AIMS AND SCOPE
The Open Rheumatology Journal is an Open Access online journal,
which publishes original research articles, review articles, letters and guest edited
single topic issues in the field of Rheumatology, aiming at providing the most complete
and reliable source of information on current developments in the field.
Each peer-reviewed article that is published in a Bentham OPEN
Journal is universally and freely accessible via the Internet in an easily readable and
printable PDF format.
ONLINE MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION
An online submission and tracking service via Internet facilitates a speedy and
cost-effective submission of manuscripts. The full manuscript has to be submitted online
via Bentham's Manuscript Processing System (MPS) at https://bentham.manuscriptpoint.com/
journals/torj/ View Instructions
Authors should ONLY submit their articles directly through our online
system as we do not accept articles through intermediary companies or agents.
Manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript, and should
not be submitted by anyone on their behalf. The principal/corresponding author will be
required to submit a Covering Letter along with the manuscript, on behalf of all the
co-authors (if any). The author(s) will confirm that the manuscript (or any part of it)
has not been published previously or is not under consideration for publication
elsewhere. Furthermore, any illustration, structure or table that has been published
elsewhere must be reported, and copyright permission for reproduction must be obtained.
For all online submissions, please provide soft copies of all the materials (main
text in MS Word or Tex/LaTeX), figures / illustrations in TIFF, PDF or JPEG, and
chemical structures drawn in ChemDraw (CDX) / ISISDraw (TGF) as separate files, while a
PDF version of the entire manuscript must also be included, embedded with all the
figures / illustrations / tables / chemical structures etc. It is advisable that the
document files related to a manuscript submission should always have the name of the
corresponding author as part of the file name, i.e., "Cilli MS
text.doc" , "Cilli MS Figure 1", etc.
It is imperative that before submission, authors should carefully proofread the
files for special characters, mathematical symbols, Greek letters, equations, tables and
images, to ensure that they appear in proper format.
References, figures, tables, structures etc. should be referred to in the text at
the place where they have been discussed. Figure legends/caption should also be
provided.
A successful electronic submission of a manuscript will be followed by a
system-generated acknowledgement to the principal/corresponding author within 72
hours of the dispatch of the manuscript. Any questions with regards to the preparation
of and submission of your manuscript to the journal should be addressed to
torj@benthamopen.net and copied to
info@benthamopen.net
NOTE: Any queries
therein should be addressed to oa@benthamopen.net and copied to Jalil@benthamopen.net
COPYRIGHT
Authors who publish in Bentham OPEN Journals retain
copyright to their work. It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to
this journal have not been published and will not be simultaneously submitted or
published elsewhere. Plagiarism is strictly forbidden, and by submitting the article for
publication the authors agree that the publishers have the legal right to take
appropriate action against the authors, if plagiarism or fabricated information is
discovered. Once submitted to the journal, the author may not withdraw their manuscript
at any stage prior to publication.
Articles are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) (
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode), which permits the copying
and redistribution of the material in any medium or format, as well as remixing,
transformation, and building upon the material for any purpose, even commercially,
provided appropriate credit is given, a link to the licence is provided, and provided it
is indicated if any changes were made.
Copyright Letter:
It is a mandatory requirement that a signed copyright letter also be
submitted along with the manuscript by the author to whom correspondence is to be
addressed, delineating the scope of the submitted article declaring the potential
competing interests, acknowledging contributions from authors and funding agencies, and
certifying that the paper is prepared according to the 'Instructions for Authors'.
All inconsistencies in the text and in the reference section, and any typographical
errors must be carefully checked and corrected before the submission of the manuscript.
The article contains no such material or information that may be unlawful, defamatory,
fabricated, plagiarized, or which would, if published, in any way whatsoever, violate
the terms and conditions as laid down in the agreement. The authors acknowledge that the
publishers have the legal right to take appropriate action against the authors for any
such violation of the terms and conditions as laid down in the agreement. Download
the Copyright Letter
PERMISSION FOR REPRODUCTION:
Published/reproduced material should not be included unless you have obtained
written permission from the copyright holder, which should be forwarded to the Editorial
Office in case of acceptance of your article for publication.
For obtaining permission for reproducing any material published in an article
by Bentham OPEN, please fill in the request
FORM and send to info@benthamopen.net for
consideration.
MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
The manuscript should be written in English in a clear, direct and active
style. All pages must be numbered sequentially, facilitating in the reviewing and
editing of the manuscript.
Manuscripts Published:
The journal accepts original research articles, review/mini-review
articles and letters written in English. Single topic/thematic issues may also be
considered for publication.
Manuscript Length:
Research Articles:
Research articles should be of 4000-6000 words with 75 or more references
excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc.
Review Articles:
The length of a published comprehensive review article is from 6000-10000 words with 100 or more references excluding figures, structures, photographs,
schemes, tables etc.
Systematic Reviews:
Systematic Reviews include systematic updates in review protocols,
methods, research and results from all relevant fields for any studies and updates on
already published issues. The total number of words for a published systematic review is
from 4000 to 6000 words with 100 or more references excluding figures, structures,
photographs, schemes, tables etc. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
must be reported according to PRISMA guidelines; (
www.prisma-statement.org).
Letter Articles:
Letters should be 3000-4000 words with 40 or more references excluding
figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc.
Book Reviews:
This journal publishes open access reviews on recently published books
(both print and electronic) relevant to the journal. Publishers and authors of books are
invited to contact our book reviews editor at torj@benthamopen.net with
book review requests. All submitted books will be reviewed by an independent expert in
the field. No page charges will be levied to authors for the publication of book
reviews.
Case Reports:
Case reports should describe new observations of findings or novel/unique
outcomes relevant to the field. The total number of words for a published case report is
1500 to 2500 words with 40 or more references excluding figures, structures,
photographs, schemes, tables etc.
Editorials:
Editorials are short papers on important topics related to the journal.
The total number of words in an editorial should not exceed 1000 to 1500, and it should contain
only 10-15 references. An abstract is not required.
Commentaries:
Commentaries present an analysis by scientists on different important
issues related to the publications in the journal. Commentaries should contain less than
3000 words, including the abstract, main text, references, and figure legends. However,
an abstract is not necessary.
Perspectives:
A perspective provides a short overview of a research topic relevant to
the field. The length of a published perspective ranges from 1500 to 1800 words, with 20
or more references, excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables,
etc.
Conference Proceedings:
For proposals to publish conference proceedings in this journal, please
contact us at email: proceedings@benthamopen.net
.
Supplement/Single Topic Issues:
The journal also considers Supplements/Single topic issues for publication. The Guest Edited Thematic Issues are published free of charge.
A Supplement/Single topic will be a collection of articles (minimum of 6,
maximum of 20 articles) based on a contemporary theme or topic of great importance to
the field. Mini-supplements consisting of between 3 to 5 articles are also welcome. The
Guest Editors' main editorial task is to invite the contributors to the Supplement and
to manage the peer review of submitted manuscripts. A short summary or proposal for
editing a supplement should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief at e-mail to specialissue@benthamopen.net
.
Industry News:
Industry News should provide important developments in industries related to
the scope of the Journal, that could be of interest to the readers. The length of the
submission should be about 1000 words, and it should ideally have 10 or more references
(abstract is not required).
Patent News:
Patent News may present important information about recent important patents
that have been granted, relevant to the scope of this journal. The length should be
about 1000 words, and it should ideally have 10 or more references (abstract is not
required).
There is no restriction on the number of figures, tables or additional files
e.g. video clips, animation and datasets, that can be included with each article online.
Authors should include all relevant supporting data with each article.
MANUSCRIPT SECTIONS FOR PAPERS
Manuscripts submitted for research, review articles and letters in the
respective journal should be divided into the following sections:
- Title page
- Structured Abstract
- Text Organization
- Conclusion
- List of Abbreviations (if any)
- Consent for Publication
- Availability of Data and Materials
- Funding
- Conflict of Interest
- Acknowledgements
- References
- Appendices
- Figures/Illustrations (if any)
- Chemical Structures (if any)
- Tables and Captions (if any)
- Supportive/Supplementary Material (if any)
Title:
The title should be precise and brief and must not be more than 120
characters. Authors should avoid the use of non-standard abbreviations and question
marks in titles. The title must be written in title case except for articles,
conjunctions and prepositions.
As recommended by the Reporting guidelines information about the study
should be a part of the title (particularly for randomized or clinical trials,
systematic reviews and meta analyses).
Authors should also provide a short ‘running title’. Title, running
title, by line correspondent footnote and key words should be written as presented in
the original manuscript.
Structured Abstract:
The abstract of an article should be its clear, concise and accurate
summary, having no more than 250 words, and including the explicit sub-headings (as
in-line or run-in headings in bold). Use of abbreviations should be avoided and the
references should not be cited in the abstract.
All the original research articles, systemic reviews and meta analyses
must be accompanied with a structured abstract. Ideally, each abstract should include
the following sub-headings, but these may vary according to requirements of the article.
- Background
- Objective
- Methods
- Results
- Conclusion
The headings can vary, but must state the purpose of the study, details
of the participants, measurements, methods, main findings and conclusion.
The clinical trial studies should have the registration number at the end
of the study.
Keywords:
6 to 8 keywords must be provided. Choose important and relevant keywords
that researchers in your field will be searching for so that your paper will appear in a
database search. The keywords should be contained in the title and they should appear
several times in the article. In biomedical fields, MeSH terms are a good ‘common
vocabulary’ source to draw keywords from
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html.
Text Organization:
The main text should begin on a separate page and should be divided into
title page, abstract and the main text. The text may be subdivided further according to
the areas to be discussed, which should be followed by the List of Abbreviations (if
any), Conflict of Interest, Acknowledgements and Reference sections. For review, the
manuscript should be divided into title page, abstract and the main text. The text may
be subdivided further according to the areas to be discussed, which should be followed
by the Acknowledgements and Reference sections. The Review Article should mention any
previous important recent and old reviews in the field and contain a comprehensive
discussion starting with the general background of the field. It should then go on to
discuss the salient features of recent developments. The authors should avoid presenting
material which has already been published in a previous review. The authors are advised
to present and discuss their observations in brief.
For Research Articles the manuscript should begin with the title page and
abstract followed by the main text, which must be structured into separate sections as Introduction,
Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Ethics Approval and Consent to
Participate, Human and Animal Rights, Conflict of Interest, Acknowledgements and
References.
For case reports, the authors should follow the CARE guidelines.
The CARE
checklist should be submitted as a separate file.
The manuscript style must be uniform throughout the text and 10 pt Times
New Roman fonts should be used. The full term for an abbreviation should precede its
first appearance in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement. The reference
numbers should be given in square brackets in the text. Italics should be used for
Binomial names of organisms (Genus and Species), for emphasis and for unfamiliar words
or phrases. Non-assimilated words from Latin or other languages should also be
italicized e.g. per se, et al., etc.
Section Headings:
Section headings should be numbered sequentially, left aligned and
have the first letter capitalized, starting with the introduction. Sub-section headings
however, should be in lower-case and italicized with their initials capitalized. They
should be numbered as 1.1, 1.2, etc.
INTRODUCTION:
The Introduction section should include the background and aims of
the research in a comprehensive manner.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
This section provides details of the methodology used along with
information on any previous efforts with corresponding references. Any details for
further modifications and research should be included. Sufficient details should be
provided to the reader about the original data source in order to enable the analysis,
appropriateness and verification of the results reported in the study.
It is important for the Method Section should be sufficiently
detailed in respect of the data presented, and the results produced from it. This
section should include all the information and protocol gathered for the study at the
time when it was being written. If the study is funded or financially supported by an
organization to conduct the research, then it should be mentioned in the Method Section.
Methods must be result-oriented. The statement regarding the approval by an independent
local, regional or national review committee (e.g. name of ethic committee and
institutional review board) should be part of the Methods Section.
EXPERIMENTAL:
Repeated information should not be reported in the text of an
article. A calculation section must include experimental data, facts and practical
development from a theoretical perspective.
RESULTS:
The important and main findings of the study should come first in the
Results Section. The tables, figures and references should be given in sequence to
emphasize the important information or observations related to the research. The
repetition of data in tables and figures should be avoided. Results should be precise.
DISCUSSION:
This should explore the significance of the results of the work, present a reproducible procedure and emphasis the importance of the article in the light of recent developments in the field. Extensive citations and discussion of published literature should be avoided.
This section of research articles should discuss the implications of the findings in the context of existing research and highlight the study's limitations. The authors should justify the sample size according to the study purpose and methods.
The Results and Discussion may be presented together under one heading of “Results and Discussion”. Alternatively, they may be presented under two separate sections (“Results” Section and “Discussion” Sections). Short sub-headings may be added in each section if required.
CONCLUSION:
A small paragraph summarizing the contents of the article, presenting
the final outcome of the research or proposing further study on the subject, may be
given at the end of the article under the Conclusion section.
FUNDING:
The authors need to declare the funding sources of their manuscripts
clearly by providing the name of the funding agency or financial support along with
allotted grant/award number in round brackets (if applied), for instance, “This work was
financially supported by [Name of the funding agency] (Grant number XXX).
Similarly, if a paper does not have any specific funding source, and
is part of the employment of the authors, then the name of the employer will be
required. Authors will have to clearly state that the funder was involved in writing,
editing, approval, or decision to publish the article.
Greek Symbols and Special Characters:
Greek symbols and special characters often undergo formatting changes
and get corrupted or lost during preparation of manuscript for publication. To ensure
that all special characters used are embedded in the text, these special characters
should be inserted as a symbol but should not be a result of any format styling (Symbol
font face) otherwise they will be lost during conversion to PDF/XML2.
Authors are encouraged to consult reporting guidelines. These
guidelines provide a set of recommendations comprising a list of items relevant to their
specific research design. All kinds of measurements should be reported only in
International System of Units (SI). Chemical equations, chemical names, mathematical
usage, unit of measurements, chemical and physical quantity & units must conform
to SI and Chemical Abstracts or IUPAC.
List of Abbreviations (if any):
If abbreviations are used in the text either they should be defined in
the text where first used, or a list of abbreviations should be provided.
Registration of Systematic Reviews:
Bentham OPEN supports retrospective registration of
systematic reviews, in a suitable registry (such as PROSPERO).
The registered systematic review must include the registration number as the last line
of the manuscript abstract.
Appendices:
In case there is a need to present lengthy, but essential methodological
details, use appendices, which can be a part of the article. An appendix must not exceed
three pages (Times New Roman, 10 point fonts, 900 max. words per page).The information
should be provided in a condensed form, ruling out the need of full sentences. A single
appendix should be titled APPENDIX, while more than one can be titled APPENDIX A,
APPENDIX B, and so on.
Supportive/Supplementary Material (if any):
We do encourage to append supportive material, for example a PowerPoint
file containing a talk about the study, a PowerPoint file containing additional
screenshots, a Word, RTF, or PDF document showing the original instrument(s) used, a
video, or the original data (SAS/SPSS files, Excel files, Access Db files etc.) provided
it is inevitable or endorsed by the journal's Editor.
Published/reproduced material should not be included unless you have
obtained written permission from the copyright holder, which must be forwarded to the
Editorial Office in case of acceptance of your article for publication.
Supportive/Supplementary material intended for publication must be
numbered and referred to in the manuscript but should not be a part of the submitted
paper. In-text citations as well as a section with the heading "Supportive/Supplementary
Material" before the "References" section should be provided. Here, list all
Supportive/Supplementary Material and include a brief caption line for each file
describing its contents.
Any additional files will be linked into the final published article in
the form supplied by the author, but will not be displayed within the paper. They will
be made available in exactly the same form as originally provided only on our Web site.
Please also make sure that each additional file is a single table, figure or movie
(please do not upload linked worksheets or PDF files larger than one sheet). Supportive/
Supplementary material must be provided in a single zipped file not larger than 4 MB.
Authors must clearly indicate if these files are not for publication but
meant for the reviewers'/editors' perusal only.
RESEARCH ETHICS AND POLICIES
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
AUTHORS
All potential conflicts of interest (competing interests) that could have
a direct or indirect influence on the work must be disclosed by the authors. Even if an
author does not have a conflict, disclosing affiliations and interests allows for a more
comprehensive and open approach, which leads to a more accurate and objective evaluation
of the work. Conflicts of interest, whether genuine or imagined, are a perspective to
which the readers are entitled.
The publication of a conflict statement in the article itself, as well as
the submission of the conflict disclosure form, is required for all types of papers. It
is not necessarily the case that a monetary relationship with examination support or
funding for counseling work is inappropriate. Even if the authors do not have any
conflict of interest, they still need to provide a confirmation statement in their
manuscripts, i.e., “The author(s) confirm(s) that there is no conflict of interest
related to the manuscript.”
The following are some examples of potential conflicts of interest that
are directly or indirectly related to the research:
Financial competing interests include (but are not limited to):
- Type of support/grant number
- Institutional Conflicts of Interest
- Funds received by the author
- Funds received by the institution
- Travel allowances for the research
- Funds received for article preparation and reviewing
- Funds for conducting review activities
- Support provided for article writing assistance, for drugs,
equipment, etc
- Paid lectures
- Pending fund or grant
Financial conflicts of interest can be personal as well as institutional.
Personal conflict of interest occurs when a contributor involved in the publication
process either receives an amount of money or expects to receive some financial help
(including any other financial benefits such as patents or stocks, gifts or services)
that may impact the work related to a specific publication. More importantly, in
academic research, such financial relationships can lead to institutional conflicts of
interest (COIs) because the economic interests of the institution or institutional
representatives may unsuitably affect the decision-making process.
An institutional conflict of interest arises in a situation when
financial interests of an institution or any institutional official (e.g., investments
held by the university in a company) have the potential to unduly influence the research
conducted by its employees or students, or pose an unacceptable risk to human subjects.
Such conflicts usually arise in a state of affairs where a research project directly
offers assistance or a benefit to an external entity via evaluation, validation, trial
or test of an invention, product, drug, service or technology, and the institution holds
a financial interest with the external entity. Such financial interests incorporate, but
are not limited to, receipt of licensing payments or royalties from the external entity,
or ownership interest with the external entity. When human subjects are involved in any
research project, and the institution supports such a financial interest, the conflict
of interest is speculated to be unreasonable.
Non-financial competing interests include (but are not limited
to):
In addition, interests other than monetary and any funding (non-financial
interests) should be declared if they are relevant to readers. Personal relationships or
conflicting interests directly or indirectly related to research, as well as
professional interests or personal opinions that may impact your research, are examples
of these.
Intellectual property, in basic terms, refers to any intangible property
that is the result of creativity, such as patents, copyrights, etc. Similarly, this
section seeks to know about copyright and patent (licensed patent, pending or issued)
and any payment received for intellectual property, such as:
- Patent
- Licensed Patent
- Issued Patent
- Pending Patent
- Royalties
- Licensee
- Remarks
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
All conflict of interest disclosure forms are collected by the
corresponding author. It is sufficient for the corresponding author to sign the
disclosure form on behalf of all authors in author collaborations when legal agreements
for representation allow it. The templates of the form can be found here.
Before the reference list, the corresponding author will include a
summary statement in the text of the article that reflects what is reported in the
potential conflict of interest disclosure form (s). Author(s) may declare(s) names of
reviewers who they think might have a potential conflict of interest; therefore,
Editorial Office could avoid inviting such reviewers for an unbiased opinion.
UNDISCLOSED CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Undisclosed conflict of interest cases before or after the publication of
an article are dealt with as per the guidelines of COPE.
- Undisclosed conflict of interest in a submitted article (View
COPE guidelines)
- Undisclosed conflict of interest in a published article (View
COPE guidelines)
For more information on COIs, see the guidance from the
ICMJE.
PEER REVIEWERS
Bentham Open tries to conduct a transparent peer-review process with the
help of the reviewers who do not have any conflict of interest with the authors. In this
connection, reviewers who belong to the same institute or countries as authors are not
invited to review manuscripts. However, it is not possible for the Editorial Office to
be aware of all competing interests; therefore, it is expected from authors to submit:
- List of reviewers who they think have a conflict of interest to
ensure a transparent and unbiased review process.
The Editorial Office expects reviewers:
- Not to accept manuscript review requests if they have any
potential conflict of interest and inform the Editorial Office accordingly.
- To decline review requests if they have recently published or
submitted an article with any of the authors listed in the manuscript.
- To inform the Editorial Office if they have any personal
relationship with the authors or work in the same institutes as of authors, which could
affect the review transparency.
- To abstain from reviewing and informing the Editorial
Office/Editor-in-Chief/Handling Editors about any scientific misconduct or fraud,
plagiarism, conflict of interest, or any other unethical behavior related to the
manuscript, which they found while reviewing it.
During the submission of review comments, reviewers are asked to
reconfirm that they do not have any conflict of interest related to the article. After
confirming the below statement, they can submit their comments.
“I hereby confirm that I don’t have any conflict of interest related to
the manuscript.”
If, however, there are still any remaining interests, then reviewers must
mention those in the ‘Confidential’ section of the review form.
Reviewers are not encouraged to contact authors directly regarding any of
their conflicts of interest. Peer reviewers should follow journals’ policies in
situations they consider to represent a conflict to reviewing.
UNDISCLOSED CONFLICT OF INTEREST
If reviewers intentionally undisclosed any conflict of interest, then
they will be blacklisted for any future peer reviewing activity of the journal.
The Editorial Office always ensures that an author, if added after peer
review activity of a manuscript, is not part of the reviewers’ list who have conducted a
peer review of the same manuscript.
EDITORS
Editors must not review submitted manuscripts if they have any personal,
professional or financial involvement/conflict of interest with the authors of the
manuscript. Every participant involved in the peer review process, including editorial
board members, reviewers, and editors, must declare any potential conflicts of interest
to ensure a transparent and unbiased review activity.
Editors-in-Chief or Editors who are responsible for the initial and final
decision should recuse themselves to review or take decisions on any manuscript that is
written by authors affiliated to the same institute as of editor, or if they have been a
family member, competitor, collaborator, or have published any manuscript in last 3
years with the authors associated with the manuscript. They can however nominate someone
else on the Board who could provide a neutral opinion on the manuscript.
The Editorial office recommends editors to follow
COPE and
WAME guidelines to process such manuscripts which involves their personal
relationship.
Manuscripts submission by an Editor/Editor-in-Chief
The initial and final decision on the manuscripts submitted by an
Editor/Editor-in-Chief will be taken by any other member of the Board. The Editorial
Office will identify members who do not have any potential conflict of interest with the
Editor or Editor-in-Chief.
Acknowledgements:
Any research assistants or other individuals who assisted with the research but are not listed as authors, such as those who carried out the literature review, produced, computerized, and analyzed the data, or helped with the language, writing, or proofreading of the article, or offered any comments or suggestions, should be acknowledged. Briefly, everyone who has contributed significantly to the improvement of the paper should be acknowledged. It is recommended to mention the "Declared None" if there is no acknowledgement for the study.
Guest or honorary authorship based solely on position (e.g. research supervisor, departmental head) is discouraged
The specific requirements for authorship have been defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org). Examples of authors' contributions are: 'designed research/study', 'performed research/study', 'contributed important reagents', 'collected data', 'analyzed data', 'wrote paper' etc. This information must be included in the submitted manuscript as a separate paragraph under the heading ‘Authors' Contirbution’. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining permission from all co-authors for the submission of any version of the manuscript and for any changes in the authorship.
HUMAN AND ANIMAL RIGHTS:
All clinical investigations should be conducted according to the Declaration
of Helsinki principles. For all manuscripts reporting data from studies involving
human participants, formal review and approval by an appropriate institutional review
board or ethics committee are required.
For research involving animals, the authors should indicate whether the
procedures followed were in accordance with the standards set forth in the eighth
edition of “Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals” (
grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/guide-for-the-care-and-use-of-laboratory-animals_prepub.pdf
published by the National Academy of Sciences, The National Academies Press, Washington,
D.C.).
Research Involving Animals:
Research work on animals should be carried out in accordance with the NC3Rs
ARRIVE Guidelines. For In Vivo Experiments, please visit
https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines
Authors should clearly state the name of the approval committee, highlighting
that legal and ethical approvals were obtained prior to initiation of the research work
carried out on animals, and that the experiments were performed in accordance with the
relevant guidelines and regulations stated below.
Patient Consent:
Compliance with the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical
Journal Editors www.icmje.org) is recommended,
in accordance with the patient’s consent for research or participation in a study as per
the applicable laws and regulations regarding the privacy and/or security of personal
information, including, but not limited to, the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA") and other U.S. federal and state laws relating to
confidentiality and security of personally distinguishable evidence, the General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 and member state implementing legislation,
Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, India's
Information Technology Act and related Privacy Rules, (together "Data Protection and
Privacy Laws").
It is the responsibility of the author to ensure that:
- Patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers are not mentioned
anywhere in the manuscript (including figures).
- Authors are responsible for obtaining the patient consent-to-disclose
forms for all recognizable patients in photographs, videos, or other information that
may be published in the Journal, in derivative works, or on the journal’s web site and
for providing the manuscript to the recognizable patient for review before submission.
- The consent-to-disclose form should indicate specific use
(publication in the medical literature in print and online, with the understanding that
patients and the public will have access) of the patient's information and any images in
figures or videos, and must contain the patient's signature or that of a legal guardian
along with a statement that the patient or legal guardian has been offered the
opportunity to review the identifying materials and the accompanying manuscript.
- If the manuscript has an individuals’ data, such as personal details,
audio-video material, etc., consent should be obtained from that
individual. In case of children, consent should be obtained from the parent or the legal
guardian.
- A specific declaration of such approval and consent-to-disclose form
must be made in the copyright letter and in a stand-alone paragraph at the end of the
article especially in the case of human studies where inclusion of a statement regarding
obtaining the written informed consent from each subject or subject's guardian is a
must. The original should be retained by the guarantor or the corresponding author.
Editors may request to provide the original forms by fax or email.
- All such case reports require by a proper consent being obtained
prior to publishing. Please refer COPE guidelines available at
https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines/journals'-best-practices-ensuring-consent-publishing-medical-case-reports
.
Editors may request that authors provide documentation of the formal review
and recommendation from the institutional review board or ethics committee responsible
for oversight of the study. The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do
not comply with the above-mentioned requirements. The author will be held responsible
for false statements or failure to fulfill the above-mentioned requirements.
Non-identifiable Images
Anonymous images, that do not identify the individual directly or indirectly,
such as through any identifying marks or text, do not require formal consent, for
example, X-rays, ultrasound images, pathology slides or laparoscopic images.
In case consent is not obtained, concealing the identity through eye bars or
blurring the face would not be acceptable.
RESEARCH CONDUCTED IN SPECIAL OR CRITICAL SITUATIONS
Bentham OPEN expects all contributors to respect values of
justice, benevolence, and autonomy when conducting research. We understand that certain
situations such as medical emergencies or humanitarian crises may differ from
non-emergency scenarios. Bentham OPEN recommends that research efforts
should not hurt human subjects/respondents or the researchers, and should be conducted
with sufficient scientific rigor as permissible in these situations, respectively. Care
should be taken to address potential problems faced by persons who may be victims of
disasters or involved in a medical emergency. These are vulnerable individuals and their
privacy and dignity should be respected. Researchers should make note of this in their
research and identify potential issues in their work that may arise because of such
situations. Research directed in emergency circumstances should be to the greatest
advantage of survivors involved in the research and with the goal of minimizing any
future casualties. For guidance, the essential requirements of research in emergency
situation are the preservation of human life, wellbeing and security, along with the
rights to protection, privacy and confidentiality of subjects.
UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR
Unethical behavior and misconduct may be pointed out by anyone to the Editor
and Publisher with sufficient evidences. The Editor, in consultation with the Publisher,
will initiate investigation against this Unethical misconduct, complete the procedure
till an unbiased decision is reached, and maintain confidentiality throughout the
process of the investigation. The Author should be given the opportunity to reply to all
minor or major accusations.
In case of serious breaches, the employer may be informed where appropriate,
by the Editor/Publisher, after reviewing all available information and evidences or
after seeking help from experts in that field.
Conclusion
- Author(s) and Reviewers must be informed in case of
misinterpretation or mishandling of International Acceptable Standards
- A strict notice should be sent to the author and reviewer to
avoid future unethical misconduct
- An Editorial on the reported misconduct should be published or
official notice of unethical behavior should be posted on the website
- Official letter about this misconduct should be issued to the
Head of Departments, Funding Agencies of the accused author and the reviewer, as well as
Abstracting & Indexing Agencies.
- Where required, retraction and withdrawal of publication may be
undertaken from the Publisher’s journal in discussion with the Head of the Department of
the author or reviewer, and other higher authorities should be informed
- The Publisher may impose restrictions for some period on future
publications from the accused author in the journals
Consent for Publication:
If the manuscript has an individuals’ data, such as personal detail,
audio-video material etc., consent should be obtained from that individual. In case of
children, consent should be obtained from the parent or the legal guardian.
All such case reports should be followed by a proper consent prior to
publishing.
A specific declaration of such approval and consent-to-disclose form must be
made in the copyright letter and in a stand-alone paragraph at the end of the article
especially in the case of human studies where inclusion of a statement regarding
obtaining the written informed consent from each subject or subject's guardian is a
must. The original should be retained by the guarantor or corresponding author. Editors
may request to provide the original forms by fax or email.
POST-PUBLICATION DISCUSSIONS
Post-publication discussions are well-timed and engaging scientific
remarks and justifications on research articles published in “The Open
Rheumatology Journal”. These remarks must be based on the information concurrent
with the original study and not on the scientific advancements being made subsequently.
Manuscript Preparation, Submission & Editorial Process:
- Post-publication discussion should commence with a short paragraph that
outlines the summary of the article.
- Authors are advised to avoid using inciting tone in the comments and keep
the message clear and concise.
- The main text should not exceed 1200 words with up to 15 references and
may include one or two figures and/or tables.
- References should be submitted in the ACS or Vancouver style.
- The correspondents are recommended to contact the original authors first
prior to submitting their comments to the journal as this may resolve the issues that
may have arisen due to some misunderstanding.
- The correspondence that has been done with the authors should also be
submitted as an attachment with the manuscript.
Any queries therein should be addressed to
info@benthamopen.net
RANDOMIZED DRUG CLINICAL TRIAL STUDIES
Randomized drug clinical trial studies are biomedical or health-related
interventional and/or observational research studies conducted in phases in human beings
who are randomly allocated to receive or not receive a preventive, therapeutic, or
diagnostic intervention that follows a pre-defined protocol. The study is intended to
determine the safety and efficacy of approaches to disease prevention, diagnosis and
treatment.
Authors of randomized controlled trials are encouraged to submit trial protocols
along with their manuscripts. All clinical trials must be registered (before recruitment
of the first participant) at an appropriate online public trial registry that must be
independent of for-profit interest (e.g., www.clinicaltrials.gov) .
If you wish the editor(s) to consider an unregistered trial, please explain briefly why
the trial has not been registered.
Important points to remember while submitting clinical trials:
- Each manuscript should clearly state an objective or hypothesis; the
design and methods (including the study setting and dates, patients or participants with
inclusion and exclusion criteria, or data sources, and how these were selected for the
study); the essential features of any interventions; the main outcome measures; the main
results of the study; a comment section placing the results in context with the
published literature and addressing study limitations; and the conclusions. Data
included in research reports must be original.
- Trial registry name, registration identification number, and the URL for
the registry should be included at the end of the abstract and also in the space
provided on the online manuscript submission form. If your research article reports the
results of a controlled health care intervention, list the trial registry, along with
the unique identifying number (Please note that there should be no space between the
letters and numbers of your trial registration number). Studies designed for other
purposes, such as to study pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g., phase 1 trials),
are exempted.
- All reports of randomized trials should include a section entitled
“Randomization and Masking”, within the Methods section.
- The manuscript must include a statement identifying the institutional
and/or licensing committee that has approved the experiments, including any relevant
details.
- The SI system of units and the recommended international non-proprietary
name (rINN) for drug names must be used. Kindly ensure that the dose, route, and
frequency of administration of any drug you mention are correct.
- Please ensure that the clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical
companies follow the guidelines on good publication practice:(https://www.ismpp.org/gpp2
)
The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the
above-mentioned requirements. The author will be held responsible for false statements
or failure to fulfill the above-mentioned requirements.
REFERENCES
References should be submitted preferably in the ACS or Vancouver style. All
references must be complete and accurate. The reference numbers must be finalized and
the bibliography must be fully formatted before submission.
The references should be relevant to the study and should refer to the original
research sources. Self-citation and self-interest should be avoided by the authors,
editors and peer-reviewers.
See below few examples of references listed in the ACS and Vancouver Style:
ACS Style
In ACS style, all references should be numbered sequentially [in square
brackets] in the text and listed in the same numerical order in the reference section.
Superscript in the in-text citations and reference section should be avoided.
Reference Lists
Different reference formats have different rules for citation. See below
for some common format examples.
Journal Article
The minimum required information for a journal article reference is
author, abbreviated journal title, year, publication, volume number, and initial page of
cited article, though complete pagination is possible. Journal abbreviation and volume
are italicized. Year of publication is bold. All authors
must be cited and there should be no use of the phrase et al. Journal abbreviations
should follow the Index Medicus/MEDLINE.
-
[1]
Bard, M.; Woods, R.A.; Bartón, D.H.; Corrie, J.E.; Widdowson,
D.A. Sterol mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: chromatographic
analyses. Lipids, 1977, 12(8), 645-654.
-
[2]
Zhang, W.; Brombosz, S.M.; Mendoza, J.L.; Moore, J.S. A
high-yield, one-step synthesis of o-phenylene ethynylene cyclic trimer via
precipitation-driven alkyne metathesis. J. Org. Chem., 2005
, 70, 10198-10201.
Book Reference
-
[3]
Crabtree, R.H. The Organometallic Chemistry of the
Transition Metals, 3rd ed.; Wiley & Sons: New York,
2001.
Book Chapter Reference
-
[4]
Wheeler, D.M.S.; Wheeler, M.M. D. Stereoselective Syntheses of
Doxorubicin and Related Compounds In: Studies in Natural Products Chemistry;
Atta-ur-Rahman, Ed.; Elsevier Science B. V: Amsterdam, 1994; Vol.
14, pp. 3-46.
Conference Proceedings
-
[5]
Jakeman, D.L.; Withers, S.G.E. In: Carbohydrate
Bioengineering: Interdisciplinary Approaches, Proceedings of the 4th
Carbohydrate Bioengineering Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden, June 10-13, 2001; Teeri, T.T.;
Svensson, B.; Gilbert, H.J.; Feizi, T., Eds.; Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, UK,
2002; pp. 3-8.
URL(WebPage)
-
[6]
National Library of Medicine. Specialized Information Services:
Toxicology and Environmental Health.
sis.nlm.nih.gov/Tox/ToxMain.html (Accessed May 23, 2004).
Patent
-
[7]
Hoch, J.A.; Huang, S. Screening methods for the identification of
novel antibiotics. U.S. Patent 6,043,045, March 28, 2000.
Thesis
-
[8]
Mackel, H. Capturing the Spectra of Silicon Solar Cells.
PhD Thesis, The Australian National University: Canberra, December 2004.
E-citations
-
[9]
Citations for articles/material published exclusively online or
in open access (free-to-view), must contain the accurate Web addresses (URLs) at the end
of the reference(s), except those posted on an author’s Web site (unless editorially
essential), e.g. ‘Reference: Available from: URL’.
Some important points to remember
- All authors must be cited and there should be no use of the
phrase et al.
- Date of access should be provided for online citations.
- Punctuation should be properly applied as mentioned in the
examples given above.
- Abstracts, unpublished data and personal communications (which
can only be included if prior permission has been obtained) should not be given in the
references section. The details may however appear in the footnotes.
- The authors are encouraged to use a recent version of EndNote
(version 5 and above) or Reference Manager (version 10) when formatting their reference
list, as this allows references to be automatically extracted.
Vancouver Style
In Vancouver style, all references should be numbered sequentially [in square
brackets] in the text and listed in the same numerical order in the reference section.
Punctuation should be properly applied as mentioned in the examples given above.
Reference Lists
Different reference formats have different rules for citation. See below
for some common format examples.
Journal Article
The required information for a journal article is author, abbreviated
journal title, year, publication, volume number, and initial page of cited article,
though complete pagination is possible. It is necessary to list all authors if the total
number of author is six or less and for more than six authors use three authors and then
et al (the term "et al." should be in italics). Journal abbreviations
should follow the Index Medicus/MEDLINE. Capitalize the first letter of the first word
in the title. The rest of the title is in lower-case, with the exception of proper
names.
-
[1]
Al-Habian A, Harikumar PE, Stocker CJ, Langlands K, Selway JL.
Histochemical and immunohistochemical evaluation of mouse skin histology: comparison of
fixation with neutral buffered formalin and alcoholic formalin. J Histotechnol. 2014
Dec;37(4):115-24.
-
[2]
Guilbert TW, Morgan WJ, Zeiger RS, et al.
Long-term inhaled corticosteroids in preschool children at high risk for asthma. N Engl
J Med. 2006 May 11;354(19):1985-97.
Edited Book
-
[3]
Blaxter PS, Farnsworth TP. Social health and class inequalities.
In: Carter C, Peel JR, Eds. Equalities and inequalities in health. 2nd ed. London:
Academic Press 1976; pp. 165-78.
Chapter in a Book
-
[4]
Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH,
Brenner BM, Eds. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New
York: Raven Press 1995; pp. 465-78.
Patent
-
[5]
Larsen CE, Trip R, Johnson CR. Methods for procedures related to
the electrophysiology of the heart. US Patent 5529067, 1995.
Conference Proceedings
-
[6]
Kimura J, Shibasaki H, Eds. Recent advances in clinical
neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical
Neurophysiology; 1995 Oct 15-19; Kyoto, Japan. Amsterdam: Elsevier 1996.
Thesis and Dissertation
-
[7]
Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: a telephone survey of
Hispanic Americans. PhD dissertation. Mount Pleasant (MI): Central Micihigan University
2002.
URL(WebPage)
-
[8]
Aylin P, Bottle A, Jarman B, Elliott, P. Paediatric cardiac
surgical mortality in England after Bristol: descriptive analysis of hospital episode
statistics 1991-2002. BMJ [serial on the Internet]. 2004 Oct 9; [cited: 15 October
2004]; 329: [about 10 screens]. Available from:
sis.nlm.nih.gov/Tox/ToxMain.html
Electronic Material
Journal Article in Electronic Format
-
[9]
Frangioni G, Bianchi S, Fuzzi G, Borgioli G. Dynamics of hepatic
melanogenesis in newts in recovery phase from hypoxia. Open Zoo J 2009; 2: 1-7.
Available from:
benthamopen.com/ABSTRACT/TOZJ-2-1 [cited: 26th Jan 2009]
-
[10]
Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA
acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. June 2002 [cited: 12
th Aug 2002]; 102(6): [about 3 p.]. Available from:
www.nursingworld.org/ana/
Some important points to remember
- Date of access should be provided for online citations.
- Avoid using superscript in the in-text citations and reference
section.
- Abstracts, unpublished data and personal communications (which
can only be included if prior permission has been obtained) should not be given in the
references section. The details may however appear in the footnotes.
- The authors are encouraged to use a recent version of EndNote
(version 5 and above) or Reference Manager (version 10) when formatting their reference
list, as this allows references to be automatically extracted.
AVAILABILITY OF DATA AND MATERIALS
The source of data and materials should be mentioned in the manuscript, in
support of the findings. Sharing research data is integral to its transparency and
reproducibility. Data sharing involves the citation and availability of data that
support the findings of the research.
Bentham Open encourages authors to share the source of data and materials in the
manuscript, in support of the findings.
Research Data Policy Types:
The four types of research data policies are mentioned below.
-
Case 1: Data sharing and data citation
-
Case 2: Data sharing and its evidence
-
Case 3: Statement for Data sharing and data availability
-
Case 4: Data sharing, evidence of data sharing and data
for peer-review
Case 1: Data Sharing and Data Citation
Wherever appropriate and possible, the journal encourages authors to publish
data to support their research findings in a public repository. Any datasets mentioned
in the article that are available in external repositories should be cited.
How to Cite the Data?
Whether the data was developed by the author(s) or researcher(s), all
publicly available data referenced in the preparation of an article should be cited in
the text and reference list. The references relating to the data availability should be
presented in the following format:
Example: Name of author(s), the title of data set, data repository, document
version (e.g., most recent updated version), Digital Object Identifier (DOI), and
Bentham Open reference style should be included in data citations.
Case 2: Data Sharing and Its Evidence
When authors submit a paper to a journal, the authors agree that the data
provided in the publication, including the relevant raw data, will be freely available
to any researcher who wants to use these for non-commercial reasons without jeopardising
participant anonymity.
Case 3: Statement for Data Sharing and Data Availability
Data availability declarations are required under Bentham Open research data
policy types.
The statement relating to the data availability should be presented in the
following format under a separate section for ‘Availability of Data and Materials’ in
the manuscript:
-
The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of
this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials.
-
The data that support the findings of this study are
available from the corresponding author, [author initials], on special request.
-
The datasets generated or analysed during the current study
are not publicly available due to [mention the reason(s)].
-
Authors who do not wish to share their data should clearly
state that the data will not be shared, and thus mention as ‘Not applicable’.
-
The statement relating to the data should be presented in
the following format:
"The data supporting the findings of the article is available in the
[repository name] at [URL], reference number [reference number]”.
Additional Data Availability Statements
Authors can add or change the statement(s) above, to fit their work the best.
Depending on the nature of the research, several assertions may need to be merged.
Case 4: Data Sharing, Evidence of Data Sharing and Data for
Peer-Review
All datasets on which the paper's conclusions are based must be made
accessible to reviewers and readers, according to the journal's rules. Prior to peer
review, authors must either deposit their datasets in publicly accessible repositories
or provide them as supplementary materials with their submission. For further details,
please visit complete guidelines at:
http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html
Archiving of Datasets
Authors may deposit their datasets openly to Zenodo Repository, in
addition to their own or their institutional archives.
Zenodo - a repository which is funded by the European Commission, CERN,
and OpenAIRE—features a Data for Policy community.
Data for Zenodo site is primarily being used to host Data for Policy for
conference papers and posters. However, we also encourage authors, who are already
submitting to Data and Policy, to use Zenodo for presenting content associated with
their articles.
Additionally, Zenodo can be used as a repository to host data and other
materials that are referred to in the Data Availability Statement. These may include:
- datasets
- data management plans
- software documentation
- codes
- audio and video files
- proposals
- reports, and
- technical notes
Moreover, authors who wish to cite any relevant materials could use the
unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI) that Zenodo assigns to the uploaded content.
Data Access and Retention
Authors may provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data. if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
STANDARDS OF REPORTING
The Authors are encouraged to use industry-recognized reporting guidelines for
biomedical and biological research, if applicable, to explain that all requirements for
reporting have been adopted.
All authors must strictly follow the reporting guidelines below for preparing the
study for publication.
FIGURES / TABLES
Figures/Illustrations (if any):
All authors must strictly follow the guidelines below for preparing
illustrations for publication in The Open Rheumatology Journal.
If the figures are found to be sub-standard, then the manuscripts will be rejected.
The authors are expected to submit good quality figure(s) in PDF, PPT, MS
Word, TIFF or JPEG versions, which, if required, should be improved yourself or by
professional graphic designers of your organization/ country. You may even consider
approaching our contracted service providers Eureka Science
for Graphics Enhancement Services.
The Graphics Designing team at Eureka Science can assist in improving the
quality of your images at affordable rates. Eureka Science has contracted special rates
with us of US $135 for the improvement of up to five figures, with any additional
figures being charged at US $21 each.
The quality of Graphic Enhancement Services offered by Eureka Science can be
viewed at
http://www.eureka-science.com/images/Binder1.pdf, along with valuable feedback on
their services at
http://www.eureka-science.com/testimonials.php. You may contact Eureka Science at info@eurekascience.net
Note: Availing Graphics Enhancement Services does not guarantee
acceptance of the manuscript for publication. The final acceptance/decision on the
manuscript is taken by the EiC.
Guideline for Figures/Illustrations
Illustrations must be provided according to the following guideline:
-
Illustrations should be embedded in the text file, and must
be numbered consecutively in the order of their appearance. Each figure should include
only a single illustration which should be cropped to minimize the amount of space
occupied by the illustration.
-
If a figure is in separate parts, all parts of the figure
must be provided in a single composite illustration file.
-
Photographs should be provided with a scale bar if
appropriate, as well as high-resolution component files.
- All the numbers, symbols and letters in figures should be
consistent and clear throughout and large enough to remain readable when the size is
reduced for publication.
- It must be ensured to cite each figure in the text in
sequence.
Scaling/Resolution
Line Art image type is normally an image based on lines and text. It does
not contain tonal or shaded areas. The preferred file format should be TIFF or EPS, with
the color mode being Monochrome 1-bit or RGB, in a resolution of 900-1200 dpi.
Halftone image type is a continuous tone photograph containing no text.
It should have the preferred file format TIFF, with color mode being RGB or Grayscale,
in a resolution of 300 dpi.
Combination image type is an image containing halftone , text or line art
elements. It should have the preferred file format TIFF, with color mode being RGB or
Grayscale, in a resolution of 500-900 dpi.
Formats
Illustrations may be submitted in the following file formats:
-
Illustrator
-
EPS (preferred format for diagrams)
-
PDF (also especially suitable for diagrams)
-
PNG (preferred format for photos or images)
-
Microsoft Word (version 5 and above; figures
must be a single page)
-
PowerPoint (figures must be a single page)
-
TIFF
-
JPEG (conversion should be done using the
original file)
-
BMP
-
CDX (ChemDraw)
-
TGF (ISISDraw)
Bentham OPEN does not process figures submitted in GIF
format.
For TIFF or EPS figures with considerably large file size restricting the
file size in online submissions is advisable. Authors may therefore convert to JPEG
format before submission as this results in significantly reduced file size and upload
time, while retaining acceptable quality. JPEG is a lossy format. However, in order to
maintain acceptable image quality, it is recommended that JPEG files are saved at High
or Maximum quality.
Zipit or Stuffit tools should not be used to compress files prior to
submission as the resulting compression through these tools is always negligible.
Please refrain from supplying:
- Graphics embedded in word processor (spreadsheet,
presentation) document.
- Optimized files optimized for screen use (like GIF, BMP,
PICT, WPG) because of the low resolution.
- Files with too low a resolution.
- Graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Technical requirements for graphic/ figure submissions.
Requirement |
Width = 8.5 inches (In-between the required size) |
Height = 11 inches (In-between the required size) |
Pixels/Inches = 300 (minimum dpi) |
All figures should be in vector scale (except half
tone, photograph.) |
Image Conversion Tools
There are many software packages, many of them freeware or shareware,
capable of converting to and from different graphics formats, including PNG.
General tools for image conversion include Graphic Converter on the
Macintosh, Paint Shop Pro, for Windows, and ImageMagick, available on Macintosh, Windows
and UNIX platforms.
Bitmap images (e.g. screenshots) should not be converted to EPS as they
result in a much larger file size than the equivalent JPEG, TIFF, PNG or BMP, and poor
quality. EPS should only be used for images produced by vector-drawing applications such
as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw. Most vector-drawing applications can be saved in, or
exported as, EPS format. If the images were originally prepared in an Office
application, such as Word or PowerPoint, original Office files should be directly
uploaded to the site, instead of being converted to JPEG or another format of low
quality.
Chemical Structures
Chemical structures MUST be prepared in ChemDraw/CDX and provided as separate
file.
Structure Drawing Preferences
[As according to the ACS style sheet]
Drawing Settings |
Chain angle |
120° |
Bond spacing |
18% of width |
Fixed length |
14.4 pt (0.500cm, 0.2in) |
Bold width |
2.0 pt (0.071cm, 0.0278in) |
Line width |
0.6 pt (0.021cm, 0.0084in) |
Margin width |
1.6 pt (0.096cm) |
Hash spacing |
2.5 pt (0.088cm, 0.0347in) |
Text settings |
Font |
Times New Roman |
Size |
10 pt |
Under the Preference Choose |
Units |
points |
Tolerances |
3 pixels |
Under Page Setup Use |
Paper |
US letter |
Scale |
100% |
Tables
- Data Tables should be submitted in Microsoft Word table format.
- Each table should include a title/caption being explanatory in
itself with respect to the details discussed in the table. Detailed legends may then
follow.
- Table number in bold font i.e. Table 1,
should follow a title. The title should be in small case with the first letter in caps.
A full stop should be placed at the end of the title.
- Tables should be embedded in the text exactly according to their
appropriate placement in the submitted manuscript.
- Columns and rows of data should be made visibly distinct by
ensuring that the borders of each cell are displayed as black lines.
- Tables should be numbered in Arabic numerals sequentially in
order of their citation in the body of the text.
- If a reference is cited in both the table and text, please insert
a lettered footnote in the table to refer to the numbered reference in the text.
- Tabular data provided as additional files can be submitted as an
Excel spreadsheet.
- It is adequate to present data in Tables to avoid
unnecessary repetition and reduce the length of the text.
- The citation of each table in the text must be ensured.
- Symbols and nonstandard abbreviations should be explained
in the end of the text.
- All references should be numbered sequentially [in square
brackets] in the table and listed in the same numerical order in the reference section.
AUTHORSHIP
Authorship Criteria
Bentham OPEN requires that all individuals listed as authors
must have made a substantial contribution to the design, performance, analysis, or
reporting of the work. The role of authors is judged on the basis of
ICMJE and
COPE guidelines.
Authorship Declaration
All contributing authors are required to sign a copyright letter, mentioning
complete details, including full name, affiliation, email address, ORCID ID and their
role in the article. After successful electronic submission of a manuscript, a
system-generated acknowledgement will be sent to all authors on their provided email
addresses.
Authors and Institutional Affiliations
Authors must provide a final list of authors at the time of submission, ensuring
the correct sequence of the names of authors, which will not be considered for any
addition, deletion or rearrangement after final submission of the manuscript. The email
address of the principal author should be provided with an asterisk. However, the
complete address, business telephone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail address of the
corresponding author must be stated to receive correspondence and galley proofs. Bentham
OPEN recommends that all contributors regularly update their profiles on
SCOPUS/ORCID and other databases.
Author Identification
Authors are strongly recommended to use their ORCID ID when submitting an article
for consideration. Alternatively, they can acquire an ORCID ID via the submission
process. For more information about ORCID IDs, visit
here.
Changes to Authorship
At the time of initial submission, the finalized list of authors in correct
sequence should be provided, which will not be changed once the publication process has
started.
If any change is essential, then it can only be done after the approval of the
Editor-in-Chief upon receiving the following details from the corresponding author:
- The reason for the change in the author list and/or their sequence
- A proper justification should be provided for changes in authorship.
- Correction of existing names should be accompanied by a notice to the
Editor-in-Chief of the journal.
- A written confirmation from all the co-authors is a prerequisite for any
amendment or removal
Any amendment to the authors’ list will only be considered and approved by the
Editor-in-Chief after complete verification. Publication of the manuscript will be
withheld during consideration of the request. However, if the manuscript has already
been published online, requests approved thereafter by the Editor-in-Chief will result
in an erratum or corrigendum. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining
permission from all co-authors for any changes in the authorship.
Here is some advice by COPE on authorship issues. Bentham strives to follow these
guidelines.
General Advice
Advice
on how to spot authorship problems
Non-Author Contributors
Activities such as the acquisition of funding, general supervision of a research
group or general administrative support, writing assistance, technical editing, language
editing, and proofreading alone do not qualify any contributor for authorship. Such
contributors may be acknowledged individually or together as a group in the
acknowledgement section. Further details for writing acknowledgements are available
here. Persons not meeting authorship criteria can be acknowledged in the
acknowledgement section of the article rather than being enlisted as authors.
Guest or Honorary Authorship
All contributing authors should contribute substantially to the article and sign
the copyright letter. Bentham OPEN discourages authorship based solely
on position (e.g., a research supervisor or a departmental head). We use
COPE guidelines for identifying any suspected ghost, guest or gift authorship.
LANGUAGE AND EDITING
Manuscripts containing language inconsistencies will not be published.
Authors should seek professional assistance for correction of grammatical, scientific
and typographical errors before submission of the revised version of the article for
publication. Professional editing services may also be sought by the team available at
Bentham OPEN.
PROOF CORRECTIONS:
Authors are required to proofread the PDF versions of their manuscripts
before submission. To avoid delays in publication, proofs should be checked immediately
for typographical errors and returned within 48 hours. Major changes are not acceptable
at the proof stage. If unable to send corrections within 48 hours due to some reason,
the author(s) must at least send an acknowledgement on receiving the galley proofs or
the article will be published exactly as received and the publishers will not be
responsible for any error occurring in the manuscript in this regard.
The corresponding author will be solely responsible for ensuring that the
revised version of the manuscript incorporating all the submitted corrections receives
the approval of all the authors of the manuscript.
REVIEWING AND PROMPTNESS OF PUBLICATION
All papers submitted for publication are immediately subjected to preliminary
editorial scrutiny by the Editor-in-Chief regarding their suitability. The
Editor-in-Chief determines if the manuscript:
(a) falls within the scope of the journal and
(b) meets the editorial criteria of Bentham OPEN in terms of
originality and quality.
Manuscripts that appear to be suitable are then subjected to single-blind
peer-review by, usually three, neutral eminent experts. The services of eminent
international experts are sought through invitations to conduct the peer-review of a
submitted manuscript, keeping in view the scope of the manuscript and the expertise of
the reviewers. The identity of the reviewers is not disclosed to the authors. The
anonymity of reviewers ensures objective and unbiased assessment of the manuscript by
the reviewers.
Before sending the manuscripts to reviewers, Bentham OPEN seeks
consent from potential reviewers about their availability and willingness to review.
Correspondence between the editorial office of the journal and the reviewers is kept
confidential. The reviewers are expected to provide their reports in a timely fashion
since a prompt review leads to timely publication of a manuscript which is beneficial
not only to the authors but to the scientific community as well.
The editorial process and peer-review workflow for each journal are taken care of
by a team of Senior Editors, Editorial Board Members (EBMs) and dedicated Journal
managers who have the required expertise in their specific fields.
Bentham OPEN carries out independent review of all articles. The
reviewers are selected according to their expertise, from our, regularly updated,
referee database.
On the basis of reviewer comments, the Editors may recommend acceptance, revision
or rejection of a manuscript.
After review of the manuscript by at least three independent experts, in addition
to the views of the Editor, the decision is relayed to the authors, which may be
categorized as:
- Requires minor changes
- Requires major changes
- Rejected but may be resubmitted
- Rejected with no resubmission
Bentham OPEN requests not to have the manuscripts peer-reviewed
by those experts who may have competing interest with the author(s) of a submitted
manuscript. It is not possible for Editors to be aware of all competing interests; it is
therefore expected that the reviewers would inform the Editor-in-Chief/Handling Editor
if they notice any potential competing interest during the course of review of a
manuscript. Moreover, the reviewers are expected to inform the Editors or editorial
office of the journal if they have a conflict of interest in carrying out the review of
a manuscript submitted by any author/contributor of the manuscript.
The authors are usually requested to resubmit the revised paper within 15 days
and it will then be returned to the reviewers for further evaluation. The publishers
normally allow one round of revision and, in exceptional cases, a second round of
revision may be allowed. If further revision is needed, then the manuscript is rejected
and the author is requested to resubmit the manuscript for fresh processing.
The final decision regarding acceptance or rejection is that of the
Editor-in-Chief, depending on the quality of the revision and his assessment of the
quality of the manuscript. In rare cases, manuscripts recommended for publication by the
referees may be rejected in the final assessment by the Editor-in-Chief.
The time frame for revision of any article may vary from one to four weeks,
depending on the nature of the revision required (minor or major). However, authors who
need extra time for revision should consult the Editor-in-Chief/Handling Editor with
valid reasons and the submission date of the revised manuscript may be extended if the
request is genuine.
After the successful completion of the review and acceptance of the article, the
articles are typeset and proofs are dispatched to authors for any corrections prior to
final publication.
Types of Peer Review:
Peer review is the most important activity of the publication process.
Bentham OPEN follows single-blind and Open peer review procedures for
submissions of all manuscripts to its journals.
Single-Blind review:
In Single-Blind review, the reviewers’ names are not disclosed to the
author but the reviewers are aware of the identity of the author(s).
Open Review:
In the Open Review model the referee’s report may be published together
with the article if the author(s) and the referees agree. The identity of the referee
may or may not be revealed, according to the opinion of the referee.
Authors may opt for “Open Peer-Review”, which highlights the
review process undertaken to publish the research. Optional Open Peer-Review entails
publication of all reviewers’ assessments as well as the approval of the Editor on the
manuscript together with the article. The reviewers may or may not choose to sign their
assessment form and identify themselves in the published reports. The names of the
reviewers will be disclosed only if they agree to reveal their identities. The final
decision of whether we publish the review or not lies with the Editor and the Publisher.
PLAGIARISM PREVENTION
Bentham OPEN uses the iThenticate software which detects
instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. This software checks
content against a database of periodicals, the Internet, and a comprehensive article
database. It generates a similarity report, highlighting the percentage overlap between
the uploaded article and the published material. Any instance of content overlap is
further scrutinized for suspected plagiarism according to the publisher’s Editorial
Policies. If the similarity seems legitimate, the article will be proceeded for further
review process; however, in cases of superfluous plagiarism, the authors have to revise
the text as per editorial instructions.
Bentham OPEN strictly follows the COPE guidelines to detect
plagiarism; for more clear insight, authors may refer to flowcharts provided by COPE by clicking
here or by visiting COPE website.
Low Text Similarity
The text of every submitted manuscript is checked by using the Content
Tracking mode in iThenticate. The Content Tracking mode ensures that manuscripts with an
overall low percentage similarity (but which may have a higher similarity from a single
source) are not overlooked. If the similarity level is significantly high, then the
manuscript is returned to the author for paraphrasing the text and citing the original
source of the copied material.
It is important to mention that the text taken from different sources with an
overall low similarity percentage will be considered as a plagiarized content if the
majority of the article is a combination of copied material.
High Text Similarity
There may be some manuscripts with an overall low similarity percentage, but
a higher percentage from a single source. For instance, a manuscript may have less than
20% overall similarity but there may be 15 % similar text taken from a single article;
the similarity index in such cases is higher than the approved limit for a single
source. Authors are advised to thoroughly rephrase the similar text and properly cite
the original source to avoid plagiarism and copyright violation.
TYPES OF PLAGIARISM:
We all know that scholarly manuscripts are written after a thorough review of
previously published articles. It is therefore, not easy to draw a clear boundary
between legitimate representation and plagiarism. However, the following important
features can assist in identifying different kinds of plagiarized content. These are:
- Reproduction of others words, sentences, ideas or findings as
one’s own without proper acknowledgement.
- Text recycling, also known as self-plagiarism. It is an author’s
use of a previous publication in another paper without proper citation and
acknowledgment of the original source.
- Paraphrasing poorly: Copying complete paragraphs and modifying a
few words without changing the structure of original sentences or changing the sentence
structure but not the words.
- Verbatim copying of text without putting quotation marks and not
acknowledging the work of the original author.
- Properly citing a work but poorly paraphrasing the original text
is considered as unintentional plagiarism. Similarly, manuscripts with language
somewhere between paraphrasing and quoting are not acceptable. Authors should either
paraphrase properly or quote and in both cases, cite the original source.
- Higher similarity in the abstract, introduction, materials and
methods, and discussion and conclusion sections indicates that the manuscript may
contain plagiarized text. Authors can easily explain these parts of the manuscript in
many ways. However, technical terms and sometimes standard procedures cannot be
rephrased; therefore Editors must review these sections carefully before making a
decision.
PLAGIARISM IN PUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS:
Published manuscripts which are found to contain plagiarized text are
retracted from the journal website after careful investigation and approval by the
Editor-in-Chief of the journal. A ‘Retraction Note’ as well as a link to the original
article is published on the electronic version of the plagiarized manuscript and an
addendum with retraction notification in the journal concerned.
For further details, please visit:
https://openrheumatologyjournal.com/research-misconduct.php
FABRICATING AND STATING FALSE INFORMATION
To ensure the scholarly integrity of every article, Bentham OPEN
will publish post-publication notices. The authors of the published articles, or those
who have submitted the manuscripts with false information, or fabricated the supporting
data or images, will be liable for sanctions, and their papers will be retracted. For
further details, please visit complete guidelines at:
https://openrheumatologyjournal.com/Fabricating-and-stating-false-information.php
APPEALS AND COMPLAINTS
Generally, the editorial decisions are not reverted. However, authors who think
that their manuscript was rejected due to a misunderstanding or mistake may seek an
explanation for the decision. Appeals must give sound reasoning and compelling evidence
against the criticism raised in the rejection letter. A difference of opinion as to the
interest, novelty, or suitability of the manuscript for the journal will not be
considered as an appeal. The EIC and other relevant editors will consider the appeal and
the decision thereafter taken by the journal will be deemed final. Acceptance of the
manuscript is not guaranteed even if the journal agrees to reconsider the manuscript,
and the reconsideration process may involve previous or new reviewers or editors and
substantive revision.
Authors who wish to make a complaint should refer them to the Editor-in-Chief of
the journal concerned. Complaints to the Publisher may be emailed to
info@benthamopen.net
How the complaint can be filed to Bentham OPEN?
Bentham OPEN is constantly striving to improve its
publication practices. If you are not satisfied with any procedure of the processing of
your manuscript, then please let us know at the following email address with full
details:
For Assistance please contact: info@benthamopen.net
For complaints please contact: complaint@benthamopen.net
PUBLICATION FEES
The publication fee for each article published in this journal is US $1005
.
The publication fee includes basic copy editing services. Once the paper is
accepted for publication, the author will receive an electronic invoice via email.
Subsequent submissions from the Bentham OPEN Authors will receive a
discount of US$ 100 on the total publication charges providing their
previous submission did not avail any discount off the listed full author open access
fee rate.
ANIMATED ABSTRACT
Extend the scope and visibility of your research by creating an animated
abstract. Bentham OPEN has collaborated with Focus Medica, one of the world’s largest
publishers of expert animated atlases and videos in medicine and science.
An animated abstract will help summarise the essential discoveries/ key
findings of your published research or review article. Each professionally produced
full-coloured animated abstract in video format (length 3-5 minutes) is accompanied by
an English spoken or foreign language commentary. The animated abstract will be
published online along with the published article.
The payment for an animated abstract will be US$ 1190 for
English language, and US$ 1690 for Foreign language articles. Initially, an
advance amount of US$ 700 will be payable to the Publisher to start work on
the Animated Abstract, while the balance of US$ 490 (English language) or US$
990 (Foreign language) will be payable on completion of the Animated Abstract.
Authors will be asked whether they wish to opt-in for this paid animated
abstract service, and if not, the article will be published as normal. Animated
abstracts are available as open access (free viewing) for maximum visibility and
awareness to readers at anytime, anywhere. The animated abstracts are licensed under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Public License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Sample Animated Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance represents a significant challenge to future
healthcare provision.An acronym ESKAPEE has been derived from the names of the organisms
recognised as the major threats although there are a number of other organisms, notably
Neisseria gonorrhoeae, that have become equally challenging to treat in the clinic.
These pathogens are characterised by the ability to rapidly develop and/or acquire
resistance mechanisms in response to exposure to different antimicrobial agents. A key
part of the armoury of these pathogens is a series of efflux pumps, which effectively
exclude or reduce the intracellular concentration of a large number of antibiotics,
making the pathogens significantly more resistant. These efflux pumps are the topic of
considerable interest, both from the perspective of basic understanding of efflux pump
function, and its role in drug resistance but also as targets for the development of
novel adjunct therapies. The necessity to overcome antimicrobial resistance has
encouraged investigations into the characterisation of resistance-modifying efflux pump
inhibitors to block the mechanisms of drug extrusion, thereby restoring antibacterial
susceptibility and returning existing antibiotics into the clinic. A greater
understanding of drug recognition and transport by multidrug efflux pumps is needed to
develop clinically useful inhibitors, given the breadth of molecules that can be
effluxed by these systems. This review discusses different bacterial EPIs originating
from both natural source and chemical synthesis and examines the challenges to designing
successful EPIs that can be useful against multidrug resistant bacteria.
SPECIAL FEE WAIVERS AND DISCOUNTS
Bentham OPEN offers waivers and discounts to those corresponding
authors who are based in low-income countries*.
The authors who wish to avail this offer should request for a waiver or discount
at the time of submission of their manuscripts to Bentham OPEN.
Eligibility:
Bentham OPEN offers 50% discount on Open Access fee for
manuscripts of the corresponding authors based in countries categorized as low-income
economies by World Bank (list given below).
For more information regarding Publication Fee of Bentham OPEN
journals, please click here:
https://openrheumatologyjournal.com/publication-fee.php
List of Countries*:
Afghanistan
Benin
Burundi
Central African Republic
Congo, Rep.
Eritrea
Georgia
Guinea-Bissau
Iraq
Kyrgyz Republic
Madagascar
Mauritania
Mozambique
Niger
Samoa
Somalia
Syrian Arab Republic
Timor-Leste
Vanuatu
Zimbabwe
Albania
Bhutan
Cambodia
Chad
Côte d'Ivoire
Ethiopia
Ghana
Guyana
Kenya
Lao PDR
Malawi
Micronesia, Fed. Sts.
Myanmar
Papua New Guinea
Senegal
South Sudan
São Tomé and Principe
Togo
West Bank and Gaza
Armenia
Bolivia
Cameroon
Comoros
Djibouti
Fiji
Guatemala
Haiti
Kiribati
Lesotho
Mali
Moldova
Nepal
Paraguay
Sierra Leone
Sudan
Tajikistan
Tonga
Yemen, Rep.
Belize
Burkina Faso
Cape Verde
Congo, Dem. Rep
El Salvador
Gambia, The
Guinea
Honduras
Kosovo
Liberia
Marshall Islands
Mongolia
Nicaragua
Rwanda
Solomon Islands
Swaziland
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia
MEMBERSHIP
Bentham OPEN offers ‘Complimentary Membership’ to International
R & D organizations, institutes and universities. Bentham OPEN
Membership entitles authors from different member institutes to a special discount of
20% on the open access publication fee on their submissions to The Open
Rheumatology Journal. Additionally, input and contributions from associate
institutes would also be recognized and a link to their respective Website would be
displayed on the Bentham OPEN membership page. The member institution’s
logo will also be published on the same page.
Bentham OPEN Membership provides the following
advantages:
- Possibility to explore 21 distinct disciplines by means of publishing
in 41 open access journals.
- Author(s) own the copyrights to their published articles.
- Unbound right to read, download or print open access articles.
- Extensive peer-review of submitted articles.
- Access to a range of articles in printed form such as short
communications, full length research articles, reviews or conference proceedings.
- Simple steps from submission to publication, leading to fast
turn-around.
- Possibility of archiving published articles.
The complimentary membership is valid for a span of one year and upon completion
of the prescribed period, it is renewed by mutual interest and agreement.
If you find the above mentioned details relevant, then kindly contact us via
e-mail at membership@benthamopen.net
or
oa@benthamopen.net.
GAIN MORE PUBLICATION REACH AND IMPACT VIA KUDOS
Bentham OPEN is a publishing partner of Kudos. All authors who
publish in this journal will receive an invitation to join the Kudos platform, an
entirely free service for authors. Kudos enables authors to help broaden their audience
and readers, increase their professional profile and reputation, and establish an impact
for their publications. The website link is www.growkudos.com
.
Kudos provides a free platform to researchers to have their publications
accessible, read and cited across multiple networks and channels available to
researchers for the dissemination of their work. It takes on average 15 minutes and
leads to 23% higher growth in full-text downloads.
Authors are encouraged to explain their work in clear English and to attract
researchers of the relevant communities, share a trackable link that you can email to
your existing network of contacts, or share on social media and academic websites, and
track how well the articles are performing through the summary of views, downloads,
citations, and altmetrics on the Kudos dashboard.
Authors may also use the new shareable PDF (S-PDF) service. The S-PDF provides
researchers with the means to write and share a high-level overview for each of their
publications. Kudos thereby provides researchers, and their publishers and institutions,
with a rich understanding of which channels and activities are most effective for
broadening the reach and impact of published science.
REPRINTS
Bentham OPEN provides excellent professionally printed reprints,
each inside a beautiful journal cover, which you can proudly send to colleagues and
scientists in your field. These reprints with cover are available at concessionary
rates. The minimum limit of reprint order is 25 copies.
SPECIAL OFFERS
- Authors who order minimum 100 will be entitled to a 35%
discount.
- Authors who order minimum 200, 300, 400 and 500 will
be entitled to a 15% discount.
COLORED REPRINTS
If the article was originally printed in color, the reprint will be an exact
replication of the original for an additional charge.
COMPANY LOGO
Company logos and foreword can be published on the printed reprint cover page
in sponsored reprints.
500 OR MORE REPRINTS
Orders Above 500 reprint copies: A quotation for orders above 500 can be
obtained by emailing at reprints@benthamopen.net.
PRINTED COVERS
Printed covers are available at extra cost.
AIRMAIL AND HANDLING COSTS
Reprints are dispatched to the customers by airmail. Airmail and handling
costs will be invoiced additionally with the reprints. Our shipping department requires
the name and telephone number of the recipient of the order. These quotes are in US
Dollars and are valid for 30 days.
SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS
Once confirmed, your order will ship to deliver in 35 business days from the
day the proofs, if required, have been approved or from the day of confirmation.
Expedited delivery option is also available.