Instructions to Authors
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.