The following requirements need to be included on the Journal's Instructions to Authors page:

• • The ORCiD of each author (or at least the submitting author) needs to be provided in an article.

  • The referencing style / bibliographic standards need to be applied precisely and consistently as this is essential for generating XML texts.

  • Affiliations need to be provided in ascending or descending order (min 3 steps) plus the geographic location: the Unit (where applicable), Department/School, University, City and Country. e.g. John Smith, Steve Biko Academic Hospital, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

  • Errata and retraction policies need to be published online and implemented 

  • The journal needs to state the process an author can follow to appeal non-acceptance of an article (the arbitration process).

  • At the end of each article the contribution of each author and collaborator needs to be stated, e.g. Author A did the data analysis and wrote the manuscript. Author B did the fieldwork and interpretation of the findings. Author C did the revision and approval of the final version of the manuscript.

  • All disciplines are encouraged to make available the links to data sets and the citations of data sets where applicable / available.

  • Clinical trials – prior registration of the clinical trial and the provision of the identity number of the clinical trial is mandatory.

  • Biological reference material and DNA sequences need to be registered and the identity number needs to be provided.

  • On the journal’s webpage Information needs to be provided regarding the journal’s criteria for accepting pre-prints/pre-peer reviewed manuscripts. i.e., does the journal accept pre-prints, and if so, under which circumstances.

  • In the future the Level 1 Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines will be implemented. See the TOP summary table here.