Ethics & Policies

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to the journal undergo a rigorous and structured peer review process to ensure the highest standards of scientific quality, originality, and ethical integrity. The process is designed to provide authors with fair, constructive, and transparent feedback.

1. Initial Editorial Assessment

  • Every submitted manuscript is screened by the Editorial Office and/or the Editor-in-Chief for:
    • Compliance with the journal's scope and aims
    • Adherence to submission guidelines (formatting, word limits, references, figures, and tables)
    • Ethical compliance (e.g., ethics committee approval, informed consent, plagiarism check)
  • Manuscripts not meeting these requirements may be rejected without external review. Authors receive an explanation and may revise and resubmit if appropriate.

2. Double-Blind Peer Review

  • Manuscripts passing the initial assessment are sent to at least two independent external reviewers with subject-matter expertise.
  • Authors' and reviewers' identities are kept confidential to avoid bias.
  • Reviewers are selected based on expertise, academic and clinical experience, and previous reviewing reliability.

3. Evaluation Criteria

Reviewers assess manuscripts on:

  1. Scientific validity - study design, methods, data analysis, and results
  2. Originality and novelty - contribution of new knowledge
  3. Clinical or academic relevance - importance to the field of pain management
  4. Ethical standards - human/animal research ethics and consent procedures
  5. Clarity and structure - title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, tables, figures, references
  6. Reference accuracy - correct and up-to-date citation of sources

4. Reviewer Feedback

  • Reviewers provide detailed comments and categorize their recommendation as:
    1. Accept without revisions
    2. Minor revisions required
    3. Major revisions required
    4. Reject
  • Reviewers justify recommendations, highlight strengths/weaknesses, and suggest improvements.
  • Unacknowledged prior work or overlap with published manuscripts should also be identified.

5. Revision Process

  • Authors receive reviewer comments and are expected to:
    • Address all points
    • Provide a point-by-point response letter
    • Submit revised manuscript within the given timeframe
  • Major revisions may be re-evaluated by original reviewers.

6. Final Decision

  • Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with Associate Editors, makes the final decision:
    1. Acceptance
    2. Conditional Acceptance
    3. Further Revision Required
    4. Rejection
  • Decisions are based on reviewer recommendations, revision quality, and journal standards.
  • Authors are notified with rationale to ensure transparency.

7. Transparency and Ethical Standards

  • The journal follows ICMJE, WAME, CSE, COPE, EASE, NISO, and Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing guidelines.
  • Conflicts of interest are disclosed and managed.
  • Peer review is conducted fairly, objectively, and confidentially.

8. Reviewer Responsibilities

  • Maintain manuscript confidentiality
  • Conduct objective and constructive evaluations
  • Identify unreferenced relevant literature
  • Declare conflicts of interest
  • Disclose any AI-based tool usage in reviews, ensuring confidentiality and objectivity

Detailed ethical standards, authorship criteria, and misconduct procedures are described in the journal's "Publication Ethics" section.

Roles and Responsibilities of Editors

Editors, in addition to general responsibilities-such as continuously improving the quality, integrity, and academic value of the journal; responding to the needs of authors and readers; and encouraging scholarly debate-are committed to applying best editorial practices in fulfilling the following duties.

Editorial Board

The board is composed of recognized experts in the field of pain management and related disciplines. The Editor-in-Chief ensures that the full names and institutional affiliations of all members, along with up-to-date contact information for the editorial office, are publicly available on the website.

Publication Decisions

The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for deciding which manuscripts will be published. Decisions are based on the scientific validity, originality, clarity, and importance of the work, as well as its relevance to the journal's scope and aims.

Editorial decisions follow journal policies and are subject to legal and ethical requirements, including copyright infringement and plagiarism. The Editor-in-Chief may consult Associate Editors and peer reviewers in the decision-making process.

Fair Play

Editors evaluate manuscripts solely on intellectual and scientific merit, without regard to authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political views. Decisions to accept or reject a manuscript are based exclusively on scientific quality, originality, clarity, and relevance.

Confidentiality

Editors and the editorial team must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, peer reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, or the publisher, as appropriate. All submitted materials are treated as confidential and are protected throughout the peer review process.