General guidelines

• Each submission must include a statement confirming that the manuscript is original and has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
• All articles will undergo a double-blind review process. Acceptance is contingent upon the review panel's recommendation and the editor's final approval.
• Accepted articles will be subject to copy-editing. The Editorial Board has the authority to make any necessary revisions to adhere to the journal's style and standards.
• Each author will receive a complimentary copy of the issue in which their article is published. (Subject to the availability of the print*)
• The decision regarding which articles to publish rests with the Editorial Board.
• The Editorial Board will adhere to the journal's policies and comply with legal standards concerning copyright and plagiarism.
• Members of the Editorial Board will consult and take reviewers' recommendations into account when making publication decisions.

Consent to participate

For all research involving human subjects, freely-given, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 18) and a statement to this effect should appear in the manuscript. 

In the case of articles describing human transplantation studies, authors must include a statement declaring that no organs/tissues were obtained from prisoners and must also name the institution(s)/clinic(s)/department(s) via which organs/tissues were obtained. 

Consent to publish

Individuals may consent to participate in a study, but object to having their data published in a journal article. Authors should make sure to also seek consent from individuals to publish their data prior to submitting their paper to a journal. This is in particular applicable to case studies.

Data protection, confidentiality and privacy

When biological material is donated for or data is generated as part of a research project authors should ensure, as part of the informed consent procedure, that the participants are made aware what kind of (personal) data will be processed, how it will be used and for what purpose. In case of data acquired via a biobank/biorepository, it is possible they apply a broad consent which allows research participants to consent to a broad range of uses of their data and samples which is regarded by research ethics committees as specific enough to be considered “informed”. However, authors should always check the specific biobank/biorepository policies or any other type of data provider policies (in case of non-bio research) to be sure that this is the case.

Retrospective ethics approval

If a study has not been granted ethics committee approval prior to commencing, retrospective ethics approval usually cannot be obtained and it may not be possible to consider the manuscript for peer review. The decision on whether to proceed to peer review in such cases is at the Editor's discretion.