Editorial Policies 

 

Editorial Policies 

Summary

1. Overview

The journal Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery upholds the ethical principles established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and follows the guidelines provided by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for ethical conduct, reporting, editing, and publishing of scholarly articles. When a manuscript is submitted, it is understood that all authors have reviewed and accepted its content and that the submission complies with the journal’s editorial and ethical standards. The publisher maintains neutrality regarding territorial disputes in institutional affiliations or maps.

2. Respectful Communication

Respect and professionalism are expected in all interactions among authors, editors, reviewers, and readers. Disrespectful behavior, harassment, discrimination, or threats directed at staff or contributors are strictly prohibited. Serious misconduct may be reported to relevant authorities or institutions, and the journal reserves the right to end interactions with individuals who violate these policies.

3. Ethical Approval and Participant Consent

 All research involving human subjects (individuals, samples, or data) must have been carried out according to the Declaration of Helsinki principles. Before starting the study, authors must have obtained ethical approval for all protocols from their institution’s ethics committee to confirm that the study meets national and international guidelines for research in humans. A document confirming ethics committee approval must be included as a supplemental attachment to the submission, including the ethics committee name and reference numbers. For non-interventional studies (e.g., surveys) for which ethical approval is not required or where the study has received an ethics committee waiver, this information should be added to the manuscript.

The article’s authors must have obtained informed consent from the individuals participating in the study. A statement to confirm this must be included in the manuscript. If requested, authors should be prepared to provide dated copies signed by participants to the journal’s editorial staff.

4. Informed Consent for Study Participation and Publication

Informed consent is mandatory for all human participants involved in a study. For minors or vulnerable groups, consent must come from a legal guardian or authorized representative. When publications include personal details, images, or videos of individuals, a separate consent form for publication must be obtained and retained. If the subject is deceased, consent from next of kin is required.

5. Open Access Policy

Articles published in the journal are freely accessible to the public and deposited in recognized open access repositories in standard formats. Authors grant permission for their work to be used, shared, and reproduced, provided the original source is accurately cited and no changes that introduce errors are made. The journal is committed to maintaining its open access policy regardless of future changes in ownership.

6. Studies Involving Human Embryos and Stem Cells

Manuscripts that describe research using human embryos, gametes, or stem cells must adhere to all relevant institutional and national ethical regulations. Authors must clearly state which ethics committee approved the study and confirm that informed consent was obtained from all donors or recipients of biological materials. Supporting documentation may be requested.

7. Consideration of Sex and Gender in Research

Authors are encouraged to follow the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines. Studies should appropriately distinguish between biological sex and social gender, and explain their relevance to the research. If no analysis was conducted, the reason should be stated in the discussion.

8. Research Involving Animals

Manuscripts that report animal experiments must include a statement in the Methods section stating that the study was approved by the Institutional Review Board and that the animal care complied with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources, Commission on Life Sciences, National Research Council. Washington: National Academy Press, 1996). Authors should indicate the mechanism used for reviewing the ethics of the research conducted in their cover letter.

Note: Though not required at the time of submission, authors should be prepared to provide evidence of IRB/Ethics Committee adherence if requested by the Editor.

9. Plant Research

Studies involving plant specimens must follow national and international standards for collection and documentation. Authors must confirm proper permits and deposit plant samples in publicly accessible repositories when possible. Details of the specimen collector and identifier should be included in the manuscript.

10. Dual-Use Research Considerations

When a manuscript includes information that could potentially be misused to pose threats to public health or safety, the risks and benefits of publication will be carefully evaluated. If the danger outweighs the benefit, the submission may be rejected. Authors are responsible for disclosing dual-use concerns and any regulatory approvals obtained.

11. Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) must meet the same methodological rigor as conventional studies, including ethical approval, appropriate controls, randomization, and valid outcome measures. Manuscripts lacking scientifically supported evidence for the intervention will not be considered for publication.

12. Clinical Trial Registration

The journal strongly encourages authors to register all clinical trials in a recognized public registry before enrolling participants. Authors should include the registration number and date in the abstract. If a study is registered retrospectively, this should be clearly disclosed, along with an explanation. In addition, the journal supports the publication of study protocols to enhance methodological transparency and reproducibility

13. Data Availability

By submitting a manuscript to Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery, authors acknowledge their commitment to making the underlying raw data and materials available upon request for non-commercial scientific use—provided this does not compromise participant confidentiality.

We strongly encourage authors  to ensure that datasets supporting their conclusions are openly accessible to readers. This can be done by depositing the data in a publicly available repository (when applicable and suitable), or by including the data directly within the manuscript or supplementary materials. Similarly, we recommend depositing biological resources—such as plasmids, mutant strains, and cell lines—in recognized public repositories when possible. New software or code developed for the study should be submitted to an appropriate archive that provides a DOI or other unique identifier.

All manuscripts must include a section titled “Availability of Data and Materials,” clearly describing how and where the data supporting the study can be accessed. If the authors choose not to share data, this decision must be explicitly stated, along with a justification.

APN supports the FORCE11 Data Citation Principles and requires that all publicly accessible datasets be cited appropriately in the reference list, including an accession number or persistent identifier (such as a DOI).

For guidance, our editorial policies include a list of recommended data repositories categorized by subject and data type. If you are uncertain about the suitability of a repository, we encourage you to contact the journal’s editorial office.

14. Standards of Reporting

The journal supports adherence to established reporting guidelines, such as CONSORT, PRISMA, STROBE, and others relevant to the study type. Authors must describe their statistical methods clearly and completely, including justification for the tests used. All resources, such as reagents and cell lines, should be reported using standardized identifiers where possible.

15. Authorship Criteria

Authors must have contributed significantly to the research—either in its conception, design, data collection, analysis, writing, or revisions—and should take responsibility for the integrity of the work. All listed authors must approve the final version of the manuscript. The journal adheres to the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) system, and authors are required to specify the nature of each contributor's role at the time of submission. Changes to the author list post-submission require written consent from all authors.

16. Disclosure of Competing Interests

Authors, editors, and reviewers are required to declare any conflicts of interest—financial or otherwise—that could influence their work. If there are no conflicts, a statement to that effect should be included in the manuscript.

17. Peer Review Process

All manuscripts undergo an editorial review and, if deemed suitable, are sent for external peer review by experts in the field. The journal may employ open or anonymous peer review depending on the manuscript and journal policies. Reviewers are selected based on expertise and are required to maintain confidentiality.

18. Use of Artificial Intelligence

Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

19. Academic Misconduct

Allegations of plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or ethical breaches are taken seriously. The journal will follow COPE guidelines in investigating misconduct and may inform institutions or retract published articles if misconduct is confirmed.

20. Corrections and Retractions

If significant errors are discovered after publication that affect the interpretation of the findings, the journal may issue a correction or a retraction. Corrections address factual inaccuracies that do not invalidate the results, while retractions are used when the scientific integrity of the article is fundamentally compromised.

21. Appeals and Complaints

Authors who disagree with editorial decisions may file an appeal by submitting a reasoned explanation. All complaints regarding editorial procedures or misconduct will be reviewed impartially and, if necessary, escalated according to COPE guidance.

22. Collections and Special Issues

Submissions to thematic collections or special issues are reviewed according to the journal's standard peer review criteria. Editors and guest editors with a potential conflict of interest must recuse themselves from handling specific manuscripts, and the review process will be overseen by an unbiased editor.

 

 

Last update: 22 July 2025