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 5% 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 one external peer reviewer and one member of the editorial board. Both are required to write a review. The journal follows a single-blind reviewing procedure. The average period from submission to the first decision is usually at most 20 days. The approximate rejection rate is 8%. The final decision on the acceptance of a manuscript for publication is made by the responsible (executive) editor.

If editorial board members submit manuscripts to the journal, they do not participate in the decision-making process on their submissions.

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.