Editorial and publishing policies

Submission policies

When you submit a manuscript to the journals published by Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore, we will take it to imply that the manuscript has not already been published or submitted elsewhere. The primary affiliation for each author should be the institution where the majority of their work was done. A paper can be rejected even after it has been accepted if it becomes apparent that there are problems with its scientific content, or the publishing policies have been violated.

Author responsibilities

Authorship confers credit and has important academic, social, and financial implications. Authorship also implies responsibility and accountability for published work. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors should be followed.

Authors are required to include a statement of responsibility in the manuscript that specifies the contribution of every author.

After acceptance, the proof is sent to the corresponding author who is responsible for the accuracy of all content in the proof, in particular that names of co-authors are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are current.

Competing interests

Authors must declare any competing financial and/or non-financial interests in relation to the work described.

For the purposes of this policy, competing interests are defined as financial and non-financial interests that could directly undermine, or be perceived to undermine, the objectivity, integrity and value of a publication, through a potential influence on the judgements and actions of authors with regard to objective data presentation, analysis and interpretation.

Corrections and retractions

Errors serious enough to invalidate a paper’s results and conclusions may require retraction. However, retraction with republication (also referred to as “replacement”) can be considered in cases where honest error (e.g., a misclassification or miscalculation) leads to a major change in the direction or significance of the results, interpretations, and conclusions. If the error is judged to be unintentional, the underlying science appears valid, and the changed version of the paper survives further review and editorial scrutiny, then retraction with republication of the changed paper, with an explanation, allows full correction of the scientific literature. In such cases, it is helpful to show the extent of the changes in supplementary material or in an appendix, for complete transparency.

Plagiarism and duplicate publication

Plagiarism is unacknowledged copying or an attempt to misattribute original authorship, whether of ideas or text. Such manuscripts would not be considered for publication. Duplicate publication occurs when an author re-uses substantial parts of his or her own published work without providing the appropriate references. This can range from getting an identical paper published in multiple journals, to ‘salami-slicing’, where authors add small amounts of new data to a previous paper.

When plagiarism becomes evident post-publication, we may correct or retract the original publication depending on the degree of plagiarism, context within the published article and its impact on the overall integrity of the published study.

Embargo policy and press releases

Conference presentations or posting on recognized preprint servers don’t constitute prior publication. Material submitted to our journals should not be discussed with the media, except in the case of accepted contributions, which can be discussed with the media once an embargo date has been set.

Research ethics policy

Human participants

For research involving human participants, authors must identify the committee (Comitato Etico) that approved the research, confirm that all research was performed in accordance with relevant guidelines/regulations, and include in their manuscript a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all participants and/or their legal guardians. For articles describing human transplantation studies, extra information must be provided. Identifying images/video/details which authors do not have specific permission to use must be removed from the manuscript.

Clinical trials

Manuscripts reporting results of a clinical trial must conform to CONSORT 2010 guidelines. Authors of randomized controlled trials should submit a completed CONSORT checklist, available at www.consort-statement.org.

Meta-analyses

Articles reporting meta-analyses must be accompanied by a completed PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) checklist and flow diagram, available at www.prisma-statement.org.

Peer review policy

It is the responsibility of the journal to ensure that systems are in place for selection of appropriate reviewers. It is the responsibility of the editor to ensure that reviewers have access to all materials that may be relevant to the evaluation of the manuscript, including supplementary material for e-only publication, and to ensure that reviewer comments are properly assessed and interpreted in the context of their declared conflicts of interest.

Journals are under no obligation to send submitted manuscripts for review, and under no obligation to follow reviewer recommendations, favorable or negative. The editor of the journal is ultimately responsible for the selection of all its content, and editorial decisions may be informed by issues unrelated to the quality of a manuscript, such as suitability for the journal. An editor can reject any article at any time before publication, including after acceptance if concerns arise about the integrity of the work.

Journals may differ in the number and kinds of manuscripts they send for review, the number and types of reviewers they seek for each manuscript, whether the review process is open or blinded, and other aspects of the review process. For this reason and as a service to authors, each journal published by Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore publish a description of their peer-review process.

Our journals have a mechanism for readers to submit comments, questions, or criticisms about published articles, and authors have a responsibility to respond appropriately and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication.

Editorial decisions are based on the relevance of a manuscript to the journal and on the manuscript’s originality, quality, and contribution to evidence about important questions. In addition, authors can submit for publication, and editors should not exclude from consideration for publication, studies with findings that are not statistically significant or that have inconclusive findings.

Advertising policy

Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore follows The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. To maintain the integrity of our journals, advertising cannot influence editorial decisions or editorial content. Decisions to sell advertising space are made independently of and without reference to specific editorial content.

Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore reserves the right to decline any type of advertising that is damaging to Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore or is inappropriate to its content.

Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore will not accept for advertising, products or services known to be harmful to health (e.g. tobacco and alcohol products).

Advertisements should not be deceptive or misleading, and must be verifiable. It should clearly identify the advertiser and the product or service being offered.

Advertisements will not be accepted if they appear to be indecent or offensive in either text or artwork, or if they relate to personal, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, or religious nature.