Author Guidelines
Only articles written in English will be published. All articles will be subject to peer review and the scientific standard is the only criterion for accepting a manuscript for publication. The style should be clear and concise. Excessive use of jargon or unusual abbreviations should be avoided. Contributors must send an electronic copy of the text, tables and figures to info@labpublishers.com, and it is essential that they retain a copy of the original manuscript, as the Editor does not accept responsibility for loss of papers submitted. Papers are accepted on the understanding that no substantial part has been, or will be published elsewhere, and once they have been accepted they remain the copyright of the journal. The institutional e-mail addresses of ALL AUTHORS must be provided with the submission.
Please note that all manuscripts should be accompanied by the following document available on this website:
- Author Declarations Form: This should be submitted with your manuscript file, and please note that manuscripts which do not include these Declarations will be returned. Please download the Author Declarations Form here and complete.
Each author is expected to have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; the creation of new software used in the work; and/or writing or substantively revising the manuscript. In addition, all authors must have approved the submitted version (and any substantially modified version that involves the author’s contribution to the study); AND agrees to be personally accountable for the author’s own contributions and for ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work, even those in which the author was not personally involved, are appropriately investigated, resolved, and documented in the literature.
More detailed guidance on authorship is given by the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The journal also adheres to the standards of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) that "all authors should agree to be listed and should approve the submitted and accepted versions of the publication". Any change to the author list should be approved by all authors including any who have been removed from the list. The corresponding author should act as a point of contact between the editor and the other authors and should keep co-authors informed and involve them in major decisions about the publication (e.g. answering reviewers’ comments). We reserve the right to request confirmation that all authors meet the authorship conditions.
Preparation of the text
Manuscripts should be in a Word file with double spacing and 30 mm margins all around. The first page should bear the title of the paper, last name(s) and initial(s) of the author(s) with their affiliation(s) and the postal address, tel. and fax numbers and e-mail address of the corresponding author. For indexing purposes a small number of key words should be supplied.
Generally, papers should be divided into the following parts and in the order indicated: (1) Summary: about 5% of the length of the paper; (2) Introduction: containing the reason for doing the work; (3) Materials and Methods: sufficient information must be included to permit repetition of the experimental work; (4) Results: these should be given concisely together with tables and figures that have clear legends; (5) Discussion: the presentation of results should be separate from a discussion of their significance; the section should not repeat Results; (6) Acknowledgements if any; (7) References: these should be cited in the text by a number in round brackets and listed at the end of the paper in numerical order. Note the following style for journal and book citations:
- Autorino R, Lamendola MG, De Luca G, et al. Neuroendocrine immunophenotype as predictor of clinical recurrence in 110 patients with prostate cancer. Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol 2007; 20(4):765-70.
- Robb RJ, Lin Y. T-cell growth factor purification, interaction with a cellular receptor and in vitro synthesis. In Thymic Hormones and Lymphokines. A.L. Goldstein, ed. Plenum Publishing Corp. New York, 1984; p. 274.
In the case of 8 authors or more, et al. should follow the 3rd author.
Abbreviation of titles of Journals should follow the list of journals indexed in INDEX MEDICUS. References to books should include the editor(s), publisher and place of publication. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their references.
All authors are required to send a No conflict of interest statement.
Illustrations:
The Journal recognizes the adoption of the SI unit system. All tables and figures should be cited in order in the text, using Roman numerals for the tables and Arabic numerals for figures. Tables should have a short title. Figures can be sent on a separate PDF or jpg file bearing the first author’s name.
Proof-reading: Page proofs will be submitted to the contributors for minor corrections and should be returned to the Editor within three days. Major alterations to the text cannot be accepted.
During the submission process, please suggest three potential reviewers with the appropriate expertise to review the manuscript. The editors will not necessarily approach these referees. Please provide detailed contact information (address, homepage, phone, e-mail address). The proposed referees should neither be current collaborators of the co-authors nor have published with any of the co-authors of the manuscript within the last five years. Proposed reviewers should be from different institutions to the authors. You may identify appropriate Editorial Board members of the journal as potential reviewers. You may suggest reviewers from among the authors that you frequently cite in your paper.
To facilitate proper peer-reviewing of your manuscript, it is essential that it is submitted in grammatically correct English. If you are not a native English speaker, we recommend that you have your manuscript professionally edited before submission or read by a native English-speaking colleague. Professional editing will enable reviewers and future readers to more easily read and assess the content of submitted manuscripts. All accepted manuscripts undergo language editing, however an additional fee will be charged to authors if very extensive English corrections must be made by the Editorial Office: pricing is according to the service.
Editorial Procedures and Peer-Review
Initial Checks
All submitted manuscripts received by the Editorial Office will be checked by a professional in-house Managing Editor to determine whether they are properly prepared and whether they follow the ethical policies of the journal. Manuscripts that do not fit the journal's ethics policy or do not meet the standards of the journal will be rejected before peer-review. Manuscripts that are not properly prepared will be returned to the authors for revision and resubmission. After these checks, the Managing Editor will consult the journals’ Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor, or Guest Editor (or an Editorial Board member in case of a conflict of interest) to determine whether the manuscript fits the scope of the journal and whether it is scientifically sound. No judgment on the significance or potential impact of the work will be made at this stage. Reject decisions at this stage will be verified by the Editor-in-Chief.
Peer-Review
Once a manuscript passes the initial checks, it will be assigned to at least two independent experts for peer-review. A single-blind review is applied, where authors' identities are known to reviewers. Peer review comments are confidential and will only be disclosed with the express agreement of the reviewer.
In the case of regular submissions, in-house assistant editors will invite experts, including recommendations by an academic editor. These experts may also include Editorial Board members and Guest Editors of the journal. In the case of a special issue, the Guest Editor will advise on the selection of reviewers.
Potential reviewers suggested by the authors may also be considered. Reviewers should not have published with any of the co-authors during the past five years and should not currently work or collaborate with any of the institutions of the co-authors of the submitted manuscript.
Editorial Decision and Revision
All the articles, reviews and communications published in MDPI journals go through the peer-review process and receive at least two reviews. The in-house editor will communicate the decision of the academic editor, which will be one of the following:
- Accept after Minor Revisions:
The paper is in principle accepted after revision based on the reviewer’s comments. Authors are given five days for minor revisions. - Reconsider after Major Revisions:
The acceptance of the manuscript would depend on the revisions. The author needs to provide a point by point response or provide a rebuttal if some of the reviewer’s comments cannot be revised. Usually, only one round of major revisions is allowed. Authors will be asked to resubmit the revised paper within a suitable time frame, and the revised version will be returned to the reviewer for further comments. - Reject and Encourage Resubmission:
If additional experiments are needed to support the conclusions, the manuscript will be rejected and the authors will be encouraged to re-submit the paper once further experiments have been conducted. - Reject:
The article has serious flaws, and/or makes no original significant contribution. No offer of resubmission to the journal is provided.
All reviewer comments should be responded to in a point-by-point fashion. Where the authors disagree with a reviewer, they must provide a clear response.
Author Appeals
Authors may appeal a rejection by sending an e-mail to the Editorial Office of the journal. The appeal must provide a detailed justification, including point-by-point responses to the reviewers' and/or Editor's comments. The Managing Editor of the journal will forward the manuscript and related information (including the identities of the referees) to the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor, or Editorial Board member. The academic Editor being consulted will be asked to give an advisory recommendation on the manuscript and may recommend acceptance, further peer-review, or uphold the original rejection decision. A reject decision at this stage is final and cannot be reversed.
In the case of a special issue, the Managing Editor of the journal will forward the manuscript and related information (including the identities of the referees) to the Editor-in-Chief who will be asked to give an advisory recommendation on the manuscript and may recommend acceptance, further peer-review, or uphold the original rejection decision. A reject decision at this stage will be final and cannot be reversed.
Production and Publication
If your paper is accepted for publication after peer review the corresponding author will be asked to pay the article processing charge (APC). Once the APC has been processed, your article will be prepared for publication and can appear online within an average of 30 days. Please note that no production work will occur on your paper until the APC has been received.
Production
Your LAB Publishers editorial assistant will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will made available to the corresponding author by email to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. Please note that if there are any changes to the author list at this stage all authors will be required to complete and sign a form authorising the change.
Publication
Your article will be visible online on our website in a fully citable form with a DOI number as soon as it has completed the production process. Upon completion of the issue, it will also be available in printed form.
Promoting your article
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible.
Editorial correspondence
All manuscripts, letters to the Editor and any correspondence regarding Editorial matters, should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief:
Dr Pio Conti,
e-mail: info@labpublishers.com
