The journal suggests that authors use the general recommendations set forth by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE: http://www.icmje.org/) or a similar group. Every submission must have a conflict-of-interest (CoI) statement, and all articles with human participants or animals must have statements of informed consent and human and animal rights.

Papers will be considered for publication assuming that they have not been published elsewhere (except perhaps in the form of an abstract or as a part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) and that they are not currently being considered by another journal. If this is not so, the paper will be immediately returned. It is also the authors' responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular institution are submitted with the approval of that institution. Only the editorial office can officially establish the date of receipt of the manuscript. A condition of submission is that the authors permit editing of the paper for readability.

In an effort to improve reproducibility and enhance the quality of publications, the NIH is promoting new guidelines on rigor, reproducibility, and transparency (http://grants.nih.gov/reproducibility/index.htm, http://www.nih.gov/research-training/rigor-reproducibility/principles-guidelines-reporting-preclinical-research, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3511845). While these guidelines are for grant applications, they have been endorsed by a large number of journal editors. This journal supports these recommendations which, briefly, are as follows. Be explicit about the scientific premise of the research. Maximize transparency by providing very detailed methodology. This requires clear descriptions of how replications were performed, how statistics were used, how the sample size was determined, the method of randomization, blinding among the observers if any, a clear statement of criteria for including or excluding subjects, authentication of biologic and chemical reagents and resources, and a key idea is that data sets be available to other researchers. Examples of putting these ideas into practice are given at the sites listed above. Please consult these websites for additional information.

Submission

The corresponding author should submit the manuscript through the online Manuscript Tracking System using only electronic PDF (.pdf) or Word (.doc, .docx, .rtf) files. To facilitate rapid publication and minimize administrative costs, only electronic submissions can be considered. There is no page limit, and no limit of the number of articles that can be published. All communications from the journal, such as those regarding acceptance, proofs, and so on, will be with the corresponding author. All enquiries concerning the publication of accepted papers should be addressed to [email protected].

Peer Review

The authors can expect that the submission will be peer reviewed according to standards of academic and publication excellence. The submission will be considered by an editor who will, if the submission is suitable, seek appropriate peer reviewers. If there is a request for a specific reviewer, this will be considered and held in strict confidence by the editors. As stated in the guidelines for reviewers, reviewers must reveal any CoIs that might influence their reviews and they are expected to recuse themselves if they feel that they cannot provide an objective review. Manuscripts will be reviewed for their significance, scientific rigor, and their acceptance of journal policies. It is expected that the reviewer will provide a critique of the paper and a recommendation as to its acceptability. Reviewers (even those who recuse themselves) cannot use or disclose the knowledge gained from a manuscript under review until it is published. Reviewers will be asked to immediately destroy copies of the manuscripts after review. The journal considers reviews as strictly confidential, and will notify the reviewers of any editorial decision.

Cover Letter

A cover letter or a completed journal submission form should accompany each manuscript. The ICMJE recommends that it includes: a statement about previous reports (including the reports) that might influence a judgment of redundancy, a statement that the contents of the paper have not been published elsewhere nor are they under consideration for publication at another journal, and a statement that requirements for authorship (a significant intellectual contribution, a role in the writing and editing of the manuscript, and final approval of the submitted manuscript) have been met by all authors. The letter is to be signed by the corresponding author. If the paper has been previously submitted to another journal, then the reviewer's comments and authors' responses should be included as well.

Title Page

The title page should contain the title, full information for all authors, contact information for the corresponding author, word count, and numbers of figures and tables. Please also list three to ten keywords representing the main content of the article.

Abstract

The manuscript should contain a structured abstract that clearly describes the background for the study, a statement of its purpose, its basic methods and procedures, the main findings, and its principal conclusions. It should clearly indicate the new or important findings. If the article reports the results of a clinical trial, then the clinical trial registration number should be given at the end of the abstract. The abstract should be citation-free, and not exceed 1,200 characters and spaces, which is approximately 150 words.

Keywords

Three to ten keywords representing the main content of the article.

Introduction

This section should state the background, significance, and the reason for the study, with no subheadings. Non-research submissions, such as protocol papers or commentaries, may utilize a somewhat different format and structure than the standard research paper which is described below.

Methods

This section should describe how the study was done. Procedures, reagents and their sources, and equipment should be described in detail such that another researcher could reproduce the findings. Statistical methods should be described in enough detail so that a knowledgeable reader could assess the appropriateness of the statistics.

If it is a clinical study, it must include the selection and description of human subjects as well as a statement that appropriate clinical study guidelines―either institutional, national or international―have been adhered to (e.g., see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/hs/index.htm). A statement that the subjects provided an informed consent should be included. Also, it must be stated that the protocol has been approved by an appropriate committee such as an Institutional Review Board (IRB).

In studies with animals, the authors should state that institutional, national or international standards were followed as described, for example, by the NIH (see http://grants.nih.gov/GRANTS/POLICY/air/ and http://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/olaw.htm). Also, they should state that the protocol has been approved by an appropriate committee such as an Institutional Animal Care and Use committee.

The units of measurement set forth in the International System of Units (SI) should be used.

Results

Results should be presented logically, highlighting the major findings. The results can be described in the text, tables, and figures and such descriptions should not be duplicated or redundant. Reporting of data by sex is expected. Note that the ICMJE recommends that data be kept for at least ten years.

Discussion

The discussion should emphasize the novel and important aspects of the study. The significance and limitations of the study are to be included as well.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments should be included at the end of the manuscript before the Conflict-of-Interest section and should list all sources of support including grants, institutions, and so forth. It is also appropriate to acknowledge investigators who have contributed to the article but who do not meet the criteria for authorship.

Conflict of Interest (CoI)

A CoI statement for each author must be included at the end of the manuscript before the References section. It can be a simple statement such as “the authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest” or a form such as the one proposed by the ICMJE (http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest/) to be submitted with the paper, which could be helpful where there is a conflict that must be noted.

If the editor, or a member of the editorial board or staff, or a member of Bendola Publishing is an author on a submission, then they will recuse themselves from the review process which includes selecting reviewers, evaluating the reviews, and rendering a decision about the submission.

References

In general, the references, tables, figures, and use of abbreviations should follow the suggestions, style, and format of the ICMJE at http://www.icmje.org/. Each reference must be complete and accurate. References not cited in the text or legends will be automatically removed. In addition, all references should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text.

Preparation of Figures and Legends

Each figure should be cited in the text in a consecutive sequence. In addition, each should be supplied in a separate electronic file. Either vector art formats (Illustrator, EPS, WMF, FreeHand, CorelDraw, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) or bitmap formats (Photoshop, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, etc.) can be used. If a bitmap format is used, the resolution should be at least 300 dpi unless a scientific reason requires another resolution. Images and labels should be embedded in separate layers. The legends for all the figures should be listed in a separate section and should include information needed to understand the data, such as explanations of abbreviations and units.

Preparation of Tables

Each table should be cited in the text in a consecutive sequence. Each must have a descriptive title. A legend can be included with each table providing the information needed to understand the data such as an explanation of abbreviations and units.

Supplements

Supplements can be published if justified. A declaration of funding sources should be included with the supplements, and the relationship to a peer reviewed paper should also be included.

Article Processing Charges

Psychoneuroimmunology Journal is an open access journal which assesses publication charges (fees) that make it feasible for the article to be available for free to all interested online visitors. More information about these charges can be found on the Article Processing Charges information page.

Proofs

In order to expedite prompt publication of accepted papers, corrected proofs should be returned within 2–3 days of receipt. In order to avoid delays, please be sure that the entire manuscript conforms to the style of the journal.

Copyright

This journal is an Open Access journal meaning that authors retain the copyrights for their papers, but also that the papers are freely reusable in many forms and media so long as the original work is properly cited. Thus, the articles are covered by the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) license which allows reproduction, distribution and unrestricted use as long as the original publication is cited as the source. All papers in the journal are accessible through the web by anyone.

While the information in this journal is believed to be true and accurate on the date of publication, neither the authors, editors, nor the publisher accept any legal responsibility for errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

NIH Public Access Policy

Please note that the NIH and certain private funding agencies require that a final, electronic version of any manuscript describing research that they supported be submitted to the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central site. Information about the NIH policy can be found at http://publicaccess.nih.gov/.

Ethical Issues, Corrections, and Retractions

If an ethical problem related to a submitted or published article is referred to the editor, he will evaluate the issue as outlined by appropriate bodies such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE: http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts) and take appropriate steps. If warranted, the journal may retract the article.

If an error is discovered in a published article, the corresponding author must contact the journal as soon as possible and provide a detailed description of both the error and the correction that is needed. Corrections will be published as soon as possible at no charge to the authors. If a requested correction affects the scientific interpretations or conclusions of the article, then it will be reviewed by the editors and possibly subjected again to standard peer review.

At the request of a corresponding author, the journal will retract an article without requiring explanation.

For issues of fraud, misconduct, and other ethical violations, see also the Ethics of Publication information page.

Author's Appeals and Complaints

Appeals and complaints should be addressed to the journal editor. If the appeal or complaint has to do with the handling of a submission or an acceptance/rejection decision, please supply details and explain your position. Such appeals can only be made after the peer review process, may take more time than the initial peer review, and may be done only once for any submission. The only issues that will be considered are those that may have a significant impact on the earlier decision. Final decisions will be made by the editorial staff.