Publishing Policies

ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS

This journal is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record. As a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) the journal will follow the COPE guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct. 

Authors should refrain from misrepresenting research results which could damage the trust in the journal, the professionalism of scientific authorship, and ultimately the entire scientific endeavor. Maintaining integrity of the research and its presentation is helped by following the rules of good scientific practice, which include*:

• The manuscript should not be submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration. 
• The submitted work should be original and should not have been published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full), unless the new work concerns an expansion of previous work. (Please provide transparency on the re-use of material to avoid the concerns about text-recycling (‘self-plagiarism’).
• A single study should not be split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time (i.e. ‘salami-slicing/publishing’).
• Concurrent or secondary publication is sometimes justifiable, provided certain conditions are met. Examples include translations or a manuscript that is intended for a different group of readers. 
• Results should be presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation (including image-based manipulation). Authors should adhere to discipline-specific rules for acquiring, selecting and processing data.
• No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own (‘plagiarism’). Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given (this includes material that is closely copied (near verbatim), summarized and/or paraphrased), quotation marks (to indicate words taken from another source) are used for verbatim copying of material, and permissions secured for material that is copyrighted. 

Authorship clarified: The Journal and Publisher assume all authors agreed with the content and that all gave explicit consent to submit and that they obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institute/organization where the work has been carried out, before the work is submitted.

The Publisher does not prescribe the kinds of contributions that warrant authorship. It is recommended that authors adhere to the guidelines for authorship that are applicable in their specific research field. In absence of specific guidelines, it is recommended to adhere to the following guidelines*:

All authors whose names appear on the submission 

1) made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work.

2) drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content.

3) approved the version to be published; and 

4) agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. 

ROLE OF THE CORRESPONDING AUTHOR

One author is assigned as Corresponding Author and acts on behalf of all co-authors and ensures that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately addressed. 

The Corresponding Author is responsible for the following requirements:

• ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript before submission, including the names and order of authors.
• managing all communication between the Journal and all co-authors, before and after publication*
• providing transparency on re-use of material and mention any unpublished material (for example manuscripts in press) included in the manuscript in a cover letter to the Editor.
• making sure disclosures, declarations and transparency on data statements from all authors are included in the manuscript as appropriate.

* The requirement of managing all communication between the journal and all co-authors during submission and proofing may be delegated to a Contact or Submitting Author. In this case, please make sure the Corresponding Author is clearly indicated in the manuscript.

Author contributions: In absence of specific instructions and in research fields where it is possible to describe discrete efforts, the Publisher recommends authors to include contribution statements in the work that specifies the contribution of every author to promote transparency. These contributions should be listed at the separate title page.

Examples of such statement(s) are shown below: All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [full name], [full name] and [full name]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [full name] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

For review articles where discrete statements are less applicable a statement should be included who had the idea for the article, who performed the literature search and data analysis, and who drafted and/or critically revised the work.

Affiliation: The primary affiliation for each author should be the institution where most of their work was done. If an author has subsequently moved, the current address may additionally be stated. Addresses will not be updated or changed after publication of the article.

Changes to authorship: Authors are strongly advised to ensure the correct author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors at submission. Changes of authorship by adding or deleting authors, and/or changes in Corresponding Author, and/or changes in the sequence of authors are not accepted after acceptance of a manuscript. 

• Please note that author names will be published exactly as they appear on the accepted submission!
• Authors are recommended to use their ORCID ID when submitting an article for consideration or acquire an ORCID ID via the submission process. 

Confidentiality: Authors should treat all communication with the Journal as confidential which includes correspondence with direct representatives from the Journal such as Editors-in-Chief and/or Handling Editors and reviewers’ reports unless explicit consent has been received to share information.

Compliance with Ethical Standards: To ensure objectivity and transparency in research and to ensure that accepted principles of ethical and professional conduct have been followed, authors should include information regarding sources of funding, potential conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved animals.

Competing Interests Authors are requested to disclose interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication. Interests within the last 3 years of beginning the work (conducting the research and preparing the work for submission) should be reported. Interests outside the 3-year time frame must be disclosed if they could reasonably be perceived as influencing the submitted work. Disclosure of interests provides a complete and transparent process and helps readers form their own judgments of potential bias. This is not meant to imply that a financial relationship with an organization that sponsored the research or compensation received for consultancy work is inappropriate. 

Article publishing agreement: Depending on the ownership of the journal and its policies, you will either grant the Publisher an exclusive license to publish the article or will be asked to transfer copyright of the article to the Publisher.

Editorial Board Members and Editors are required to declare any competing interests and may be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists. In addition, they should exclude themselves from handling manuscripts in cases where there is a competing interest. This may include – but is not limited to – having previously published with one or more of the authors and sharing the same institution as one or more of the authors. Where an Editor or Editorial Board Member is on the author list, we recommend they declare this in the competing interests’ section on the submitted manuscript. If they are an author or have any other competing interest regarding a specific manuscript, another Editor or member of the Editorial Board will be assigned to assume responsibility for overseeing peer review. These submissions are subject to the exact same review process as any other manuscript.

Funding: Research grants from funding agencies (please give the research funder and the grant number) and/or research support (including salaries, equipment, supplies, reimbursement for attending symposia, and other expenses) by organizations that may gain or lose financially through publication of this manuscript. 

Please note that, in addition to the above requirements, funding information (given that funding is a potential competing interest (as mentioned above)) needs to be disclosed upon submission of the manuscript in the peer review system. This information will automatically be added to the Record of Crossmark.

Research involving human participants, their data or biological material

Ethics approval: When reporting a study that involved human participants, their data or biological material, authors should include a statement that confirms that the study was approved (or granted exemption) by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee (including the name of the ethics committee) and certify that the study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards.

Ethics approval for case studies: Case reports require ethics approval. Most institutions will have specific policies on this subject. Authors should check with their institution to make sure they are complying with the specific requirements of their institution and seek ethics approval where needed. Authors should be aware to secure informed consent from the individual (or parent or guardian if the participant is a minor or incapable).

Research Resource Identifiers (RRID)

Research Resource Identifiers (RRID) are persistent unique identifiers (effectively like a DOI) for research resources. ERN journal encourages authors to adopt RRIDs when reporting key biological resources (antibodies, cell lines, model organisms and tools) in their manuscripts.

Informed consent

All individuals have individual rights that are not to be infringed. Individual participants in studies have, for example, the right to decide what happens to the (identifiable) personal data gathered, to what they have said during a study or an interview, as well as to any photograph that was taken. This is especially true concerning images of vulnerable people (e.g. minors, patients, refugees, etc.) or the use of images in sensitive contexts. In many instances authors will need to secure written consent before including images. 

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 applicable to case studies.

EDITORIAL PROCEDURE

Single-blind peer review: This journal follows a single-blind reviewing procedure.

Peer Review Process: Authors are strongly encouraged to have at least one colleague review the manuscript before submitting it for publication. All submitted manuscripts are initially read for appropriateness by the Editor or handling editors. As peer review requires a substantial investment of time and effort, we send only those papers that are subject-appropriate and that seem most likely to meet our criteria for publication for formal review. Those papers judged by the editors to be of insufficient interest to the journal’s specific field, or otherwise inappropriate are rejected without external review. This initial decision also saves authors time by allowing them to pursue publication in a more suitable venue.

Reviewed manuscripts are sent to at least two independent peer reviewers. This journal follows single anonymous peer review. Editors will consider the reviewers’ advice and recommendations reaching final decision. Papers may be rejected after review, or the authors could be invited to revise their work and resubmit. Once all concerns and questions raised in the review and by the editors have been resolved and the paper meets all standards for publication in the journal, a paper can be accepted for publication.

This journal also publishes review articles, first reports and case studies. The peer review process for these articles is the same as the peer review process of the journal in general. Additionally, if a guest editor authors an article in their issue/collection/supplement, they will not handle the peer review process.

Article Processing Charge: ERN is an Open Access, self-supporting journal and do not receive any funding from any institution/government. Because of the high cost of publishing, payment of Article Publication Charges is mandatory. There are no submission charges, however; authors are required to pay a fair handling fee for publishing their articles. Once the article is accepted for publication, the author/s or funder/s are supposed to pay $200 as Article Processing Charge (APC). The final version of the published article is free to read for everyone.

Article Publishing Charge (APC) Waiver Policy: In our commitment to promoting high-quality research and inclusivity, ERN is pleased to offer Article Publishing Charge (APC) waivers to authors. We believe that no genuine research should be restricted due to funding limitations. Authors from lower-middle-income countries are eligible for APC waivers (50%).

Authors can request APC waivers during manuscript submission or upon article acceptance. By removing financial obstacles, we enable authors to focus on advancing their research, knowing that their work will reach a global audience without financial burden.

Creative Commons licenses: Open access articles in ERN Journal are published under Creative Commons licenses. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licenses, authors retain copyright of their articles.