Sports and Exercise Medicine – Open Journal (SEMOJ) is dedicated to the open dissemination and robust discussion of the techniques used involving medical care of injury and illness in sports.

SEMOJ covers a wide array of subjects but is not limited to as given below,

• Physical fitness
• Sports physiotherapy
• Kinesiology
• Sports injuries and management
• Exercise medicine
• Physical activity and weight management
• Diet and supplements in sports and exercise
• Sports biomechanics
• Sports law
• Sports rehabilitation
• Sports nutrition
• Exercise physiology
• Performance endurance and testing
• Health promotion
• Sports and disability

Submissions for this journal are accepted from very basic sports and exercise medicine research to novel advancements.

The audience of SEMOJ encompasses all medical professionals involved in the training and care of the competitive and recreational athlete, including orthopedic surgeons, sports scientists, podiatrists, physiatrists, dentists, dietitians, primary care physicians, optometrists, exercise physiologists, athletic trainers, physical therapists, nurses, and others.

The journal welcomes all types of articles such as original research, review, case report, mini-review, editorial, short-communication, book-review, opinion, commentary, letter to the editor, conference, proceedings, technical report, errata, and illustrations.

We are open to receiving comments and corrections from subject experts to improve the quality of our journal.

Instructions for Authors

Authorship Policy

According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the credit for authorship should be based on the following:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for the development of important intellectual content;
• Final approval of the revision to be published;
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work by ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

In addition to this, an author should also be able to identify the co-authors contributing to other specific parts of the manuscript. Therefore, the authors should have the confidence of their co-authors in maintaining the integrity of their contribution to the study.

Those who meet the above 4 requisite criteria are designated as the authors and the ones who do not meet the requirements of the above criteria but indirectly assist the authors in the production of the study should be recognized in the acknowledgments section of the manuscript.

Manuscript Categories & Formats

Manuscript Categories

*Kindly refer to Summary of Manuscript Types and Formats below for details on abstract, manuscript length, number of figures, and tables.

Manuscript Formats

Original Research

• Main body of the text should be separated using subheadings (e.g., “Materials and Methods,” “Results,” and “Discussion”).
• Should be supported by a significant and relevant amount of data.
• Data should have been developed by the author(s) and the conclusions must comply with the presented data.
• Relevant illustrations, charts, and tables must be included.

Brief Research Report

• Format of manuscript preparation is similar to that of original research.
• Research that is in the early stages of development or those conducted on a small scale.
• These may include preliminary studies that utilize a simple research design or a small sample size, and that have generated limited pilot data and initial findings that indicate the need for further investigation.

Research Protocols

• Project summary/abstract is a must.
• General information such as the Protocol title, protocol identifying number and date, Name and address of the sponsor/funder, Name and title of the investigator conducting the research, name, address, and telephone number(s) of the research site(s), clinical laboratory, medical and/or technical department(s) and/or institutions involved in the research, as well as responsibilities of each of the investigators.
• Background information and significance, objective, study design, methods, safety considerations, follow-up, data management, statistics, quality assurance, expected outcome, results, duration, ethics, and consent should be included.

Research Clinical Trial Protocol

• Similar format to that of the research protocol.
• However, the protocol for the trial must follow the ICH Good Clinical Practice guidelines.

Research Letter

• Letters reporting cases, outbreaks, or original research.
• Authors should provide a short abstract, references, and a short biographical sketch; however, it must not be divided into sections.

Observational Study

• Format of manuscript preparation is similar to that of original research.
• Relevant illustrations, charts, and tables must be included.
• Statistics and conclusions must comply with the research data used.
• Participants must be pre-informed about the research study.

Review

• Topic should be of interest to a wide readership.
• Topic should be discussed in an understandable and lucid language.
• An abstract must be included.
• Figures and tables must be included where necessary.
• Should not contain original data.
• Significant number of references should be used and cited.

Book Review

• Format of manuscript preparation is similar to that of a review manuscript.
• Recently published book reviews on subjects significant to the journal are welcome.
• The title, author(s), publisher, number of pages, ISBN number (if applicable), and other relevant details should be included.

Mini Review

• Format of manuscript preparation is similar to that of the review manuscript.
• Topic should be discussed in an understandable and lucid language.
• Figures and tables must be included where necessary.
• Should not contain original data.
• Significant number of references should be used and cited.

Systematic Review

• It should be structured in the following format: structured abstract, introduction, methods/materials, conclusion, and discussion.
• Materials and methods should also include inclusion and exclusion criteria, keywords used, identification of studies, study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment.
• In data analysis, statistical tools used should be mentioned along with their names and version supported by a table of comparisons.

Case Report

• Unstructured abstract must be included.
• Subheadings are recommended (eg. abstract, overview, case report, discussion, conclusion, competing interests, consent, references).
• The report must provide an original description of a previously unreported entity or report a new presentation of a known disease.
• Must be accompanied by clinical, radiological, and pathological images.
• Images may include clinical images, radiology images (USG, CT, MRI, PET, and SPECT, etc.), pathology images (histopathology, cytopathology, hematopathology), or a series of images of a clinical procedure or event.
• Should include a consent statement from the patient.

Case Series

• Unstructured abstract must be included.
• Subheadings are recommended (eg. abstract, overview, case series, discussion, conclusion, competing interests, consent, references).
• Should report a series of similar cases.
• Case series must be accompanied by a comprehensive review of the literature.

Technical Report

• Should describe a particular technology, surgical techniques, new instruments, technical innovations, and their applications.
• Must contain original data to support the development of related technology or application.

Letter to the Editor

• Can be in support of a research or case report.
• Should support, refute, or add pertinent information related to a previously published manuscript.
• Authors may also send letters to amend their previous work.
• The letter should not be divided into sections.

Editorial

• Typically shorter than two pages.
• Must be precise and should attempt to conclude all the arguments made at the beginning of the text, without separating the editorial into sections.

Commentary

• Discussions, and critical suggestions on current topics.
• Although no abstract, figures, or tables are required, references can be included.
• It can be the author’s suggestion, the reviewer’s recommendation, or the reader’s comments.

Hypothesis

• Should be written in clear and concise language along with a structured abstract
• Statements made by the researchers must be clearly mentioned at the beginning of the manuscript.
• The hypothesis must be testable and realistic.
• Must be verifiable by statistical and analytical means, to support the verification or falsification of the reported findings.

Opinion

• Opinion on ongoing or published research, matters of public welfare or social interest, can be included depending upon the scope of the journal.
• Following a particular format is not required.

Perspective

• Similar to opinion.
• If detailed methods are included, a separate section on experimental procedures should immediately follow the body of the text.

Short Communication

• Includes new ideas, controversial opinions, negative results, and suggestions.
• The subject must be original and scientifically significant.

Errata

• Can be used to communicate errors that need to be appended to a book or published manuscript.
• A statement addressing the error and its correction should be included.

Illustrations

• Can include clinical images, diagnostic or investigative images in radiology, endoscopy, pathology, and cytopathology.
• A brief history, case discussion, and conclusion should be included.

Conference Proceedings

• Papers presented at a conference are usually accepted.
• Illustrations, references, and links to full reports of the conference activities must be provided.
• The paper must not have been published elsewhere as a research manuscript.

Announcements

• Announcements for conferences, workshops, meetings, seminars, symposia, courses, research or technical assistance.
• Date of the event, the location, the sponsoring organization(s), and the website providing detailed information must be provided.
• Must be accompanied by the name, address, and email of the contact person.

Summary of Manuscript Types and Formats

Manuscript Preparation

Title and Subtitle

The title should contain no more than 25-28 words. Kindly avoid abbreviations and formulae wherever possible. Subtitles should be separated from the title by a “:”. Manuscript length may vary according to its type (refer Manuscript Formats section).

Footnotes

Extensive use of footnotes is discouraged. Footnotes should be confined to providing URLs, affiliations, or other truly peripheral information, and should not be used for discussions, figures, tables, and the bibliographic details of a reference, or expansions on the text. Text footnotes should be numbered consecutively, starting with those on the title page.

Abstract and Keywords

The abstract should be informative and completely self-explanatory. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. The abstract should summarize the manuscript content in about 250-300 words. A list of keywords (3-10) and abbreviations should be included following the abstract.

Note: For research or any study/investigative type of manuscript, it is recommended that a structured abstract be included. Abbreviations should be accessible to a broad scientific audience.

Body Text

Authors can include the following subheadings to divide the sections of their manuscript into introduction, materials, and methods, results, discussion, and conclusion.

Describe the procedures in detail so that the work can be used for the purpose of further reference. Trade/brand names should be identified by an initial capital letter with the remainder of the name in lowercase. Names of suppliers of uncommon reagents or instruments should be provided along with the manufacturing location.

References

Openventio follows and recommends our authors use the AMA Style of referencing. The references can be cited from online or print published/in-press papers, part of an issue, complete special or theme issue, supplements, abstracts taken from sources, online or printed books, online or printed newspapers, websites, personal communication, audio tapes, videotapes, DVDs, theses or dissertation, package inserts, conference proceedings or presentations, software, government or agency bulletins, government reports. References should be cited numerically in accordance with their use in the text and should be included in the main manuscript file under the References section. It is also mandatory to cite all the tables and figures in the text.

Journal Reference

Piven EF. Increasing adherence to the diabetes regimen: An occupational therapy perspective. Diabetes Res Open J. 2014; 1(1): e1-e2.

Note:

• In case of more than 6 authors, provide the name of the first three authors followed by et al.

• If there is no author then start the references with the title.

• All the references should be arranged numerically and must match with those cited in the text.

Book References

i. Journal References Without Volume or Issue Numbers

Author 1, Author 2, Author 3, et al. . Journal short name. year: pp.

OR

Author 1, Author 2, Author 3, et al. . Journal short name. year; Vol(issue no.): pp-pp.

ii. Parts of an Issue

Author 1, Author 2, Author 3, Author 4, Author 5, Author 6. . Journal short name. year; Vol(issue no, pt 3): pp-pp.

iii. Complete Special or Theme Issue

Robert J, Stacey RA, eds. Blindness. Ophthalmol. 2016; Vol(3, theme/special issue): pp-pp.

iv. Supplements

Author 1, Author 2, Author 3, et al. . Journal short name. year; Vol(issue)(suppl): pp-pp.

If supplement is numbered and without an issue number:

Author 1, Author 2, Author 3, et al. . Journal short name. year; Vol(suppl 4): pp-pp.

If supplement is numbered and there is an issue number:

Author 1, Author 2, Author 3, et al. . Journal short name. year; Vol(issue)(suppl 6): pp-pp.

If supplement has several parts:

Author1, Author 2, Author 3, et al. . Journal short name. year; Vol(issue)(suppl 6B): 17S-21S.

v. Abstract taken from a Source

Author 1, Author 2, Author 3, et al. . [abstract taken from Arch Ophthamol. 2004; 122(1):55-56]. Journal short name. year; Vol(issue): pp-pp.

vi. Manuscripts or Books Accepted but not yet Published

Journal article: Author 1, Author 2, Author 3, Author 4. . Journal short name. In press.

OR

Book: Author. . Boston, MA, USA: Beacon Press. In press.

vii. Manuscript Submitted but not yet Accepted

These findings have recently been demonstrated (H. E. Mumanan, MD, unpublished data, January 2015).

viii. Personal Communication

In a conversation with H. E. Murman, MD (August 2005)…….

According to a letter from H.E. Murman, MD, in August 2005…….

Similar findings have been noted by Roberts and by H. E. Murman, MD (written communication, August 2003).

According to the manufacturer (H. R. Smith, oral communication, May 2004), the drug became available in Japan in January 2004.

ix. Audiotapes, Videotapes, DVDs (Digital video Disks)

Moyer B. On Our Own terms: Moyers on Dying [Videotape]. New York, NY, USA: Thirteen/WNET; 2000.

Ayers S. Terrorism: Medical Response [DVD]. Edgartown, MA, USA: Emergency Film Group; 2002.

Acland RD. Acland’s DVD Atlas of Human Anatomy [DVD], Philadelphia, PA, USA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2007.

x. Theses and Dissertation

Fenster FD. Cloning and Characterization of Piccolo, a Novel Component of the Presynaptic Cytoskeletal Matrix [dissertation]. Birmingham, England: University of Alabama; 2000.

Undeman C. Fully automatic Segmentation of MRI Brain Images Using Probabilistic Diffusion and a Watershed Scale-Space Approach [master’s thesis]. Stockholm, Sweden: NADA, Royal Institute of Technology; 2001.

xi. Package Inserts

Cialis [package insert]. Indianapolis, IN, USA: Eli Lilly & Co.; 2003.

Z Stat Flu [package insert]. Oklahoma City, OK: ZymeTx Inc.; 2000.

xii. Online Conference Proceedings/Presentations

Chu H, Rosenthal M. Search engines for the World Wide Web: A comparative study and evaluation methodology. Paper presented at: American Society for Information Science 1996 Annual Conference; October 19-24, 1996; Baltimore, MD, USA. http://www.asis.org/annual-96/electronicproceedings/chu.html. Accessed February 6, 2004.

Collins F. Talk, presented at: National Human Research Protections Advisory Committee; April, 2001; Bethesda, MD, USA. http://www.hhs.gov/orph/nhrpac/mtg04-01/0409mtg.txt. Accessed February 26, 2004.

Klausner R. Statement on fiscal year 2002 president’s budget request for the National Cancer Institute before the House Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations. http://cancer.gov/legis/testimony/house2002.html. Accessed February 6, 2004.

Audio presentation:

Hormone replacement therapy [Morning Edition audio]. National Public radio. August 5, 2002. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyld=1147833. Accessed March 4, 2004.

xiii. Newspapers

(Print)

Wolfe W. State’s mail-order drug plan launched. Minneapolis Star Tribune. May 14, 2004: 1B.

Overbye D. A philanthropist of science seeks to be its next Nobel. New York Times. April 9, 2005: D1, D4.

(Online)

Weiss R. The promise of precision prescriptions. Washington Post. June 24, 2000: A1. http://www.washingtonpost.com. Accessed October 24, 2011.

Perez-Pena R. Children in shelters hit hard by asthma.html. New York Times. Accessed March 2, 2004. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/02/nyregions/02asthgma.html. Accessed March 2, 2004.

xiv. Websites

International Society for Infectious Diseases. ProMED-mail Web site. http://www.promedmail.org. Accessed April 29, 2004.

Sullivan D. Major search engines and directories. SearchEngineWatch Website. http:// www.searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156221. Updated April 28,2004. Accessed December 6, 2005.

Interim guidance about avian influenza A (H5N1) for US citizens living abroad. Center for Disease Control and Prevention Website. http://www.cdc.gov/travel/other/avian_flu_ig_americans_abroad_032405.htm. Updated November 18, 2005. Accessed December 6, 2005.

Sample size calculation. Grapentine co inc. http://www.grapentine.com/calculator.htm. Accessed December 6, 2005.

Recommendations for the care and maintenance of high intensity metal halide and mercury vapor lighting in schools. National Electrical Manufacturers Association. http://www.nema.oeg/stds/halide-schools.cfm#download. Accessed December 6, 2005.

Truth and reconciliation: examining human rights violations in South Africa’s health sector: submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concerning the role of health professionals in gross violation of human rights. American Association of the Advancement of Science Web Site. http://shr.aaas.org/trc-med/presub.htm. Published 1997. Accessed April 30,2004.

xv. Software

Epi Info [computer program]. Version 3.2. Atlanta, GA, USA: Center for Disease Control and Prevention; 2004.

Intercooled STATA (for Windows) [computer program]. Version 7.0. College Station, TX, USA: StataCorp; 2000.

xvi. Government or Agency Bulletins

Same as a book reference

xvii. Government Reports

Same as the website reference

xviii. Entire Book

Modlin J, Jenkins P. Decision Analysis in Planning for a Polio Outbreak in the United States. San Francisco, CA, USA: Pediatric Academic Societies; 2004.

Chapter

Solensky R. Drug allergy: desensitization and treatment of reactions to antibiotics and aspirin. In: Lockey P, ed. Allergens and Allergen Immunotherapy. 3rd ed. New York, NY, USA: Marcel Dekker; 2004: 585-606.

xix. Website Reference

World Health Organization Media Center. Diabetes Fact Sheet. Web site. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs312/en/. 2013; Accessed February 21, 2014.

xx. Newspaper article (Online)

Pollack A. FDA approves new cystic fibrosis drug. New York Times. January 31, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/business/fda-approves-cystic-fibrosis-drug.html?ref=health. Accessed February 1, 2014.

xxi. Newspaper article (in print)

Wolf W. State’s mail-order drug plan launched. Minneapolis Star Tribune. May 14, 2004: 1B.

Tables

The table should have a simple design and should be self-explanatory. The details of the methods used in the experiments should be described in the legend instead of in the text. Authors are strongly recommended to submit the tables in .doc format. Each table should be on a separate page, numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals, and provided with a heading and a legend. Each table should have a brief title above the table. Table footnotes should be provided below the table. Tables must be submitted as separate files, not embedded in the manuscript text. Publication-ready formats include Word and PDF.

Figures

All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) are classified as figures. Figures should be cited in consecutive order in the text. The preferred file formats for photographic images are .doc, TIFF, PNG and JPEG. If the images have been created with separate components on different layers, please send us the Photoshop files. Lettering must be included and should be sized to be no larger than the journal text. Figures should be adjusted in size to fit within the column (80.5 mm), intermediate (112 mm), or full-text width (168 mm). Magnifications should be indicated using a scale bar on the illustration. Image files also must be cropped as close to the actual image as possible. Figure legends: These should be typed in numerical order on a separate sheet.

Legends

Figure legends should be provided separately from figures, after the references in the manuscript. Each legend should be a brief overview of the entire figure and must be explicitly referenced. Permission for publishing figures that are taken from other sources or are recognizable photographs of people, requires the permission of the concerned authorities. For previously published figures, permission to reprint must be obtained from the original copyright holder. Usually, this does not include the author(s), but the publisher. Authors (or their assistants) are required to provide these relevant details to the journal. A “patient’s consent to publication” must be signed by the patient or the patient’s legal guardian.

Note: All the figures and tables should be enclosed with the main file.

Manuscript Styling: AMA format

i. Punctuations

• Commas: Use commas to set off academic degrees, titles, dates: August 14, 1929, etc.

• Hyphens: Hyphenate a compound word that contains a noun and adverb or participle to make an adjective: e.g., decision-making methods. Hyphenate an adjective-noun compound when it falls before the noun it modifies: e.g., upper-class values. Hyphenate a compound adjectival phrase when it precedes the noun it modifies: e.g., end-to-end anastomosis.

• Ellipses: Can be used at the beginning or end of a passage to refer to the material omitted before or after the section.

ii. Capitalization

• Capitalize terms when they refer to specific things such as the East Coast or the Congressional Budget Office. When these terms are generalized, they are included in lowercase.

• Capitalize the title of a person when it comes before the name, but not if it comes after the name.

• In headers and titles, do not capitalize the second part of a hyphenated word if either part is a hyphenated suffix or prefix (e.g., Anti-infective Drugs).

iii. Numbers and Dates

• Numerals should be used to denote numbers: Exceptions being numbers in the beginning of a sentence, title, and common fractions; accepted uses include idiomatic expressions and numbers as pronouns.

• Dates: Full dates when written in the text or in references are written “August 21, 2001.”

• Numerals and words are combined by large rounded numbers: For example: “About 5 million people were affected by the famine.”

• Common fractions are usually written as words. A hyphen is inserted in a fraction only when it is used as an adjective: e.g., “a two-thirds majority.”

iv. Terminology

• Drugs: Use non-proprietary names of drugs, devices, and other products, unless the specific trade name of a drug is directly relevant to the discussion.

• Microorganisms other than viruses: The names of the taxa from the kingdom through the family are set in roman type. The names of taxa at the level of the genus and the below divisions (including subgenus, species, and subspecies) are represented in italics. The names of all taxa down through the genus are written with an initial capital letter, and any may be used alone.

v. Abbreviations/Acronyms

• Acronyms should be written out on first use in the text followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Subsequently in the text, only the abbreviation is used.

• Clinical and technical terms may have acronyms that are unfamiliar or difficult to remember. Unless these are used more than five times in a manuscript or are very unwieldy in full expression, they should be written out at each mention.

• Avoid introducing an abbreviation in a subheading. Instead, write the term out and repeat it in the text that follows to introduce the acronym.

• Write the plural form of an acronym without an apostrophe. For example, write “the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program is popular because MBAs command high starting salaries.”

• Names of states, territories, and possessions should be spelled out in full when they are used alone. When the name of the same state follows the name of the city, the abbreviation should be used, without periods (e.g., New York, NY). Use postal codes for states only when using ZIP codes.

• Latin abbreviations such as etc, e.g., et al., and i.e. should be used only in references or citations.

• Months are generally not abbreviated.

• Based on American National Standard for Information Sciences-Abbreviation of Titles of Publication, certain words may be abbreviated in titles. Refer to the following list for more details:

• States are spelled out when used alone but abbreviated when used with cities.

vi. Units of Measure

• Use quantitative values in the International System of Units.

• Units are written in lowercase (kilogram), except for Celsius. Abbreviations are generally written in lowercase, but there are exceptions noted in the chapter.

• Use exponents (m2) rather than abbreviations cu and sq.

• SI units are not expressed in plural form but retain the same expression for plurals.

• Drug doses are expressed in conventional metric mass units (milligrams).

vii. Quotations

• Quotations must be placed within quotation marks and must include a citation referring the reader to the source document. As a matter of form, quotations should be integrated into the flow of the text.

• Longer quotations, quotes requiring more than 4 typewritten lines in the text, are formatted as block quotes. These are formatted in a reduced type or font.

• Closing quotation marks are placed outside commas and periods, but inside colons and semicolons. If question marks, dashes, and exclamation marks are a part of the quoted text, they should be placed within the quotation marks.

• Use ellipses to indicate an omission in the quoted material.

• Quotations marks are not used around block quotes, but the block is usually set off from the text by additional spacing above and below the block

• Obvious typical errors in a quotation are usually corrected without making a special notation. Use [sic] to note an unusual word choice, concept, term, or spelling to emphasize that the original word is being quoted faithfully.

viii. Citations

• Items are listed numerically in the order of citation within the text.

• Within the text, citations use superscript Arabic numbers that are placed outside periods and commas, and inside colons and semicolons.

• When using the authors’ names in the text, only the surname is to be used. Both names should be used if there are two authors. If there are more than two authors, the first author name and “et al.” must be used (Example: Doe et al. reported on the survey.)

• Medical journals: In reference listings, the names of the journals are to be abbreviated according to the US National Library of Medicine’s current Index Medicus.”(p. 297)

Author-Details

Authors

“First authors name*” along with their appropriate academic credentials must be added; separated by a semi-colon “;” which should follow the names and credentials of each of the co-authors.

Affiliation

Start with the Department, University/institution/organization, postal address, state, zip code, and country.

Note: For different affiliations of the authors, please represent the numbers as superscripts complementing the authors’ names in the author’s section.

Corresponding author details

Complete information of the corresponding author such as full name, academic degree(s), designation, department, university/organization/institution, postal address, city/counties/provinces/state, zip code, country, telephone, fax, and e-mail should be provided.

Ethical and Legal Considerations

A manuscript intended for submission should adhere to and follow the ethical and legal regulations if required. A cover letter as a declaration of information related to prior or duplicate publication/submission, as well as the originality of the manuscript, and any other information that the authors want to convey to the editor is considered mandatory to complete the submission process. The principal investigator or the corresponding author must confirm that he or she has complete access to the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the data analysis, as well as the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors should declare that the manuscript has not been published previously, or is under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. Apart from the above, ethical considerations, agreement/permission, if any patient or animal is included in the study, should be clearly mentioned in the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest (COI) Statement

Please fill out the ICMJE Conflicts of Interest form which is available at http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest and send it to us along with the submission. Also, please ensure that a Conflicts of Interest (COI) statement has been added soon after the conclusion and/or acknowledgment section.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgment of contributions to a research project that does not merit authorship is encouraged for all our journals as per the ICMJE guidelines that state: ‘All others who contributed to the work who are not authors should be named in the acknowledgment, and what they did should be described’. However, it is important that all those who are listed this way, be aware of it.

Contributorship

It is recommended that authors mention their contribution to the project, indicating clearly how each author has contributed to the paper.

Order of Authors

The ICMJE guidelines state that the order of authorship should be a joint decision of the co-authors. Authors must be able to explain the reason why they have been listed in a particular order.

*Although there is no limit on the number of authors for most types of manuscripts, for the short type of articles, we prefer a maximum of three authors.

Copyright Policy

Openventio Publishers follows a non-exclusive copyright license as created by Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License term which permits the author to publish, reproduce, distribute, display, translate, and reprint the article in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

The authors are requested to enclose a copyright transfer statement that they “transfer, assign, or otherwise convey all copyright ownership, including any, and all rights incidental exclusively to the journal, in the event that such work is published by the journal along with their submission”.

Patient(s)/Participant(s) Consent Statement

Please ensure that the consent statement is provided at the end of the manuscript. Authors are requested to kindly retain the signed consent form(s) (if applicable) and shall produce it upon request by our review board/editorial board members.

*Note: Patient consent (for images and photographs in a case study) must not be confused with participant’s consent (approval for involvement in a study, e.g. statistical/observational)

Research Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Authors must ensure that only ethical or IRB-approved (if applicable) research work is submitted. If concerns regarding the credibility of the article are raised, authors may be required to produce evidence of ethical research approval by the editors and must be answerable to questions concerning the ethical aspects (such as the concerns of research participants or which methods were employed to minimize the patients or animal sufferings).

Animal Ethics and Welfare Guidelines

Manuscripts will be considered for publication only if the work detailed therein:

• Follows international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for humane animal treatment and complies with relevant legislation

• Has been approved by the ethics review committee at the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted where such a committee exists;

• For studies using client-owned animals, demonstrates a high standard (best practice) of veterinary care and involve informed client consent;

• Sign a letter certifying that legal and ethical requirements have been met with regard to the humane treatment of animals described in the study;

• Specify in materials and methods the ethical review committee approval process and the international, national, and/or institutional guidelines followed.

Animal ethics-based criteria for manuscript rejection

i. Manuscripts and authors that fail to meet the aforementioned requirements;

ii. Studies that involve unnecessary pain, distress, suffering, or lasting harm to animals;

iii. The editor retains the right to reject manuscripts on the basis of ethical or welfare concerns.

Scientific Misconduct Policy

Openventio strongly opposes any scientific misconduct from the authors such as misrepresentations: fabrication, falsification, omission; misappropriations: plagiarism and breaches of confidentiality; manipulation, etc.

To strictly avoid such malpractices we follow an editorial pre-quality analysis procedure before the article is stepped into the peer-review assessment stage. In the editorial pre-quality analysis stage we analyze the submitted articles in two stages:

i. Plagiarism checks using online software;

ii. Ethical and legal statements check such as copyright statement, ethical institutional review board approval statement, informed consent statement, conflicts of interest statement, animal ethics board approval statement, authorship statement, funding source statement, unique data statement, etc.

We encourage the authors to follow the internationally accepted standard guidelines such as the Declaration of Helsinki for clinical research types of manuscripts, and the AERA and BERA guidelines for academic research. Ensure that reports of clinical trials cite compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki, Good Clinical Practice, and other relevant guidelines to safeguard the participants. Also, the reports of experiments on, or studies of, animals must cite compliance with the US department of health and human services guide for the care and use of laboratory animals or other relevant guidelines. Any article which does not fulfill the above requirements will be immediately rejected and ceased from further processing by the editorial staff.

*Note: Institutions, grant funders, or governing bodies wanting to investigate a suspected research or publication misconduct can contact us at contact@openventio.org

Submission

Article submissions can be done via email at contact@openventio.org or through our online submission portal.

Withdrawal & Retraction Policy

For articles withdrawn after the pre-quality editorial assessment (PQA), $179 USD will be imposed as a compensatory charge.

The decision of retraction of a manuscript from an issue or archive is to be decided by an author, corresponding author and coauthors, authors’ institution, and any other agency.

The decision to mediate retraction is usually attributed to falsification, fabrication, or plagiarism. This notification should be immediately communicated to our journals’ staff or editors by submitting a written and signed the formal letter.

If none of the authors agree to publish a signed retraction then the editor may issue a retraction notice on behalf of the journal. Once the article has undergone the requisite formalities, the article will be referred to as a “Retracted article” or be prominently labeled as “This Article has been Retracted” which would be mentioned clearly at the top of the online link and on each page of the article.

Retraction should never be used in case of typical unintentional errors; instead, they should be corrected appropriately. In some cases, due to errors in calibration or poor instrumentation during the experimentation, the data may result in serious and pervasive errors. In such cases, we suggest that the corresponding author publish a retraction notice and thus, an article to replace the retracted manuscript.
*Please note that the APC paid is non-refundable in case of retraction.

Corrections

Corrections from authors in already published articles will be published with a note of correction, along with the corrected date.

Article Processing Charges (APC)

In recent years, the Gold Open Access Model has abandoned the practice of charging readers to view/read published articles by imposing Article Processing Charges (APC) on authors upon publication of their articles. This model has benefited the scientific community by allowing them to view and read articles without any financial barriers, while also contributing to further investigation or research to advance science.

The author pay system is used by Openventio Publishers to cover our production costs, which include editorial review, the double-blind peer review process, styling, editing, formatting, maintaining, and archiving services. For all of our open journals, an APC is imposed at the start of the publication process, and its flat rate varies according to the type of article.

*In addition to the APC, an additional $179 USD will be charged for language editing, regardless of the article type.

Payment Options

Our payment options provide authors with the flexibility, security, and convenience of using our services at any time and from any location. You have the option of paying by credit/debit card or wire transfer.

We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, and Discover, and have partnered with PayPal as a payment gateway for your convenience. Your payment gateway options will vary depending on your country and the card you choose to use.

You can also make payments directly into our bank account and email us the bank wire transfer receipt.

*Please note that payments made through bank transfer or check will be charged an additional $50 USD extra.

*A compensatory withdrawal charge of $179 USD will be imposed for articles withdrawn following the pre-quality editorial assessment (PQA).

Editors and Reviewers Guide

Editor’s Guide

The editorial board of Openventio is made up of expert researchers, clinicians, and active academicians who ensure the smooth operation and publication of quality articles. The board is made up of an Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, and Editors who are in charge of overseeing the proper execution of the journal guidelines and contributing to the growth and expansion of a diverse scientific community as a whole. Prior to participating, all editors must declare a no competing/conflict of interest statement with the journal. Editors’ decisions on whether to accept or reject an article must be final unless there is a need for further reconsideration.

Editor-in-Chief (EIC)

Prior to publication, all articles must be approved by the Editor-in-Chief, and any decision made is final. The EIC will serve as the journal’s public face, and it is expected that he or she will raise the journal’s profile both within and outside the community.

• In charge of forming the editorial board and supervising the journal editors’ activities.

• Making all other editorial policies and standards clear.

• Creating a process for revising editorial decisions.

• Ensuring that the published content adheres to the journal’s editorial guidelines and policies, as stated in the journal’s aim and scope.

• Permission to reject articles that appear to be plagiarised or ghostwritten.

• Respond to complaints promptly and ensure that unresolved issues are resolved.

• Submit at least one research/review article and one editorial per year, based on his/her area of expertise.

• Assist in journal indexing.

• Produce at least one Special Edition per year and promote it among colleagues and students to encourage active participation.

Associate Editors

Prior to the EIC’s final decision, associate editors ensure that the technical quality and soundness of the content is maintained. As a result, they validate and verify that an article is ready for publication.

Responsibilities

• Observing strict deadlines by avoiding the possibility of delaying the manuscript process in anticipation of comments from editors/reviewers.

• Expected to be available for guidance and support in critical situations, as well as to contribute to journal activities as needed.

• Responsible for ensuring the clarity and accuracy of content prior to publication.

• Creating mechanisms to ensure that accepted manuscripts are published on time.

• Being fair, courteous, objective, honest, and transparent to all authors.

• Should respond quickly to author, editor, or reviewer complaints or concerns.

• Work with the EIC to find, select, and develop outstanding articles for the journal.

• Editorial plan review – final draft of articles

• Disseminate the most recent news and updates on emerging trends in the scientific community and make them available for author feedback.

• Submit at least one research/review article and one editorial per year, based on his/her area of expertise.

Editors

Editors are typically assigned articles after the initial Pre-Quality Editorial Assessment, which includes a plagiarism check and language editing; however, editors are held accountable for ensuring that the article meets the journal’s performance and quality standards.

Responsibility

• Making reasonable editorial decisions and communicating them in a clear and constructive manner.

• Ensure that the article’s content is factually correct and conveys its meaning clearly.

• Checking spellings, grammar, figures, tables, and so on to ensure that they are relevant to the topic of the article.

• It may be necessary to change, modify, paraphrase, or condense the content to improve its quality.

• It is expected that you will make or suggest changes to the content in question.

• Submit at least one research/review article and one editorial per year, based on his/her area of expertise.

Reviewer’s Guide

Peer review is the standard method for assessing the quality of a research paper. The most influential factors in determining the journals’ reputation and quality standard are the quality of the peer-review process and critical evaluation undertaken by board members. To ensure the quality and credibility of the journals, Openventio strictly adheres to a double-blind peer-review process.

Responsibilities

• A potential reviewer should have academic credentials (with a doctorate or an equivalent academic degree).

• Reviewers must provide accurate personal and professional information, as well as a fair representation of their expertise, including verifiable contact information. Impersonating another expert during the review process will be considered a serious legal violation.

• The reviewer should agree to review a manuscript only if he or she has the necessary subject expertise.

• The comments/feedback should be concise and constructive, assisting in identifying the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses.

• If there are any prior commitments, health concerns, time constraints, or other related issues, the assigned reviewers may decline to review a manuscript upon assignment.

• Invited reviewers should be considerate enough to respond within 24 hours with their decision or availability to review.

• If the reviewer is currently employed by the same institution as any of the authors or has previously worked closely with the author, he or she should decline to review the corresponding manuscript.

• Reviewers should disclose any competing or conflicting interests (personal, financial, intellectual, professional, political, or religious) prior to the review process to avoid complications and potential bias, and should refrain from reviewing such manuscripts.

• After the first round of reviewers’ evaluations, he/she may decide whether or not to re-review the revised article.

• If an unavoidable situation or delay in the review process occurs, the journal must be notified.

• If reviewers are unable to continue reviewing an assigned manuscript after the agreement, they are expected to recommend alternate reviewers to take on the assignment.

• During the review process, the reviewer may contact the journal if any information is missing, unclear, or incomplete.

• Any suspicions about the identity of the author(s) should be reported immediately.

• Authors should not be contacted directly by reviewers without the permission of the journal.

• Reviewers should give authors a fair chance to respond to criticisms.

•  Reviewers should refrain from using information obtained during the peer review process to benefit oneself or others.

• Involving a third party in the review process without first obtaining permission from the journal is considered serious misconduct.

• In the review assessment form, you must include both general and specific comments.

• Reviewers must refrain from making disparaging or personal remarks in their feedback.

• In addition to their other comments on the manuscript, reviewers are expected to recommend acceptance/revision/rejection as a verdict.

• The reviewers’ recommendations are not final and may be modified if the journal receives an adequate set of comments during the editorial review or from the EIC.

• Reviewers should refrain from advising authors to cite their work in order to boost citation counts or increase the visibility of their own/colleagues’ work.

• If the reviewer is the handling editor and is asked to review the same manuscript (in the event that the reviewer withdraws from the peer review in the middle of the process or is unable to submit feedback), he/she must handle the manuscript transparently, rather than acting as an anonymous additional reviewer.

• Submit at least one research/review article and one editorial per year based on his/her area of expertise.

• Every year, during the month of December, all reviewers who participated in the peer review process during the corresponding academic year will be honored with an electronic certificate of appreciation.

Please click on the Open Communities tab to register as a reviewer for one of our journals.

*Note: All reviewers’ identities will be kept confidential in accordance with our double-blind peer review policy and will not be disclosed under any circumstances. Reviewers who are rude or write late and poor-quality reviews will be terminated immediately.

Licensing & Copyrights Terms

The first copyright to a paper is owned by the authors (or their employer, in some instances). When that paper is published, the author’s copyright may be retained, licenced, or transferred to the publisher.

According to Openventio, journals should allow authors to retain complete ownership of their papers. The authors will then grant the publisher first publication rights and other non-exclusive publishing rights.

Even if the author retains the rights to the work, the publisher may impose restrictions:

The publisher requires exclusive publishing rights. This means the author no longer has complete copyright.

A commercial rights transfer or exclusive licence is required by the publisher. This means the author no longer has complete copyright.

The copyright conditions must not conflict with the licencing conditions or the open access policy.

For open-access content, the phrase “all rights reserved” should never be used.

Authorship Rights

The terms of the Creative Commons (or other) licence do not apply to the copyright holder. This means that if the author retains full copyright, the licence extends to the readers as well as the publisher.

The licence, however, applies to both readers and authors when:

The author retains copyright and grants the publisher exclusive publishing rights. The author retains the copyright and transfers or grants the publisher exclusive commercial rights, and a non-commercial licence is used.

Editorial Assessment and Peer Review Process

Scholarly peer review in scientific journals is a quality control mechanism in which an author’s scholarly work, research, or ideas are critically evaluated by experts in the related field prior to publication in a journal or as a book. The peer review process ensures that the articles published meet the discipline’s accepted standards.

Openventio employs an initial editorial review process (pre-quality editorial assessment-PQA), in which experts assess the manuscript for its overall quality and suitability for publication in the journal; manuscripts are then accepted or rejected based on this system of evaluation, followed by a double-blind peer review process, which ensures that neither the author nor the reviewer’s identities are revealed. To facilitate this, authors should submit the author details and the blinded manuscript without the author details as two separate files.

The double-blinded peer review process

Step 2: Pre-Quality Editorial Assessment (PQA) Check

• Plagiarism check (Note: plagiarized, fabricated or content unsuitable
for the journal will be immediately rejected).

• Language editing for brevity.

• Ensuring that the manuscript structure includes the required sections.

• Sent back to the author (SBTA) seeking approval of the introduced edits.

Step 3: Peer Review

• Double-blinded peer review undertaken by expert researchers and
academicians.

• Revision done by authors on the basis of reviewer comments.
(*revisions must be highlighted and accompanied by a letter in
response to each comment by the reviewers)

• Revised article: Accept/Reject/Re-revise.

Step 4: EIC Decision

• Re-checks the revised manuscript to ensure that it meets the journal
standards

• Final decision: Accept/Reject /Re-write and Re-submit

Step 5: Copy Editing & Styling

• Checking for the composition and organization (formatting) of the
paper against the journal guidelines

• Reference styling and proof corrections

• Author’s confirmation of the final edited manuscript before
publication

• In this version, the author can create or suggest modifications in the
content for use within the module

Step 6: Publishing

• Accepted article is sent for generating the galley proof

• Online publication of the manuscript