For questions related to manuscript submission or preparation, please contact the Editorial Office of Neurocritical Care: Michael Diringer, MD, at diringerm@wustl.edu.
For questions related to Neurocritical Care publication, please contact Springer Nature Publishing at Barbara.Pedrotti@springer.com.
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Instructions for Authors
Online Manuscript Submission
Manuscripts must be submitted through the publisher’s online manuscript system Editorial Manager® that manages the entire workflow of all manuscripts. Careful attention to the submission process is critical. I recognize that the process may be cumbersome and appreciate your patience.
Editorial Manager supports a wide range of submission file formats. For manuscripts, use of Microsoft Word is preferred and will make submission easier. WordPerfect, RTF, TXT and LaTex are also acceptable. For figures, use TIFF, GIF, JPEG, EPS, PPT, or Postscript. PDF is not an acceptable file format.
Download Full Instructions
Overview of the Submission Process
1. Cover letter that:
a. Identifies the type of article and confirms that it complies with all instructions to authors
b. Indicates that all components of the manuscript details page were completed appropriately
c. Lists suggested/avoided reviewers (optional)
2. Manuscript file that includes the title page, details page and abstract (Word format preferred)
3. Separate files for each table and figure
4. Comments to the editorial staff (if any)
5. Supplemental files (optional)
6.ICJME Conflict of Interest (COI) form for each author.
To submit: Go to http://www.editorialmanager.com/neca/default.aspx and login as an author.
You will asked to complete the following steps:
- Begin submission with selection of an article type
- Upload your manuscript, preferably as a Word file. If you use a Word file, the system will attempt to pull out title, abstract, and author information, which you will be asked to verify.
- Enter keywords (MESH terms linked to the article to help find it in online searches)
- Select Classifications (used to match the manuscript with appropriate reviewers)
- Enter Author contributions (may be copied from manuscript file)
- Indicate if IRB approval was obtained, if applicable
- Provide clinical trial registration number, if applicable
- Provide any additional comments, if desired
- Review information and update as needed
- Provide funding information
- Create PDF for review
- Correct or approve the PDF for submission
Types of Articles
- Original work (Clinical Investigation, Translational Science)
- Brief communication
- Review article (require prior approval)
- Viewpoint
- Editorial
- Ethical matters
- Take a closer look at trials
- Take Notice: Technology
- Neuro-images
- Letters to the editor
- Response to a Letter to the Editor
- Invited commentary
- Special article (require prior approval)
- Proceedings (require prior approval)
General Requirements for All Submissions
Cover Letter
The cover letter should:
- Identify the type of article and confirm that it complies with all instructions to authors
- Indicate why the submission is appropriate for publication in Neurocritical Care
- Lists suggested/avoided reviewers (optional)
Title Page
The title page should contain the following information:
- Full Title without subtitles
- For each author name, highest degree and current institutional affiliation
- Name of the institution(s) where the work was performed
- Word count (excluding abstract, acknowledgments, tables, figure legends, and references)
- Number of Figures and Tables
- Corresponding author contact information including e-mail address
- Key words for indexing, using terms from the Medical Subject Headings list of Index Medicus
Word Count
- Word counts apply to the body of the manuscript
- They do NOT include abstract, figure legends, table legends, references, acknowledgments, sources of funding, COI disclosures, ethical information or authors' contributions
- See below for specific limit for each article type
Details Page
- Confirm that manuscript complies with all instructions to authors
- Confirm that authorship requirements (see below) have been met and the final manuscript was approved by all authors
- Confirm that this manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by another journal
- Confirm adherence to ethical guidelines and indicate ethical approvals (IRB) and use of informed consent, as appropriate (see below). Retrospective studies require a statement regarding IRB approval.
- Include Conflict of Interest statement for all authors (use text copied from Section 6 of the ICJME COI form) (see below)
- Confirm the use of reporting checklist (PRISMA, CONSORT etc.), if appropriate
Checklists
Must be conformed to, completed as appropriate, and included at the end of the manuscript:
- Observational studies – STROBE
- Randomized trials – CONSORT
- Systematic review, meta-analysis – PRISMA
- Diagnostic accuracy – STARD
- Quality improvement studies – SQUIRE
- Animal research – ARRIVE
- Multivariable prediction model for individual prognosis or diagnosis – TRIPOD
More information about checklists can be found at Equator Network.
Abstracts
Abstracts are only to be included for Original Articles, Reviews, and Take Notice: Technology
submissions. Structured abstracts are only needed for Original Work (see below) .
Text
The text should be double-spaced, written in standard scientific English, and carefully proofread. Include page numbers.
****Non-standard abbreviations should be avoided wherever possible*****; if used they should be defined on first use and be dissimilar from other abbreviations.
References
References should be listed in numerical order and follow the style of The New England Journal of Medicine. An EndNote template can be found here. Arabic numbers should be used for in-text citations (set within parentheses at point of citation).
Figure and Tables
Provide titles, spell out all abbreviations (in alphabetical order), and number consecutively with Arabic numerals. See below for specific article type. Use a separate page for each; callouts (if any) should be in CAPITAL LETTERS.
Figure Captions
Figure captions should be placed in a separate section at the end of the manuscript. Define all abbreviations (in alphabetical order) and provide sufficient information to interpret the figure without reading the text.
Illustrations
Illustrations must be provided in professional-quality, finished form, ready for direct reproduction without revision (see below). Micrograph magnification should be given with scale bars defined in microns, not as “x magnification.”
Computer Graphics
If your submission includes Computer Graphics, acceptable software formats are Adobe Illustrator versions 5 and up, Adobe Photoshop versions 5 and up, and MS Office. Acceptable file formats are as follows: EPS (Encapsulated Postscript), TIFF, and those native software formats listed above. DPI specifications: line art should be no less than 1200 dpi; halftone scans should be 300 dpi.
Preferred file formats for graphics are as follows:
Vector graphics: EPS
Line art (black & white with no shading) and halftone art (photographs, drawings, or paintings with shading):TIFF
Preferred file formats for media: avi, wmv, mp4, mov, m2p, mp2, mpg, mpeg, flv, mxf, mts, m4v, 3gp. Resolution: 16:9 or 4:3. Maximum file size: 25 GB. Minimum video duration: 1 second
Current Springer art guidelines are available here.
Color Art
For color printed in the hardcopy version, there is a flat $1,150 fee. Color figures will be published online at no cost. If the fee represents a hardship, contact the editor. All color art must adhere to the guidelines under Computer Graphics. Color art must be prepared in RGB color mode.
Special Requirements for Submission Types
Original Work
- Original work submitted should consist of a scholarly clinical investigation, translational science or formal literature review that produces new knowledge.
- There are no specific limits to number of authors, word count, or tables/figures; still authors are expected to communicate their message succinctly.
- Abstract: Structured abstract, maximum of 400 words. The abstract should provide the context or background for the study and should state the study's purpose, basic procedures, main findings (include data values and their statistical and clinical significance, if appropriate, not just descriptive terms), and principal conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations, note important limitations, and not overinterpret findings. It should include the following sections: Background/Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.
- Body of Manuscript: The text should be divided into the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions.
- Introduction: Provide a context or background for the study (that is, the nature of the problem and its significance). State the specific purpose or research objective of, or hypothesis tested by, the study or observation. Cite only directly pertinent references and do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.
- Methods: The guiding principle of the Methods section should be clarity about how and why a study was done in a particular way. Methods section should aim to be sufficiently detailed such that others with access to the data would be able to reproduce the results. It should include a statement indicating that the research was approved by an independent local, regional or national review body.
- Results: Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and figures, giving the main or most important findings first. Do not repeat all the data in the tables or figures in the text; emphasize or summarize only the most important observations. Provide data on all primary and secondary outcomes identified in the Methods section. Give numeric results not only as derivatives (e.g. percentages) but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated, and specify the statistical significance attached to them, if any.
- Discussion: Begin the discussion by briefly summarizing the main findings, and explore possible mechanisms or explanations for these findings. Emphasize the new and important aspects of your study and put your findings in the context of the totality of the relevant evidence. State the limitations of your study and explore the implications of your findings for future research and for clinical practice or policy.
- Conclusions: Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not adequately supported by the data.
Brief Communication
- Brief communications are for manuscripts with less complete data sets than would be appropriate for original contributions such as descriptive surveys.
- No abstract
- Maximum number of authors: 3
- Maximum length is 1,000 words
- Maximum 3 figures and tables
- Maximum 7 references.
Review Article
- Review articles should only be submitted after prior consultation with the editors and are
subject to the peer review process. The journal is primarily interested in receiving systematic
reviews and meta-analyses that use high-quality methodology (pre-registered, published
protocol, systematic search, selection and reporting paper) and address relevant clinical
questions not already or completely addressed in the literature.
- Two types of reviews are considered: Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (or a
combination of both) and they must comply with the PRISMA Statement and must be
prospectively registered at Prospero
- Narrative/Scoping Reviews should only be submitted after prior consultation with the
Editors and are subject to the peer-review process. They represent the state-of-the-art in a
specific field of research and are prepared by senior authors with a broad knowledge of the
field and should not simply restate the literature but rather interpret and integrate the
findings to provide a framework for understanding a particular topic.
- Submissions should be balanced, comprehensive, and up-to-date.
- Maximum number of authors: 7
- Abstract: no headings, 400 words maximum
- Maximum article length: 5,500 words (applies to the body of the manuscript only)
Viewpoint
- Submissions for Viewpoints should raise an issue, provide a perspective, or make an argument about a topic relevant to neurocritical care.
- Maximum number of authors: 7
- Abstract: no headings required, 400 words maximum
- Maximum article length: 2,500 words (applies to the body of the manuscript only)
Editorial
- Editorials are solicited by invitation only.
- Maximum number of authors: 3
- No abstract
- Maximum article length: 2,500 words (applies to the body of the manuscript only)
Ethical Matters
- Submissions should provide a balanced discussion of an ethical issue of clinical relevance to neurocritical care.
- Maximum number of authors: 5
- Abstract: no headings required, 400 words maximum
- Maximum article length: 5,500 words (applies to the body of the manuscript only)
Take a Closer Look at Trials
- Submission should inform the reader about new, ongoing or recently completed trials. They may include trial protocols, reports of ongoing trials, or perspective on completed trials.
- No limit on number of authors
- Abstract: no headings required
Take Notice: Technology
- Submission should inform the reader about new, ongoing or recently completed trials. They may include trial protocols, reports of ongoing trials, or perspective on completed trials.
- No limit on number of authors
- Abstract: no headings required
- Maximum article length: 2,500 words (applies to the body of the manuscript only)
Neuro-Images
- Focus on unusual and informative images that impact clinical decision making
- Include an Introduction and a description of the case
- Figure legends/descriptions may be up to 250 words each
- Images should be at least 300 dpi
- Maximum number of authors: 3
- No Abstract
- Maximum article length: 1,000 words (applies to the body of the manuscript only)
Letter to the Editor
- Submissions should express views related to articles previously published in Neurocritical Care or present ideas or findings of scientific interest that do not constitute original research.
- Maximum number of authors: 4
- Maximum article length: 1,500 words
- Reference limit: 5; the first reference must be the publication in question.
Response to a Letter to the Editor
- Maximum number of authors: 4
- Maximum article length: 1,500 words
- Reference limit: 5
Invited Editorial Commentary
- Invited only
- Commentaries will accompany selected papers.
- Single author
- The primary focus is on how to interpret the article.
- The commentary could include: 1) discussion of the strengths and weakness of the paper that you identified in the review process, 2) placing the paper in the context of what is known about the topic, 3) clarifying what message the reader should take away from the paper, 4) how the findings should be (or not) integrated into practice.
- 500-1,000 words
- Cite the paper they discuss; other references are optional.
Special Article
- Neurocritical Care Society guidelines, position statements, policy statements etc.
- Prior approval required before submission.
Proceedings
- Neurocritical Care Society guidelines, position statements, policy statements etc.
- Prior approval required before submission.
What to Expect After Submission
The editorial staff will review your submission and determine whether the work meets our criteria for external peer review. Those that do not are rejected, and the authors are sent a brief description of the reasons.
We strive to have three blinded peer reviewers evaluate your submission. When complete, reviews are evaluated by the editors, and an initial decision is made using the following options:
- Reject – there are major uncorrectable concerns about originality, relevance, validity or overall quality.
- Revise and reconsider – the paper is not acceptable as it stands; suggestions are offered about how to improve it, and a second review will be required
- Revisions needed – the manuscript is almost acceptable, but additional revisions are needed.
- Accept as is
If a revision is requested, you will be provided with the reviewers’ and editor’s comments and asked to provide point-by-point responses along with a revised manuscript. Additional rounds of peer review and revision may be required.
Once accepted, the manuscript is sent for production, and page proofs are generated. This process usually takes about three weeks. The proofs will be sent to you for you to review. We ask that you complete your review within 48 hours so as to not delay posting your paper online. Later on, it will be incorporated into an issue of Neurocritical Care.
Funding/Support
Include details about support for the work including Funder, Award Number, and Grant Recipient
Disclosure of Potential Conflict of Interests (COI)
Authors must disclose all relationships or interests that could influence or bias the work using the ICMJE form found here. Although an author may not feel there are conflicts, disclosure of relationships and interests that might appear to represent a potential conflict of interest affords a more transparent process, leading to an accurate and objective assessment of the work. Awareness of real or perceived conflicts of interests is a perspective to which the readers are entitled and is not meant to imply that a financial relationship with an organization that sponsored the research or compensation for consultancy work is inappropriate. Examples of potential conflicts of interests that are directly or indirectly related to the research or manuscript may include but are not limited to the following:
- Research grants from funding agencies (please give the research funder and the grant number)
- Honoraria for speaking at symposia
- Financial support for attending symposia
- Financial support for educational programs
- Employment or consultation
- Support from a project sponsor
- Position on advisory board or board of directors or other type of management relationships
- Multiple affiliations
- Financial relationships, for example equity ownership or investment interest
- Intellectual property rights (e.g., patents, copyrights and royalties from such rights)
- Holdings of spouse and/or children that may have financial interest in the work
In addition, interests that go beyond financial interests and compensation (non-financial interests) that may be important to readers should be disclosed. These may include but are not limited to personal relationships or competing interests directly or indirectly tied to this research or professional interests or personal beliefs that may influence your research.
The corresponding author collects the conflict of interest disclosure forms from all authors. In author collaborations where formal agreements for representation allow it, the corresponding author may sign the disclosure form on behalf of all authors. Examples of a completed form may be found here at the ICMJE site (pdf will download upon clicking this link). The corresponding author will include a summary statement in the text of the manuscript in a separate section before the reference list that reflects what is recorded in the potential conflict of interest disclosure form(s).
Examples of disclosures:
- Funding: This study was funded by X (grant number X).
- Conflict of Interest: Author A has received research grants from Company A. Author B has received a speaker honorarium from Company X and owns stock in Company Y. Author C is a member of committee Z.
- If no conflict exists, the authors should state: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
NOTE: Always keep copies of your word-processing, graphics and COI files. You may want to revise the manuscript text, figures or forms after the review process, and you will need the original files if your manuscript requires revisions.
NOTE: In case you encounter any difficulties while submitting your manuscript online, please get in touch with an Editorial Assistant by clicking on “CONTACT US” from the tool bar.
Criteria for Authorship
The criteria for authorship adopted by Neurocritical Care are set by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (http://www.icmje.org/). A discussion of role of authors and criteria for authorship can be found here.
Authorship credit should be based only on: 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. Conditions 1, 2, and 3 must all be met.
Acquisition of funding, the collection of data, feedback on the manuscript, or general supervision of the research group, by themselves, do not justify authorship.
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 that could damage the trust in the journal and ultimately the entire scientific endeavor. Maintaining integrity of the research and its presentation can be achieved by following the rules of good scientific practice, which include:
- The manuscript has not been submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration.
- The manuscript has not been published previously (partly 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 hint of text-recycling (“self- plagiarism”)).
- A single study is not split up into several parts and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time to increase the number of submissions (e.g. “salami-publishing”).
- No data have been fabricated or manipulated (including images) to support your conclusions
- No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the authors’ own (“plagiarism”). Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given , including material that is closely copied (near verbatim), summarized and/or paraphrased). Quotation marks must be used for verbatim copying of material, and permissions secured for material that is copyrighted.
- Important note: the journal may use software to screen for plagiarism.
- Consent to submit has been received from all co-authors and responsible authorities at the institution/organization where the work has been carried out before the work is submitted.
- Authors whose names appear on the submission have contributed sufficiently to the scientific work and therefore share collective responsibility and accountability for the results.
- Changes of authorship or in the order of authors are not permitted after acceptance of a manuscript.
- Requests to add or delete authors at revision stage or after publication is a serious matter and may be considered only after receipt of written approval from all authors and detailed explanation about the role/deletion of the new/deleted author. The decision on accepting the change rests with the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.
- Upon request, authors should be prepared to send relevant documentation or data in order to verify the validity of the results. This could be in the form of raw data, samples, records, etc.
- If there is a suspicion of misconduct, the journal will carry out an investigation following the COPE guidelines. If, after investigation, the allegation seems to raise valid concerns, the accused author will be contacted and given an opportunity to address the issue. If misconduct has been proven, this may result in the Editor-in-Chief’s implementation of the following measures, including, but not limited to:
- If the article is still under consideration, it may be rejected and returned to the author.
- If the article has already been published online, depending on the nature and severity of the infraction, either an erratum will be placed with the article or in severe cases complete retraction of the article will occur. The reason must be given in the published erratum or retraction note. The author’s institution may be informed.
Statement of Human and Animal Rights
When reporting studies that involve human participants, authors should include a statement that the studies have been approved by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration or comparable standards, the authors must explain the reasons for their approach, and demonstrate that the independent ethics committee or institutional review board explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.
The welfare of animals used for research must be respected. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and/or national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.
For studies with animals, the following statement should be included: “All applicable institutional and/or national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.”
If articles do not contain studies with human participants or animals by any of the authors, Springer recommends including the following sentence: “This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.”
For retrospective studies, please add the following sentence: “For this type of study, formal consent is not required.”
Informed Consent
When reporting studies that involve human participants, authors should include a statement that the studies have been approved by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration or comparable standards, the authors must explain the reasons for their approach, and demonstrate that the independent ethics committee or institutional review board explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.
The welfare of animals used for research must be respected. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and/or national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.
For studies with animals, the following statement should be included: “All applicable institutional and/or national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.”
If articles do not contain studies with human participants or animals by any of the authors, Springer recommends including the following sentence: “This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.”
For retrospective studies, please add the following sentence: “For this type of study, formal consent is not required.”
Reference Managers
For authors using EndNote, Springer provides an output style that supports the formatting of in-text citations and reference list here.
Authors preparing their manuscript in LaTeX can use the bibtex file spbasic.bst which is included in Springer’s LaTeX macro package (clicking this link downloads a file).
Reprints
Reprints are available to authors at standard rates. Authors will receive reprint order forms with proofs of articles. Both paper and PDF reprints can be purchased. You will receive a free electronic offprint in PDF format after online publication.
English Language Support
Manuscripts that are accepted for publication will be checked by our copyeditors for spelling and formal style. This may not be sufficient if English is not your native language and substantial editing would be required. In that case, you may want to have your manuscript edited by a native speaker prior to submission. A clear and concise language will help editors and reviewers concentrate on the scientific content of your paper and thus smooth the peer review process.
Editing services provide language editing for scientific articles in all areas in which Springer publishes. Use of an editing service is neither a requirement nor a guarantee of acceptance for publication. Two available options are SpringerNature Author Services and American Journal Experts.
Please contact an editing service directly to make arrangements for editing and payment.
For Authors from China
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For Authors from Japan
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For Authors from Korea
영어 논문 투고에 앞서 원어민에게 영문 교정을 받고자 하시는 분들께 Edanz 회사를 소개해 드립니다. 서비스 내용, 가격 및 신청 방법 등에 대한 자세한 사항은 저희 Edanz Editing Global 웹사이트를 조해 주시면 감사하겠습니다.• Edanz Editing Global
Springer
http1/vwwv.springer.com/journa1/12028
ISSN: 1541-6933 (print version) ISSN: 1556-0961(electronic version) journal no. 12028
http://www.springer.com/journal/12028
Neurocritical Care Reviewers' Instructions
Download Reviewer's Guide
Elements to assess
Overall considerations:
- Is the content appropriate for Neurocritical Care?
- For original articles, are the results novel?
- Does the title accurately reflects the content of the manuscript?
- Is the manuscript is clearly and concisely written and is free of jargon
- Is there appropriate reporting of conflicts of interest
- Are there too many authors?
- Is language editing needing?
Does the manuscript follow relevant guidelines?
- Observational studies – STROBE
- Systematic review, meta-analysis - PRISMA
- Diagnostic accuracy – STARD
- Quality improvement studies - SQUIRE
Does the abstract:
- State the question to be addressed?
- Accurately describes the study design?
- Present data not just trends for main results?
- Present conclusions that are based on the data NOT speculation?
Does the introduction:
- Introduce and put into perspective the purpose of the study?
- Summarize what has already been done (with proper primary citations), indicate a gap, raise a research question, or challenge prior work?
- Outline the purpose and goal of the project and clearly indicate what is novel and why it is significant?
Do the methods:
- Provide sufficient detail?
- Clearly describe study design; is it appropriate?
- Describe patients selection and randomization (if appropriate)
- Include a detailed description of intervention (if appropriate)
- Define a primary outcome measure
- Provide a detailed description of statistical approach
Do the results:
- Present the data in a clear logical order
- Make appropriate use of tables and figures
- Repeat the data presented in tables in the text?
- Are there better ways to present the data?
Discussion
- Are the results compared to those in the literature?
- Does it discuss the importance, validity and generalizability of the conclusions?
- Are limitations discussed?
- Are alternative explanations for the data offered?
- Are the conclusions (must be supported by the data) clearly distinguished from speculation?
- Are there unjustified claims and generalizations?
Figures and tables
- Does the legend describe everything in the figure or table, draw attention to its important features, and define all abbreviations? (Can the reader understand the figure without referring to the text?)
- Are the scales in graphs appropriate?
- Are estimates of error included?
- Are tables designed to easily find specific data?
- Are graphs used to display trends and make comparisons?
Recommendations
- Reject – there are major uncorrectable concerns about originality, relevance, validity or overall quality.
- Revise and reconsider – the paper is not acceptable as it stands but if the authors respond appropriately to the comments it could be.
- Revisions needed – the manuscript is acceptable but needs some cleaning up.
- Accept as is.
How to format the review
- Comments to editor (Not seen by author)
- VERY IMPORTANT: State succinctly what you really think about suitability for publication and why
- Tell me if there are aspects of the paper you don’t feel qualified to evaluate
- Comments to authors
- Start by briefly summarizing what questions was addressed and how the study was done.
- Identify major issues– these are usually issues that need to be addressed to determine if the paper is suitable for publication. Focus on overall originality, relevance, validity and the overall quality of the presentation
- List minor issues that need to be addressed that are not as critical to the decision to accept or not.
Review pointers
- Space is no longer a concern. Encourage tables and figures when appropriate.
- Never make any comment to the authors on whether or not you think the paper should be accepted
- Make sure the comments reflect your recommendation; if you recommend rejection, your comments should identify some major concerns.
- Where possible, be constructive in your comments. Your work should serve to educate the authors in how to improve their work.
- With each point, make it clear to the authors what they need to do
- Do not worry about errors of syntax or spelling