Policies
Peer review process
PBMT uses single-blind peer review, in which reviewers are anonymous to authors, and authors are known to reviewers. Submissions are initially evaluated for quality and suitability to the journal. If a manuscript passes this initial screening, it is an assigned a handling editor, usually an Associate Editor, who manages the peer-review process for the submitted manuscript.
Members of the editorial team often participate in peer review as reviewers, and their responsibilities also include recruitment of promising manuscripts for submission to the journal. Editorial team members also organize and manage special issues of the journal focused on particular topics.
PBMT seeks to return manuscript decisions in a timely manner. The editorial team and Journal Manager monitor the progress of submissions in order to minimize delays.
Conflict of interest
A competing interest is any interest, financial or non-financial, that could interfere with or be perceived as interfering with the scientific objectivity of articles submitted to the journal and the evaluation of those articles. Authors, reviewers, and editors who have competing interests are required to disclose the nature and extent of the interests.
Reviewers and editorial team members must recuse themselves from the editorial process for manuscript submissions for which competing interests may influence editorial decisions. Editorial team members are not involved in the editorial process for submissions on which they are authors.
Publication ethics
PBMT is published by Stanford University Press. It follows the Stanford University Press Publication Ethics for Journals and guidelines developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). When issues not covered by PBMT standard practices and policies arise, editors consult COPE resources for guidance and update policies when necessary.
Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to follow high standards for integrity in their activities related to submissions and their evaluation. Serious suspicions regarding misconduct in research, publication, or peer review should be communicated to the journal, indicating the nature of the misconduct and the grounds for concern. In addressing any such misconduct, editors consult COPE Core Practices.
Copyright
PBMT applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to works published in the journal. Under this license, authors retain the copyright to their work and grant permission for anyone to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The author and source material must be properly cited.
To adhere to this license, the author must obtain permission to use any material within the manuscript for which the author is not the original creator and rightsholder. Granted permission for these materials must be provided to PBMT. The permissions must include:
- Nonexclusive rights to reproduce the material in PBMT;
- Rights for use in print and electronic format;
- Lifetime rights to use the material;
- Worldwide English-language rights.
Post-publication
In the event that an error or potential error is discovered in articles published in PBMT, the error should be reported to PBMT for review and, if necessary, correction. PBMT reserves the right to determine whether a correction or editorial retraction is required, depending upon the significance of the error reported. Corrections and retractions are published and indexed separately, and are linked bi-directionally to the original article.
PBMT editors welcome discussion of work published in the journal and will consider for publication letters to the editor or other responses to published articles.
