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 17% 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 or three peer reviewers. The journal follows a double-blind reviewing procedure. The average period from submission to the first decision is usually at most 12 days. The approximate rejection rate is 51%. The final decision on the acceptance of a manuscript for publication is made by the Editor-in-Chief.

If editorial board members submit manuscripts to the journal, the decision on the acceptance or rejection is made by peer reviewers. For acceptance all reviews must be positive.

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.