All journal submissions are processed entirely online. Please use the following guidelines to prepare your article. For specific details, refer to the author guidelines on the website of the journal to which you wish to submit.
As part of the submission process, authors must ensure their submission complies with all the following items. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines may be returned to the authors.
If your manuscript needs revision to meet the journal’s requirements, please prepare and include the following files when uploading your revised submission:
We adhere to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines, which specify the following requirements for authorship of a manuscript:
Authors are expected to carefully consider the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide a definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Those who contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgments.
Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should only occur prior to the manuscript’s acceptance and with the specific approval of the Journal Editor-in-Chief. To request such a change, the corresponding author must provide the Journal Editor-in-Chief with:
We follow Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence in manuscript writing, which state that authors should not list a generative AI technology as a co-author or author of any submitted manuscript:
AI tools cannot meet the requirements for authorship as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work. As non-legal entities, they cannot assert the presence or absence of conflicts of interest nor manage copyright and license agreements.
Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, the production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or the collection and analysis of data must be transparent in disclosing in the Materials and Methods (or similar section) of the paper how the AI tool was used and which tool was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.
Digital preservation is a crucial aspect of scholarly communications infrastructure. Our commitment is to ensure the long-term maintenance of all academic resources. To guarantee the continued accessibility of digital content, we work with the following providers of digital archives:
To enhance content, authors may include supplementary materials like applications, images, and videos. Submitted supplementary materials are published exactly as provided. Please submit these materials along with the article and include a brief, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If authors need to make changes to supplementary materials at any stage of the process, please submit an updated file.
Authors must ensure the protection of individual rights for all study participants. Identifiable details (e.g., names and dates of birth) should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or genetic profiles unless essential for scientific purposes. In such cases, written informed consent for publication must be obtained from the participant or, if the participant is incapable, from a parent or guardian.
Authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with individuals or organizations that could be perceived as improperly influencing their work. Potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include, but are not limited to, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding.
Authors are encouraged to deposit the final published PDF in the following ways:
We accept articles previously published on preprint servers. Authors are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article. Authors may also post the final published version of the article immediately after publication.
To maintain the integrity of the scientific record and avoid inconsistencies, minor corrections that do not affect the scientific understanding of the paper (such as formatting or typographical errors or preference of wording) may be rejected if submitted post-publication.
The correction procedure depends on the publication stage of the article, but in all circumstances, a correction notice is released as soon as possible:
Online First publication: We will consider replacing the Online First version with an updated version that corrects the error and notes the changes that have been made and the date(s) on which the changes were made (in a correction notice at the end of the article).
Publication in an issue: If the article has already appeared in an issue, a correction notice will be released in the next available electronic and print issue. The online version of the article will link to the correction notice.
Retractions are considered by journal editors in cases of evidence of unreliable data or findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unethical research. All retraction notices explain why the article was retracted. A retraction notice will also be published in the next available electronic and print issue.
Editors should consider retracting a publication if:
Currently, we have opted not to include advertisements, and no advertisements will be published in the articles or on the official website.
Authors may appeal if they believe the decision to reject was based on: i) a major misunderstanding of a technical aspect of the manuscript; or ii) a failure to understand the scientific advance shown by the manuscript. Appeals requesting a second opinion without sufficient justification will not be considered. To lodge an appeal, please contact the journal editorial office by email, quoting your manuscript number. Appeals will only be considered from the original submitting author.
We strongly support The FAIR Data Principles and believe that, where ethically and legally feasible, all research data should be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.
We encourage authors of articles published in our journals to share their research data, including but not limited to: raw data, processed data, software, algorithms, protocols, methods, and materials. The approach and requirements for sharing data vary among our journals. Most journals adhere to a minimal standard that encourages authors to openly share, cite, and link to their research data when appropriate, subject to ethical and legal considerations. Please refer to the Submission Guidelines of the specific publication you intend to submit to for detailed information on research data sharing policies.
We have three policies on data sharing:
Option 1: Encourages Data Sharing
Authors are encouraged to:
Option 2: Expects Data Sharing
As a condition of publication, authors are required to:
Option 3: Mandates Data Sharing
As a condition of publication, authors are required to:
For Option 3, peer reviewers may be asked to review the research data before publication. Please refer to individual journal guidelines for specific details on peer review requirements.
If you cannot share your data and this is a requirement of publication, please consult the journal editorial office.
If you are submitting your paper under a data sharing policy, you will be prompted to provide a data availability statement with your submission. A data availability statement informs the reader where the research data associated with a paper is available and under what conditions it can be accessed. These statements should also include links (where applicable) to the dataset.
The names and email addresses entered on our journal websites will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of the journals and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
Any personal information received by the journals will only be used to process and publish your manuscript. Specifically, it will be used to:
If you have any questions about this privacy policy regarding your personal information, please send an email to info@symphonypub.com.