Editorial Process
A manuscript will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that it is being submitted to Biomedicine and Surgery alone at that point in time and has not been published anywhere, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere. The Journal expects that authors would authorize one of them to correspond with the Journal for all matters related to the manuscript.
All manuscripts received are duly acknowledged. On submission, editors review all submitted manuscripts initially for suitability for formal review. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical flaws, or lack of a significant message are rejected before proceeding for formal peer-review. Manuscripts that are unlikely to be of interest to the Journal readers are also liable to be rejected at this stage itself.
Manuscripts received from Editorial Board members or from the members of the Journal’s society will be screened by the Editor in Chief and sent to external peer reviewers. The editorial board members who are authors will be excluded from publication decisions.
Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in Biomedicine and Surgery are sent to two or more expert reviewers. During submission, the contributor may provide names of two or three qualified reviewers who have had experience in the subject of the submitted manuscript, but this is not mandatory. The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institutes as the contributor/s. However, the selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of the editor. The Journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other’s identity. Every manuscript is also assigned to a member of the editorial team, who, based on the comments from the reviewers, takes a final decision on the manuscript. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/ rejection/ amendments in manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point by point response to reviewers’ comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated till reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript.
Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is expected to return the corrected proofs within three days. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period. The whole process of submission of the manuscript to final decision and sending and receiving proofs is completed online. To achieve faster and greater dissemination of knowledge and information, the journal publishes articles online as ‘Ahead of Print’ immediately on acceptance.
Processes for appeals
The authors do have the right to appeal if they have a genuine cause to believe that the editorial board has wrongly rejected the paper. If the authors wish to appeal the decision, they should email the editorial office (email: editor@biomedsurg.com) explaining in detail the reason for the appeal. The appeals will be acknowledged by the editorial office and will be investigated in an unbiased manner. The processing of appeals will be done within 6 – 8 weeks. While under appeal, the said manuscript should not be submitted to other journals. The final decision rests with the Editor in Chief of the journal. Second appeals are not considered.
Anti-Plagiarism Policy
Plagiarism includes duplicate publication of the author’s own work, in whole or in part without proper citation or mispresenting other’s ideas, words, and other creative expression as one’s own. The Journal follows strict anti-plagiarism policy. All manuscripts submitted to the Journal undergo plagiarism check with commercially available software. Based on the extent of plagiarism, authors may be asked to address any minor duplication or similarity with the previous published work. If plagiarism is detected after publication, the Journal will investigate. If plagiarism is established, the Journal will notify the authors’ institution and funding bodies and will retract the plagiarised article. To report plagiarism, contact the journal office (email: editor@biomedsurg.com).