Journal Policies
Journal Policies
Editorial Policy
Preliminary assessments
An expert editor will review all submitted articles to assess whether they are properly drafted, meet the journal's ethical norms, and include all required information. The references in all submitted articles will be reviewed for accuracy. Improper, unsuitable, or ambiguous/misleading references may result in a desk rejection. All submitted articles will be verified for English language accuracy, and authors may be requested to provide language modifications by any native or skilled language editor. iThenticate will be used to check the plagiarism of the articles. For more details, please refer to the plagiarism policy. Manuscripts that are poorly prepared will be returned to the authors for editing and re-execution. Manuscripts having inadequate originality, substantial scientific or technical faults, a lack of a meaningful message, or that are not prepared in accordance with the journal's rules, are rejected without formal peer review.
Review policy
After passing the preliminary assessments, the paper is sent for double-blind peer review. The work will be assessed by at least two appropriate experts (whose names will be kept confidential to the authors) in the relevant subject area. For more details, please refer to our peer review policy.
Editorial Decision
When reaching a judgment on a submitted paper, the reviews of all reviewers will be considered. Based on the reviewers' remarks, ELSR Editor-in-Chief will make the ultimate decision. In order to make an informed judgment, the journal may confer with various specialists and editor(s).
Authors must respond to all reviewers as well as provide an accurate explanation for the reviewers and the handling editor's remarks. Wherever an author disagrees with a reviewer or editor, they must offer a coherent response in their response letter.
Appeals/Reconsideration
If the authors believe there is a serious misunderstanding over a technical component or a failure to appreciate the scientific development, they may appeal the unfavorable judgment with appropriate grounds and request reconsideration. Requests for a second opinion that lack an adequate basis will be rejected. To file an appeal, please send an email to the journal from the corresponding author.
Publication policy
Accepted manuscripts are submitted to copy editing for language corrections, design layout, and journal's style. Page proofs are forwarded to the corresponding author and suppose to return within 3 days. The online submission and peer-review method is used from manuscript submission through final judgment, as well as sending and receiving proofs. In order to provide quicker and wider knowledge and information transmission, ELSR publishes papers online as 'Online First' as soon as they are accepted.
Plagiarism Policy
When drafting an article, authors should make sure that their contents are original. If the writers have used others' work and/or statements, they must properly acknowledge or credit them. iThenticate will be used to scan all articles submitted to ELSR for plagiarism (online plagiarism detection software). If plagiarism is discovered during the review/editorial process, the manuscript(s) will be rejected without delay. If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the manuscript(s) will be withdrawn from the journal, and an appropriate notification will be made. Depending on the gravity of the situation, we may also take necessary measures against the writers.
These may be: Authors are barred from future publishing. Such instances can be brought to the attention of author funding organizations, author institutions (where they work), and original writers whose work has been pirated.
Reviewer’s Guidelines
Peer review is the foundation of scientific publications. The purpose of these regulations is to aid peer reviewers and provide an impartial perspective. These instructions might assist assessors in locating answers to the majority of their questions and providing advice in finishing the report timely. For any more queries, the reviewer may write to emergentlifesciences@gmail.com.
Purpose of Review:
- To assist authors in improving their papers by using your professional skills.
- To help sustain a substantial, careful peer-review process that results in the publishing of high-impact publications.
- To inform the writer about any extra material that might give a valuable contrast or explanation of an approach.
Guidelines
All papers are subjected to a double-blind peer-review process before being accepted for publication in ELSR.
On receiving a request regarding peer-review of any article, the reviewer should respond quickly. In case of rejection of the request, the reviewer must inform the editor so that unnecessary delays in the process can be prevented.
The referee should maintain the knowledge of the authors' identities and the manuscript's substance discreetly.
Peer review comments should be neutral and constructive, rather than harsh or insulting. Check the Author Guidelines to verify if the work fulfills the journal's criteria. Finish the assessment and highlight the robust research points and shortcomings of the manuscript by posting your remarks in the sent reviewer form.
After reading the article and evaluating its quality, the reviewer must give the following suggestions about the publication:
Accept - if the work is appropriate for publication in its original form
Revisions - if the work will be suitable for publishing following minor adjustments. The reviewer is requested to list the minor corrections.
Reject - if the article is not acceptable for publishing in this journal or if the number of modifications required is too much for consideration.
Comprehensive suggestions that are acceptable for sending to the writers should be provided.
Mention the author's comments as an opportunity to gain explanations on any ambiguous subjects and additional information. Confirm if you believe the manuscript's subject is satisfactorily fascinating to warrant its extent. It will be supportive to the author if the reviewer suggests a reduction in the length of the article and helps in achieving it.
It would be beneficial if the reviewer could clarify and help with the language wherever the practical interpretation was ambiguous.
When the comments are prepared, the reviewer should send them to the editor, who will forward them to the author(s).
In order to avoid a delay in the refereeing process, please let the editor know about any delay in the process.
Update the editors of any possible conflicts of interest that could have an impact on the article being reviewed.
We annually publish the list of reviewers who contributed to the review process of the journal.
Acknowledgement to Reviewers for the Year 2023
Acknowledgement to Reviewers for the Year 2022
Licensing policy
The journal makes use of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial No-Derivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY -NC-ND 4.0). You may share, duplicate, and redistribute the work in any manner or style under this. So far as you follow the terms outlined below;
Attribution: You must give proper acknowledgment, including a link to the license, and identify whether or not modifications were needed. Any reasonable technique is acceptable, but you must avoid giving the impression that the license supports you or your usage.
NonCommercial: The information cannot be used for profit-making reasons.
Share Alike: If you alter the content in any way including by remixing, transforming, or creating new work, you must release your creations under the same agreement as the source.
No additional restrictions: You may not use legal phrases or technical methods to lawfully prevent others from doing what the license allows.
Copyright Policy
The publications in ELSR are all available under a Creative Commons license. This entails that the authors maintain ownership of their work and are not required to transfer ownership to the journal. Moreover, the authors offer the journal permission to publish the work and represent it as the original publisher.
Conflict of Interest
Any relationship between authors, reviewers, or editors that gets in the way of presenting, peer-reviewing, editorial decision-making, or publishing a manuscript is defined as a conflict of interest. Conflicts of interest can emerge in the context of an organization or an individual and can be financial or non-financial, professional or personal.
Participant’s Responsibilities
Authors
When submitting a paper of any type or format, writers must disclose all affiliations and activities that may prejudice or appear to influence their work (e.g. occupation, research grants, patent licenses research contracts, consulting fees, equity ownership, honoraria, advisory affiliations, etc.). ELSR has fostered a copyright form to make author disclosures easier and more consistent. During manuscript submission, authors must upload the duly filled and signed form under the extra files area. They can also send it to emergentlifesciences@gmail.com via email.
Reviewers
Reviewers must declare to journal editors any affiliations or activities that may influence their judgments on the article, and they must disqualify themselves from evaluating individual papers if the potential for bias exists. Reviewers must not utilize prior knowledge of the material they are examining to serve their own interests. To report any conflicts of interest, please utilize the sent reviewer form.
Editors and Journal Staff
The ELSR editors are the only ones who have the authority to make final decisions regarding manuscripts, and they are not allowed to have any kind of financial, professional, or personal stake in the outcomes. Other editorial team members who participate in editorial choices must disclose to editors their current financial interests (as they contribute to editorial decisions) and avoid participating in any conclusions where there is a conflict of interest. Members of the editorial team are not permitted to use information acquired while evaluating the papers for their own gain. When editors submit their own work to this journal, the manuscript should be managed by a colleague in the editorial office, and the editor/author should refrain from discussing or making judgments about it.
All authors should note that they are responsible for the contents, statements, inferences, products used, style, and language; so, we strongly advocate a thorough refereeing/editing and reviewing of the paper prior to submission. The correct spellings and taxonomic positions of all organisms mentioned should be double-checked.
Preprints policy
Preprints are described as a writer's draft of an article that is posted on a public server before it is submitted for formal peer review to a journal. Preprints of original research publications are promoted to be uploaded by journals on preprint servers, writers', or organizational internet sites. Preprints may be published at any point while they are being reviewed. Preprint uploading is not assessed prior to publication and has no bearing on ELSR approval.
When submitting a preprint, writers shouldn't transfer their ownership of the copyright to the preprint server; instead, they should keep their original ownership rights. ELSR will consider publishing entries that already have recently been licensed CC-BY (-NC/-NC-ND) as preprints.
When submitting an article to this journal, authors should provide information about preprint publishing, such as the DOI and license conditions. After the preprint is published, it is the writer's responsibility to maintain the preprint record with the publication reference comprising the DOI and a URL link to the documented version of the paper on the journal website.
Waiver and discounts
Because ELSR is an open-access publication, Article Processing Charges (APCs) must be paid after acceptance. To assist authors who are unable to cover part or all of the fees involved with the publication, the journal has a clear waiver policy.
Group A: For any writer from Low-income countries the journal waives all manuscript processing expenses.
Group B: ESLR offers a 30% discount on manuscript processing expenses if the author(s) of an article does not have the necessary financing to cover these charges. The authors should present supporting documentation (such as a forwarded letter from the head of the institute) to back up their allegation of insufficient financing. The legitimacy of the evidence provided by the author to the journal is used to determine whether the waiver request is approved or denied. Any waiver application may be approved or rejected by the journal.
Group C: Any editor or reviewer who has handled at least five manuscripts in a year is eligible to qualify for a partial 25% APC reduction.
Requests for waivers or discounts must be provided at the time of submission; requests made during the review process or after approval will not be entertained. Please email any requests for waivers to emergentlifesciences@gmail.com.
Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers
Sharing of information among editors-in-chief regarding possible misconduct
How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers
Text recycling guidelines for editors
A short guide to ethical editing for new editors