance. Each table must have a caption typed above the tabular material. Symbols and abbreviated units of measure referred to in the table must be explained in the caption. All tables must be cited in the text. Please use as few horizontal and vertical lines in the body of the table as possible.
Illustrations-Illustrations should be of professional quality, including the labeling. All illustrations must have legends; they should be on a separate sheet and included with the manuscript. Symbols and abbreviated units of measure appearing in an illustration must be explained in the legend. All illustrations must be cited in the text. The preferred form for halftones is 5 by 7 unmounted, glossy photographs. Color can be published in the electronic edition of the journal, at no charge to the author, if appropriate electronic files are provided. Color will only be included in the print edition when the author covers the additional expense of color printing. If you have unusual requirements for your artwork, please contact the journal editorial office. Previously published illustrations must be accompanied by written permission from the author and publisher.
Mathematical Notation
Authors should provide a key to unusual or complex notation. All variables will be set in italic type and should not be marked; underbars written or typed in black under a variable will be reproduced as underbars and not italic. Unusual symbols, Greek, German, script, roman, and open letters should be clearly labeled. To indicate boldface, a wavy black line should be marked under the variable(s)-be sure that it is clear that you intend boldface and not an italic variable with an undertilde. Do not double-strike to indicate boldface. Please clarify the following: product and summation signs versus the Greek letters, null set versus phi, oh versus zero, lowercase x versus multiplication sign, one versus ell, prime versus superscript one, and capital versus lowercase letters.
Reprints
Twenty-five reprints will be provided with each article to the principal author (considered to be the author who is mailed the page proofs for correction). He or she can order additional copies using a form provided with the proofs.
Guidelines for Electronically Produced Illustrations for Print
General
Figures should be submitted within the body of the text. Only if the file size of the manuscript causes problems in uploading it, the large figures should be submitted separately from the text.
Vector (line) Graphics
Vector graphics exported from a drawing program should be stored in EPS format.
Suitable drawing program: Adobe Illustrator. For simple line art the following drawing programs are also acceptable: Corel Draw, Freehand, Canvas.
No rules narrower than .25 pt.
No gray screens paler than 15% or darker than 60%.
Screens meant to be differentiated from one another must differ by at least 15%.
Spreadsheet/Presentation Graphics
Most presentation programs (Excel, PowerPoint, Freelance) produce data that cannot be stored in an EPS format. Therefore graphics produced by these programs cannot be used for print.
Halftone Illustrations
Black & white and color illustrations should be saved in TIFF format.
Illustrations should be created using Adobe Photoshop whenever possible.
Scans*
Scanned reproductions of black and white photographs should be provided as 300 ppi TIFF files.
Scanned color illustrations should be provided as TIFF files scanned at a minimum of 300 ppi with a 24-bit color depth.
Line art should be provided as TIFF files at 600 ppi.
* We do prefer having the original art as our printers have drum scanners which allow for better reproduction of critical medical halftones.
Graphics from Videos
Separate files should be prepared for frames from a video that are to be printed in the journal. When preparing these files you should follow the same rules as listed under Halftone Illustrations.
Guidelines for Electronically Produced Illustrations for ONLINE
Video
Quicktime (.mov) is the preferred format, but .rm, .avi, .mpg, etc. are acceptable.
No video file should be larger than 2MB. To decrease the size of your file, consider changing one or more of the following variables: frame speed, number of colors/greys, viewing size (in pixels), or compression. Video is subject to Editorial review and approval.
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.
Research Data Policy and Data Availability Statements
This journal follows Springer Nature research data policy. Sharing of all relevant research data is strongly encouraged and authors must add a Data Availability Statement to original research articles.
Research data includes a wide range of types, including spreadsheets, images, textual extracts, archival documents, video or audio, interview notes or any specialist formats generated during research.
Data availability statements
All original research must include a data availability statement. This statement should explain how to access data supporting the results and analysis in the article, including links/citations to publicly archived datasets analysed or generated during the study. Please see our full policy here.
If it is not possible to share research data publicly, for instance when individual privacy could be compromised, this statement should describe how data can be accessed and any conditions for reuse. Participant consent should be obtained and documented prior to data collection. See our guidance on sensitive data for more information.
When creating a data availability statement, authors are encouraged to consider the minimal dataset that would be necessary to interpret, replicate and build upon the findings reported in the article.
Further guidance on writing a data availability statement, including examples, is available at:
Data repositories
Authors are strongly encouraged to deposit their supporting data in a publicly available repository. Sharing your data in a repository promotes the integrity, discovery and reuse of your research, making it easier for the research community to build on and credit your work.
See our data repository guidance for information on finding a suitable repository.
We recommend the use of discipline-specific repositories where available. For a number of data types, submission to specific public repositories is mandatory.
See our list of mandated data types.
The journal encourages making research data available under open licences that permit reuse. The journal does not enforce use of particular licences in third party repositories. You should ensure you have necessary rights to share any data that you deposit in a repository.
Data citation
The journal recommends that authors cite any publicly available data on which the conclusions of the paper rely. This includes data the authors are sharing alongside their publication and any secondary data the authors have reused. Data citations should include a persistent identifier (such as a DOI), should be included in the reference list using the minimum information recommended by DataCite (Dataset Creator, Dataset Title, Publisher [repository], Publication Year, Identifier [e.g. DOI, Handle, Accession or ARK]) and follow journal style.
See our further guidance on citing datasets.
Research data and peer review
If the journal that you are submitting to uses double-anonymous peer review and you are providing reviewers with access to your data (for example via a repository link, supplementary information or data on request), it is strongly suggested that the authorship in the data is also anonymised. There are data repositories that can assist with this and/or will create a link to mask the authorship of your data.
Support with research data policy
Authors who need help understanding our data sharing policy, finding a suitable data repository, or organising and sharing research data can consult our Research Data Helpdesk for guidance.
See our FAQ page for more information on Springer Nature's research data policy.
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.
Submission Information JNLS
Submission Information
Guidelines for Processing Submissions
Each submitted paper is tentatively assigned by the Editor-in-Chief to an Editorial Board Member. If (s)he agrees to take it on, they become the communicating editor and must then rapidly decide on the paper’s basic suitability for the journal. Unsuitable papers (over-narrowly technical; of obviously minor import ... ) may be rejected immediately, without further review, perhaps recommending that publication elsewhere be sought. The Senior Editors, Managing Editor and Editor-in-Chief will help make such determinations if needed, but hope to rely largely on the recommendations of the individual board members.
If the paper passes this first test, the communicating editor must then suggest three or four names of potential reviewers, supplying email addresses if possible, and ranking them in order of choice. The communicating editor may decide to provide one of the reviews him- or herself, and (s)he is in any case expected to read the paper and comment briefly on it in his or her summary of the reviews that are eventually obtained. The journal normally seeks two reviews: ideally, one from an expert in the area of application, and one from an expert in the mathematical methods employed in the paper, or, in the case of experimental papers, in the experimental techniques. (The list of three or four names is to guard against declinations.) Unusually large or wide-ranging papers may require three or more reviews. The Editorial Office will send out the papers with reviewer guidelines and will chase late reviews. As reviews come in, they will be sent to the assigned editor, who will make a recommendation of acceptance as is (very rare), acceptance subject to required and/or recommended revisions, or rejection.
Subject to the Editor-in-Chiefs approval, the Editorial Office will then draft a letter to the author(s) conveying this message. In the event of split opinions that the communicating editor is unable or unwilling to adjudicate, the Editor-in-Chief will ask appropriate Senior Editors to help ‘break the tie.’
Normally the Editor’s name will be made known to the author(s) of papers with which (s)he is dealing (reviewers will remain anonymous, unless they request that their identities be revealed). If an Editor provides a review (s)he may wish to conceal his(her) identity. In any case the Editor should clearly inform the Editorial office of his(her) wishes.
Papers will appear, as in the past, with the note ‘Communicated by [communicating editor’s name].’
Open access publishing
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