Information for Authors

Overview

• Full-text open access
• No page limits
• Manuscript links to author-supplied online supporting data
• Streamlined online manuscript preparation, review and publication
• Expert editing
• Non-anonymous peer reviews of published papers and published reviewer comments
• Immediate publication upon acceptance
• No pre-publication gag rules or embargoes
• Free publication

1. Scope of the Journal
2. Standards for Papers
3. Author Privileges
4. Editorial Policies
5. Publication Workflow
6. Author Tools
7. Author Templates
8. Reviewer Templates
9. Open Access Copyright and License Agreement
10. Publication Fees
11. How To Submit A Paper

Published papers ars PDF manuscripts with links to author-supplied supporting data. A two-sentence summary and optional summary figure and caption will accompany each published paper.

2. Standards for Papers

• be hiqh-quality original scholarly contributions that have not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. In this context, "scholarly contributions" would generally include:
  • Well-reasoned and honest efforts to present and/or discover the truth based on the best available evidence;
  • References to important relevant publications and past work;
  • Verifiable facts and evidence;
  • Clear differentiation between facts and speculation;
  • Sufficient progress and/or new information to justify publication (heavily "shingled" papers and "least publishable unit" papers are not acceptable);
  • Clear focus, good organization, appropriate brevity, and no extraneous material;
  • Conclusions that are supported by the presented evidence.
• be consistent with the Scope Of The Journal as described above;
• be created and submitted by registered users through the journal web site;
• include either references to other published work, or supporting online data that are sufficiently quantitative and detailed to enable verification and use of published results by other researchers (researchers who wish to receive "credit" for publishing their results must publish their results in a form that that can be readily used by other researchers);

• All manuscripts, supporting data, reviews and correspondence will be handled by editors and reviewers in a secure and confidential manner;
• Published papers will include the names of the editors and reviewers that recommended publication;
• Reviewers recommending rejection of a paper will not be known to the authors;
• Acceptance or rejection of papers will be based solely on the journal's Standards for Papers. See the Reviewer Templates for more details;
• Associate Editors will be recognized experts in their respective fields, and rely on their own judgment and experience to balance the comments provided by peer reviewers, and to distinguish between potential errors and legitimate differences in opinion between authors and reviewers;
• In cases where legitimate differences in opinion exist on important scientific, technological or policy issues, the editors may solicit commentary papers from members of the community with opposing views;
• A "paper trail" of all versions of submitted materials, review reports, etc., will be posted on the journal web site and be available to the authors;
• Editors and reviewers will perform their functions with speed and diligence;
• A log of relevant dates (submission, review, revision, acceptance, etc.) will be published with each paper;
• Papers will be published online immediately upon acceptance unless the authors request that the paper be published along with another paper, group of papers, or as part of a special issue;
• Editors may permit authors to modify the published online versions of their papers to correct errors and omissions. Any changes to online papers after the date of first publication will be documented in detailed errata sections contained within the updated versions of the papers;
• Authors of all submitted papers must approve an open access license agreement.