JOURNAL POLICIES


Future Science titles endorse the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, issued by the International Committee for Medical Journal Editors, and the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, produced by the Committee on Publication Ethics, and GPP3.This information is also available at www.future-science.com.


Manuscript submission & processing Future Science titles publish a range of article types, including solicited and unsolicited reviews, perspectives and original research articles. Receipt of all manuscripts will be acknowledged within 1 week and authors will be notified as to whether the article is to progress to external review. Initial screening of articles by internal editorial staff will assess the topicality and importance of the subject, the clarity of presentation, and relevance to the audience of the journal in question. If you are interested in submitting an article, or have any queries regarding article submission, please contact the Editorial Director (contact information can be found on our website at: www.future-science.com). For new article proposals, the Editorial Director will require a brief article outline and working title in the first instance. We also have an active commissioning program whereby the Commissioning Editor, under the advice of the Editorial Board, solicits articles directly for publication. External peer review: Through a rigorous peer-review process, Future Science titles aim to ensure that reviews are unbiased, scientifically accurate and clinically relevant. All articles are peer reviewed by three or more members of the International Editorial Board or other specialists selected on the basis of experience and expertise. Review is performed on a double-blind basis – the identities of peer reviewers and authors are kept confidential. Peer reviewers must disclose potential conflicts of interests that may affect their ability to provide an unbiased appraisal (see Conflict of Interest Policy below). Peer reviewers provide general comments to the editor and both general and specific comments to the author(s). Where an author believes that an editor has made an error in declining a paper, they may submit an appeal. The appeal letter should clearly state the reasons why the author(s) considers the decision to be incorrect and provide detailed, specific responses to any comments relating to the rejection of the review. Further advice from members of the journal’s Editorial Board and/or other external experts will be sought regarding eligibility for re-review. Revision: Most manuscripts require some degree of revision prior to acceptance. Authors should provide two copies of the revised manuscript – one of which should be highlighted to show where changes have been made. Detailed responses to reviewers’ comments, in a covering letter/email, are also required. Manuscripts may be accepted at this point or may be subject to further peer review. The final decision on acceptability for publication lies with the journal editor. Post-acceptance Accepted manuscripts will undergo production in-house. This will involve type-setting, copy-editing, proof-reading and re-drawing of any graphics. Authors will receive proofs of their article for approval and sign off and will be asked to sign a transfer of copyright agreement, except in circumstances where the author is ineligible to do so (e.g., government employees in some countries). Embargo policy Following the acceptance of articles for publication, authors (and their institutions, etc.) are welcome to publicize the publication; authors wishing to do so, should advise the editor of the details beforehand. No publicity relating to publication in a Future Science journal should be carried out while the manuscript is under consideration. However, prior publicity linked to presentations at meetings does not jeopardize publication in a Future Science journal. In cases where data may be of overwhelming public health importance, the above policy may be waived; should this be the case, the appropriate authorities responsible for public health should decide whether to disseminate information to physicians and the media in advance and should be responsible for this decision. The journal editor should be informed if these circumstances apply. Any queries relating to publicity of manuscripts should be directed to the journal editor. Disclosure & conflict of interest policy Authors must state explicitly whether financial and/or nonfinancial relationships exist that potentially conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript and any such po- tential conflict of interest (including sources of funding) should be summarized in a separate section of the published article. Authors must disclose whether they have received writing assistance and identify the sources of funding for such assistance. Authors declaring no conflict of interest are required to publish a statement to that effect within the article.


Authors must certify that they have disclosed relationships in which they (or a close family member): is employed, is a contractor, provides services, or has otherwise collaborated in commercial or scientific pursuits – even in the absence of direct monetary remuneration. Stock holdings and issued or pending patents of an author or family member should also be disclosed. This is list is not exclusive of other forms of financial involvement. A 36-month disclosure window should be used. Details of relevant conflicts of interests (or the lack of) must be declared in the ‘Disclosure’ section of the manuscript for all listed authors.


External peer reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest that could bias their opinions of the manuscript, and they should disqualify themselves from reviewing specific manuscripts if they believe it appropriate. Should any such conflict of interest be declared, the journal editor will judge whether the reviewer’s comments should be recognized or will interpret the reviewer’s comments in the context of any such declaration. Ethical conduct of research For studies involving data relating to human or animal experimental investigations, appropriate institutional review board approval is required and should be described within the article. For those investigators who do not have formal ethics review committees, the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki should be followed. For investigations involving human subjects, authors should explain how informed consent was obtained from the participants involved. Patients’ rights to privacy Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information should not be included unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or legal guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that the patient be shown the manuscript to be pub¬lished. When informed consent has been obtained it should be indicated in the manuscript. In attempting to maintain patient anonymity, identifying details should be omitted where they are not essential. However, patient data should never be amended or falsified. Informed consent should be obtained whenever there is any doubt that anonymity can be assured. Use of personal communications & unpublished data Where an individual is identified within a review as a source of information in a personal communication or as a source for unpublished data, authors should include a signed statement of permis- sion from the individual(s) concerned and specify the date of communication. Clinical trial registration Future Science titles prefer to publish clinical trials that have been included in a clinical trials registry that is accessible to the public at no charge, is electronically searchable, is open to prospective registrants and is managed by a not-for-profit organization, such as www.clinicaltrials.gov (sponsored by the United States National Library of Medicine). Where a clinical trial registration number is available, this should be included at the end of the abstract and also listed the first time the authors use a trial acronym to refer to the trial they are reporting in the manuscript. Unregistered clinical trials should be declared as such, and the reason for nonregistration should be provided. Whilst referees will take registration status into account, all well designed and presented trials and corresponding data will be considered for publication. Errata/corrigenda Mistakes by either editor or author should be identified wherever possible and an erratum or corrigendum published at the earliest opportunity. We will attempt to contact the author of the original article to confirm any error, and publish an appropriate erratum or corrigendum at the earliest opportunity. Duplicate publication/submission & plagiarism All manuscripts submitted to Future Science titles are considered for publication on the understanding that they have not been published previously elsewhere or are under consideration for publication elsewhere. The journal may, however, consider republication of a paper previously published in a language other than English, subject to prominent disclosure of the original source and with any necessary permission. Authors will be asked to certify that the manuscript represents valid work and that neither this manuscript nor one with substantially similar content under their authorship has been published or is being considered for publication elsewhere. Where specific findings from a particular study have been previously published (in Future Science titles or elsewhere), Future Science titles will not consider manuscripts reporting the same findings, except where: the results are substantially reanalyzed, reinterpreted for a different audience, or translated into another language; the primary publication is clearly acknowledged and cited and the trial registration number(where available) of the original research is included; and the publica- tion is clearly presented as an analysis derived from the primary publication results or marked as a translation, with appropriate permission obtained from the previous publisher and copyright laws upheld. All submitted articles will be evaluated using plagiarism detection software, which compares the submitted manuscript with full text articles from all major journals databases and the internet. The use of published or unpublished ideas, words or other intellectual property derived from other sources without attribution or permission, and representation of such as those of the author(s) is regarded as scientific misconduct and will be addressed as such.. Scientific misconduct & retraction If misconduct by authors or reviewers is suspected, either pre- or post-publication, action will be taken. An explanation will be sought from the party or parties considered to be involved. If the response is unsatisfactory, then an appropriate authority will be asked to investigate fully. Future Science will make all reasonable attempts to obtain a resolution in any such eventuality and correct the record or archive as necessary (publishing a retraction of the article as required). Compliance with funder open or public access policies Future Science is supportive of open and public access policies mandated by various funding bodies. In the first instance, please check whether your article type is covered by your funder mandate (i.e., in some cases, funder policies only cover research articles, rather than review articles). Please advise the Editor on submission if your article was funded by any of the bodies below. Where open access publication is a requirement of your funding, our article processing charge will need to be paid (in many cases, this will be covered by your funder, and you should check the specific details of this on the funder website). As standard for our Open Access option, articles are published under a CC BY-NC-ND license, and this will be used in the first instance; however, where the funder requires it, articles can be published under a difference Creative Commons license (i.e., the CC BY license in the case of The Wellcome Trust). Self-archive policy Future Science is supportive of self-archiving. Should you be interested in archiving your work, please be aware of the policies outlined on our website at: www.future-science.com/page/authors.jsp.


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