Peer review and editorial policy

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

Approximately 10% of the manuscripts are rejected without review based on formal criteria as they do not comply with the submission guidelines. Each manuscript is assigned to two peer reviewers. The journal follows a single-blind reviewing procedure. The average period from submission to the first decision is on the average ten days, at most 25 days. The approximate rejection rate is 30%. The final decision on the acceptance of a manuscript is made by the meeting of the most active members of the editorial board.

If editorial board members or the editor Editor-in-Chief submit manuscripts to the journal, the decision on the acceptance or rejection is not made with their participation.

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.