Editorial Process

A manuscript will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that it is being submitted to Chinese Journal of Radiological Medicine and Protection alone at that point in time and has not been published anywhere, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere. The journal expects that authors would authorize one of them to correspond with Chinese Journal of Radiological Medicine and Protection for all matters related to the manuscript. On submission, full time editors review all submitted manuscripts initially for suitability for formal review. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical flaws, or lack of a significant message are rejected before proceeding for formal peer-review. Manuscripts that are unlikely to be of interest to the journal readers are also liable to be rejected at this stage.

Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in Chinese Journal of Radiological Medicine and Protection are sent to two or more expert reviewers. During submission, the contributor is requested to provide names of two or three qualified reviewers who have had experience in the subject of the submitted manuscript, but this is not mandatory. The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institutes as the contributor/s. The selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of full time editors. The journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other’s identity. The journal holds a meeting twice quarterly to make the final decision on whether or not to publish a manuscript, with the Chief Editor and editorial board members of the journal as attendees. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/ rejection/ amendments in manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point by point response to reviewers’ comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated till reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript.

Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy edited by full time editors in the editorial office. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is expected to return the corrected proofs within several days. The whole process of submission of the manuscript to final decision and sending proofs is completed online.

Responsibilities and Duties of Editors

The general responsibilities of the editors are listed below:

Decision on the Publication of Articles. The editors are responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal of Chinese Journal of Radiological Medicine and Protection (CJRMP) should be published. The editors may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board subjected to such legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editors may consult with reviewers in making this decision.

Manuscripts shall be evaluated solely on their intellectual merit.

The editors and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used by anyone who has a view of the manuscript while handling it in his or her own research without the express written consent of the author.

The editors should not hold conflicts of interest with authors whose work they are assessing, e.g. if they are from the same institution or collaborate closely. In this case the Editor-in-Chief or a suitable editorial board member will make final acceptance decisions for submitted papers.

The editors require skills of proofreading, copy editing, developmental editing, line editing and editing for search engine optimization.

It is the responsibility of the editor to reject a piece of writing that appears to be plagiarized or ghost written by another sub-editor. He should check that a particular piece is neither self-plagiarized, nor has been published before elsewhere.

Reviewer responsibilities

The responsibilities of the reviewer of are summarized as follows:

The reviewer should provide an honest, critical assessment of the research. The reviewer should not manipulate the process to force the authors to address issues interesting or important to the reviewer but peripheral to the objective(s) of the study.

The reviewer should maintain confidentiality about the existence and substance of the manuscript. It is not appropriate to share the manuscript or to discuss it in detail with others or even to reveal the existence of the submission before publication.

The reviewer must not participate in plagiarism. It is obviously a very serious transgression to take data or novel concepts from a paper to advance your own work before the manuscript is published.

The reviewer should always avoid, or disclose, any conflicts of interest. For example, if the reviewer has a close personal or professional relationship with one or more of the authors such that his/her objectivity would be compromised. Scientific merit should be the basis for all reviews.

The reviewer should accept manuscripts for review only in his/her areas of expertise.

The reviewer should agree to review only those manuscripts that can be completed on time. Sometimes, unforeseen circumstances arise that preclude a reviewer from meeting a deadline, but in these instances the reviewer should immediately contact the editor.

The reviewer also has the unpleasant responsibility of reporting suspected duplicate publication, fraud, plagiarism, or ethical concerns about the use of animals or humans in the research being reported.

The reviewer should write reviews in a collegial, constructive manner. This is especially helpful to new investigators. No one likes to have a paper rejected, but a carefully worded review with appropriate suggestions for revision can be very helpful.