Editorial Process

After manuscript submission, an initial quality check on the manuscript is performed by the Publisher to ensure that the paper is formatted correctly. The Editor-in-Chief, the Deputy Editor and the Guest Editor(s) of a Special Issue are then notified of the submission and invited to perform a Pre-check. The Editors can decide to continue with the peer-review process, to reject the manuscript, or to require the manuscript revision before peer-review.

All manuscripts submitted to ActaBiomed will follow the single-blind peer review system. ActaBiomed uses a reviewers’ database that is constantly updated, the journal welcomes suggestions from the author(s) for two reviewers, although such recommendation may be not necessarily used. The reviewers are asked to judge the validity, significance, and originality of work and to ensure that the research has followed relevant good practice guidelines.

The editorial and publication process follow the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Council of Science Editors (CSE), and COPE International Standards for Editors and Authors Guidelines (http://publicationethics.org).

All submitted manuscripts (except Editorials and Commentaries) follow the same evaluation steps and receive the same review evaluation as any other author who has submitted a manuscript to ActaBiomed.

Final Editorial Decisions

  • Accepted in present form: The paper is accepted for publication without any further changes required from the authors. The manuscript is sent to production and published on.
  • Accepted after minor modification: The paper is in principle accepted after revision based on the reviewer’s comments. Authors have 15 days to review their paper and to resubmit it. Editors will not send resubmitted papers to the reviewers if it seems that the authors have not made a serious attempt to address all the referees’ criticisms. A final decision on publication is deferred, pending the authors’ response to the referees’ comments.
  • Should be reconsidered after major revisions: The acceptance of the manuscript would depend on the revisions. The author needs to provide a point by point response or provide a rebuttal if some of the reviewer’s comments cannot be revised. Usually, only one round of major revisions is allowed. Authors will be asked to resubmit the revised paper within 40 days. The revised version will be returned to the reviewers for a further evaluation. Once you manuscript has come back from reviewers you may be given the opportunity to revise it in accordance with the reviewer comments. You will receive a letter from the Editor-in Chief who handled your manuscript outlining the changes they would like you to make and links to the reviewer reports. A final decision on publication is deferred, pending the authors’ response to the referees’ comments.
  • Rejected: The paper is rejected because the referees have raised no original contribution or considerable technical objections and/or the authors’ claim has not been adequately established. Authors may appeal decisions if there is concrete evidence for a misunderstanding or mistake at the editorial or referee level. Appeals are evaluated in depth and without prejudice. To manage authorship disputes, ActaBiomed follow COPE guidelines.

Decisions are communicated to the corresponding author by website platform.

Please, add in the list of Participants to Discussion link also the Editor-in-Chief

Accepted and rejected manuscripts are storaged in Acta Biomed database archive.

When revising your manuscript and responding to peer review comments the corresponding author must:

  • Address all points raised by the editor and reviewer(s). Do not simple reply: "All changes have been made as requested"
  • Describe all revisions to your manuscript in your response letter following by point-by-point responses to the comments raised by the editor and reviewers.
  • Clearly show all revisions in the text, either with a different color text or by highlighting the changes. This is in addition to describing changes reported in your point by point cover letter.
  • Please, in your responce letter differentiate between reviewer comments and your replies to reviewer(s).
  • Return the revised manuscript and response letter, as reported before, within the time period allotted by the editor.

Production

ActaBiomed in-house teams perform production on all manuscripts.

Online First publication

After the end of the final paper acceptance and publication process, Acta Biomed publishes free the abstract or full paper pdf, in the web section called “Online first”.

(Last update version: 8 May 2023)