Peer review
The journal uses double-blind review: reviewers do not know the authors’ identities, and authors do not know the reviewers’. Reviewers judge the work, not the author.
Manuscripts are anonymized by the editorial office before review — names, affiliations, clinic names, and self-identifying references are removed. Each manuscript is read by two independent peer reviewers with no disclosed conflict for that paper. Protocol and safety papers also pass a clinical safety check by a practicing clinician reviewer, and quantitative papers pass a methods and statistics check. The handling editor decides from the reviews — accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject — and standard review targets a first decision in six to ten weeks.
Conflicts of interest
A reader must be able to see, on every article, who paid for the work, who profits from its conclusions, and who decided to publish it. Disclosure is published, never merely collected.
- Who discloses — authors, reviewers, editors, and board members disclose relevant financial and non-financial interests covering the 36 months before submission or review, including employment, ownership, consulting and advisory roles, speaker fees, research funding, product and pharmacy relationships, and leadership roles in associations active in this field.
- Published with the article — author disclosures print with the article itself, so the reader sees them in context.
- Recusal — no editor handles, reviews, or decides a manuscript involving their own clinic, company, product, or study. That rule includes the Editor-in-Chief: manuscripts submitted by, funded by, or materially about a company or association in which he holds a role or interest are decided independently by another editor, and the published article carries a note saying so.
- Enforcement — an undisclosed conflict discovered after publication is handled under COPE guidance, from correction to retraction where the omission warrants it.
The sponsor firewall
Sponsors and advertisers receive no preview of editorial content, no right to comment before publication, and no influence over acceptance, timing, reviewer selection, or conclusions. No sponsor may fund the review of its own product, and paid prioritized review does not exist at this journal: handling is never sold. Industry-funded studies and sponsored supplements are labeled as funded, name the funder in the article itself, and pass through the identical blinded review as any other work. Advertising is sold and placed separately from editorial operations, and editorial decisions are logged with dates and decision-makers, so any later question about influence can be answered from a record, not from memory.
Corrections, appeals, and retractions
Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions follow COPE guidance and are linked permanently to the original article. An author may appeal a rejection once, in writing, addressing the reviewers’ substantive points; the appeal is decided by an editor who did not handle the paper. Post-publication letters are welcomed and are reviewed by an editor.