Editorial and Publishing Policies

All Discover Publishing Group (DPG) journals share a core set of Editorial and Publishing Policies outlined below.

Full descriptions of the policies, along with any additional, journal-specific requirements that authors must fulfill prior to publication can be found by following the journal Submission Guidelines links at website for the journal.

Best Practices in Research Reporting

All research submitted to DPG journals must be reported according to internationally accepted standards for the study type, with ethics oversight obtained where appropriate.

Animal Research

Research involving regulated animals must meet internationally accepted ethics standards for the study type, including but not limited to obtaining study-specific approval by the appropriate ethics committee, securing appropriate permits to conduct the research, and providing required details for studies involving non-human primates.

Human Subjects Research

Research involving human participants must meet internationally accepted ethics standards for the study type, including but not limited to obtaining study-specific approval by the appropriate ethics committee, taking steps to protect participant privacy, obtaining informed consent and providing clinical trial documentation.

Competing Interests

Authors, reviewers, and editors must declare potential competing interests, or interests that may be perceived as such, as they relate to the research. A competing interest may relate to a person or an entity and may be of a financial, non-financial, professional or personal nature.

Disclosure of Funding Sources

Manuscripts submitted to DPG journals must be accompanied by a declaration of all financial support received to carry out the work. The role of the funder in the research must also be declared.

Content License

Manuscript accepted by DPG journals is generally published under a | CC BY | license but a journal or the society may own copyright. Please refer to specific journal for further information.

Materials and Software Sharing

Authors of manuscripts published in DPG journals are encouraged to make available all relevant materials and software.

Ethical Publishing Practices

Authors of manuscripts published in DPG journals must comply with best practices in publication ethics. All DPG journals are members of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), abide by its Code of Conduct and aim to adhere to its Best Practice Guidelines.