Author's Guidelines

Journal policies

Before submitting work, authors are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the policies outlined in the journal's criteria. These policies have been designed in compliance with the best practice guidelines that the ICMJE and COPE have provided.

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Manuscript submission

Through the online manuscript submission and peer-review system, manuscripts should be submitted by any one of the authors of the paper, preferably the one designated as the corresponding author. Every manuscript that was submitted is given the proper acknowledgement. Prior to submitting work, authors are responsible for ensuring that the format of their manuscripts follows the requirements outlined by the GJPB. Articles that are not written in accordance with the guidelines for the journal's format will be declined.

Please upload a cover letter, title page, a graphical abstract, the main article file (which should be free of any identifying information), figures and tables, a conflict of interest form, authorship contribution form, and any additional material (if any).

For technical assistance, please write to editor@gjpb.de

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Editorial Procedures and Peer-Review

Initial Checks

  • To ensure that all submitted manuscripts follow the journal's ethical guidelines and contain all required disclosures, an experienced editor will go over each one before it is accepted for peer review. 

  • The accuracy of the references cited in every submitted manuscript will be double-checked. A desk rejection could occur due to inadequate, improper, ambiguous, or deceptive references.

  • The English language of all articles submitted will be checked at this stage, and authors may be asked to have their works edited by a native or professional English-speaking editor.

  • iThenticate (online plagiarism detection software) will be used to perform a plagiarism check on the articles that are submitted. Please read the policies regarding plagiarism for further details.

  • Any manuscripts that have not been adequately prepared will be sent back to the authors so that they can be revised and resubmitted.

  • Manuscripts that lack sufficient originality, substantial scientific or technical faults, or a meaningful message, or that are not prepared according to the instructions provided by the journal are rejected without going through a formal peer-review process.

Peer-Review

If a manuscript is successful in making it through the initial check and desk review, it is next sent for double-blind peer review. The article will be evaluated by a minimum of two experts in the relevant subject area, both of whose identities will be kept confidential (double-blind peer-review process). Kindly refer to our policies regarding peer review.

Editorial decision and Revision

When making a final decision about a submitted manuscript, we will consider the feedback received from all of the reviewers. Based on the remarks made by the reviewer, the Editor-in-Chief/ Commissioning Editor will make the final decision. In order for the journal to come to a suitable judgment, it may contact a team of experts and the editors or reviewers.

The authors are obligated to respond to each of the reviewers and offer a point-by-point clarification in response to the criticisms made by the reviewers and the handling editor. When the authors disagree with the reviewer's or editor's assessment of their work, they must state their viewpoint unambiguously in the response letter.

Appeals

Suppose the authors believe that there is a significant misunderstanding regarding a technical aspect or that there is a failure to understand the scientific advancement demonstrated by the manuscript. In that case, they can appeal against the unfavourable judgment by presenting appropriate justifications. Appeals that make a request for a second opinion but do not provide sufficient justification will not be considered. In order to submit an appeal, kindly send an email to the journal. Appeals will only be considered if they come from the original author who submitted the information

Galley Proofs and publication

In accepted manuscripts, grammar, punctuation, print style, and format are revised. Authors receive galley proofs. The corresponding author must return proofs within three days. Online submission and the peer-review system handle submission, final decision, and sending and receiving proofs. As soon as an article is accepted for publication in the journal, the title and author names are immediately uploaded to the website "In press." Accepted articles are published online in order to expedite the sharing of knowledge and information.

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Types of paper

The Editorial Board considers the following types of paper: Letters, Research Articles, Original Articles, Review Articles (including Mini-reviews and Critical reviews), Expert Opinions, Short Communications, Editorial Commentary, Case Studies or Case Reports or Research Reports.

Audience/Contributors

Researchers, Students, Professionals, Clinicians, and those who are working in academics and industries.

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Covering letter

A cover letter includes the Journal name, manuscript's title, statement that your paper has not been previously published and is not currently under consideration by another journal, statement that authors do have any conflict of interest, the contact information of the corresponding author, indicate clearly if colour should be used for any figures in print and suggest 2 to 3 reviewers with contact details.

Reviewers are selected by identifying their relevant expertise via their recent publications and accessed through indices such as PUBMED and MEDLINE. Authors may also recommend reviewers, but reviewer selection is ultimately at the editor's discretion.

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Manuscript preparation

The manuscript should be typed in the English language and double-spaced on standard A4 sized paper (8.5" x 11") with 1" margins on all sides. Times New Roman font 12 pt and 1.15 line spacing between paragraphs should be used. The fonts used in the text and graphics should be restricted to Times New Roman, Symbol and Zapf Dingbats. Please note that figures and tables must be included in the manuscript as close as possible to where they are first quoted.

Title page

The title page should be separated from the main manuscript and should be uploaded as a separate file and contain the title of the article followed by the names and affiliations of the authors. The affiliation should comprise the department, institution, city, and state (or nation) and should be typed as a footnote to the author's name. One author should be identified as the corresponding author. The corresponding author must indicate his or her complete mailing address, office/fax number, and email address at the lower left of the title page. Authors must include Acknowledgements, Funding details and a Declaration/conflict of interest at the end of the title page.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements must be given in a separate section at the end of the title page and, therefore, should not be included in the main manuscript.

Funding details

The authors are required to tell all funding sources utilized in the conduct of the research that's been submitted in this journal. The authors are required to list the names of funding organizations and grant numbers and provide a brief explanation of the function played by each funder. Only the financing that is directly connected to the work submitted should be acknowledged, and writers are NOT obliged to provide a comprehensive list of every award they receive for assistance.

Declaration/ conflict of interest disclosures

Every author is required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest or competing interests they may have with the publication of the manuscript and any institutions or products that are mentioned in the manuscript and/or are significant to the findings of the study that is being presented. Authors need to disclose any conflicts of interest they may have with companies or goods in direct competition with those discussed in their work. Each author's name should be listed separately in the disclaimer about potential conflicts of interest.

A declaration of interest statement should be given in the title page file. If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations/Conflict of interest: none.

In order to simplify and standardize the disclosure process for authors, the ICMJE has prepared a Disclosure Form. If you would like to download the ICMJE COI form, please click on the following link: [ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest]. Authors are obligated to upload the correctly filled out and signed form in the supplementary files portion of the submission process when submitting a paper. Authors can download this form on the journal website under the section "downloads". 

GJPB is committed to following ICMJE recommendations. Please follow the link to read the detailed ICMJE recommendations for disclosure of financial and non-financial relationships and activities, and conflicts of interest.

Article Structure

Graphical Abstract

Authors are required to submit a colour graphical abstract in a single .jpeg or .tiff image that visually represents the key findings of your article.

Article title

Authors must include the title of the article in the main manuscript.

Abstract

The abstract should not contain more than 250 words and should provide brief details about the background, objectives, methods, key findings and conclusions. Four to six keywords must follow the abstract.

Introduction

An introduction should provide a background to the study and clearly state the study's specific aims, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Materials and methods

Please provide concise but complete information about the material and the analytical, statistical, and experimental procedures. This part should be as transparent as possible to enable other scientists to repeat the research presented. The use of subheadings to divide the text is encouraged. Primary headings should be in bold capital letters. Secondary or subheadings should be in bold sentence case. Third level subheadings should be in Italicized sentence cases. In the case of animal/human experiments or clinical trials, authors must give the details of the ethical approval number.

Results

Results should be clear and concise. Tables and Figures should be self-explanatory.

Discussion

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations of published literature.

Conclusions

A concise conclusion section needs to include an overview of the most critical findings from the research. The authors are highly encouraged to emphasize their study's contribution to the field in this part.

References

References in the text are cited sequentially by number in square brackets, i.e., [15]. All citations in the text must appear in the reference list and vice versa. At the end of the manuscript, references should be listed in numerical order as they appear in the text. Journal titles should be abbreviated in accordance with the standard approved abbreviations used by PubMed. State the references according to the format of the following examples:

  • Author’s names should appear without full stops in their initials.

  • If there are more than six authors, list the first six authors, followed by et al.

  • All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa.

All authors are required to follow the ICMJE requirements of ‘Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals.

please refer to ICMJE Guidelines

(http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/archives/2008_urm.pdf or http://www.icmje.org 

Bibliographic References as adapted by the National Library of Medicine for its databases:

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html

Articles in Journals

Reference to a journal publication

Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

Organization as author

Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679-86.

Reference to a Books and Monographs:

Personal author(s)

Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.

Chapter in a book

Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

Conference proceedings

Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

Conference paper

Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-91.

Dissertation

Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: a telephone survey of Hispanic Americans [dissertation]. Mount Pleasant (MI): Central Michigan University; 2002.

Patent

Pagedas AC, inventor; Ancel Surgical R&D Inc., assignee. Flexible endoscopic grasping and cutting device and positioning tool assembly. United States patent US 20020103498. 2002 Aug 1.

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Tables

Tables should be numbered with Roman numerals according to their sequence in the text and have a short self-explanatory heading. Use SI units. Authors should consider that tables that fit onto one printed page are preferred. Tables should be provided as a Microsoft Word document and must be editable.

Figures

All figures and tables must be submitted in an editable format. For figures that will be included without editing (i.e., photos, imaging data, etc.), please submit in .jpeg or .tiff format. Other figures (i.e., graphs or bar charts) should ideally be provided in Microsoft Word/Microsoft Excel/.jpeg/.tiff format.

  • Resolution: Figure resolution must be as high as possible, ideally 300 dpi or higher for jpeg or tiff format. Images that are blurred or illegible will not be accepted.

  • Font: If possible, please use Times New Roman 8pt.

  • Abbreviations: All abbreviations used within figures/tables must be defined in the legend (even if previously defined in the body of the manuscript).

  • Ensure that each figure/table has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title.

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Authorship/Author Disclosure

All the authors in a manuscript are equally responsible for the technical information communicated to the journal. Thus, it is necessary that all authors must read and approve the final version of the manuscript before submitting it to the journal. All named authors must have made an active contribution to the conception and design and/or analysis and interpretation of the data and/or the drafting of the paper and all must have critically reviewed its content and have approved the final version submitted for publication. Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship.

GJPB follows the definition of authorship given by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

  • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND

  • Final approval of the version to be published; AND

  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.


Authors should meet all the above four conditions.  Please download and fill the Authorship Contribution Form, authors are required to upload the duly filled and signed form under the additional/other files section, during manuscript submission. They can also send it by email to editor@gjpb.de

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Responsibilities Pertaining to Corresponding Author

Pre-publication:

  • The corresponding author accepts responsibility for and acts as a spokesperson for all other authors.

  • Verify that the document follows all of the guidelines established by the GJPB for publication and editing.

  • Ensure that all of the authors/ contributors have access to the final version of the manuscript before it is submitted to the journal. They should all agree on the author list and each author's contributions.

  • Before publication, make sure that all authors have reviewed the manuscript.

  • The written confirmation that all authors consent to any proposed changes in the authorship of the work must be provided to the journal.

Post-publication:

  • It would be best if the corresponding author continued to act as the primary point of contact for questions regarding the published paper.

  • In the event that an issue arises, make sure to notify all of the co-authors and work to resolve it promptly.

Authorship Changes

When it comes to changes in authorship, GJPB follows the COPE guidelines. 

After the submission has been made, any changes to the author list require unanimous consent from all authors. This includes changes to the ordering as well as additions, deletions, and rearrangements. Requests must originate from the author who corresponds with the co-authors, and they should include an explanation of why the change is necessary. Suppose it is determined that the change should be made. In that case, the author who is considered the corresponding author is responsible for obtaining approval from all authors, including those whose names are being added, deleted, or reordered and submitting it to GJPB.

A revision can be necessary if questions regarding authorship are found after the manuscript has been published. The journal will not serve as an arbitrator in the event of a disagreement regarding authorship. Following the guidelines given by COPE , we will refer the dispute to the institution (or institutions) where the authors are affiliated if the authors themselves are unable to resolve the dispute. Following the conclusion of the authorship investigations, the journal will adhere to the recommendations made by the institution.

COPE guidelines on:

How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers

Post-publication discussions and corrections

Authorship and contributorship

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Ethical Approvals

Patient Rights

Patients have a right to privacy; thus, all the studies should be conducted with informed consent. No identifying information should be published in written descriptions and photographs unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. When informed consent has been obtained, it should be indicated in the article. Investigations with human subjects must follow the ethical standards formulated in the Helsinki Declaration of 1964, revised in 2013.

https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/

Animal Rights

Animal experiments must follow the ethical standards for the care and use of laboratory animals. The article involved the animal experiments must seek approval(s) from the appropriate Ethical Committee in accordance with the "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" and ARRIVE guidelines. 

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK54050/ or https://arriveguidelines.org/)

All the experiments must have obtained the appropriate institutional approval for studies involving data relating to human or animal experimental investigations and are described within the article in the manuscript or the disclosure section.

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials must follow the CONSORT guidelines.

We strongly recommend that the authors register the clinical trials with a clinical trial registry that provides the general public with unrestricted online access. It is acceptable to register with any of the following trial registers:

https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/  or   https://www.isrctn.com/  or  https://www.trialregister.nl/  or  https://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/

Clinical trials must follow the ICMJE guidelines. Please refer to ICMJE Guidelines for clinical trials:

http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html

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Abbreviations

There should be consistent use of abbreviations throughout the manuscript. Following their first use, all nonstandard abbreviations should be outlined clearly in the text.
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Manuscript processing and review speed

This journal operates a double-blind peer-review process. The Editor-in-Chief or Commissioning Editor is responsible for the final decision concerning the acceptance or rejection of articles. The overall review process takes 50 days. 

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Journal Statistics

Acceptance Rate - 39 % (Jan 2022 to Dec 2023)

(This data is based on the system-generated statistics provided by the OJS system).

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This page was last updated on: 30-01-2024.