Peer review and editorial policy

The journal follows the Springer Nature Peer Review Policy, Process and Guidance, Springer Nature Journal Editors' Code of Conduct, and COPE's Ethical Guidelines for Peer-reviewers.

Approximately half of the manuscripts are rejected without review based on formal criteria as they do not comply with the submission guidelines. Each manuscript is sent to one or two external peer reviewers. The journal follows a single-blind reviewing procedure. The average period from submission to the first decision is usually at most 45 days. The approximate rejection rate is lower than 10%. The final decision on the acceptance of a manuscript for publication is made by the Editor-in-Chief, the Coordinating Editor, or other Editors.

If Editors publish in the journal, a senior member of the Editorial Board is assigned to assume responsibility for overseeing peer review and making decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of any manuscript submitted and/or co-authored by the editors. In that case, Editors do not participate in making decisions on manuscripts where they are listed as co-authors.

Special issues published in the journal follow the same procedures as all other issues. If not stated otherwise, special issues are prepared by the members of the editorial board without guest editors.