Editorial policies
Our authors, editors, and editorial staff are dedicated to scientifically sound publications. Submitted articles will be evaluated based on their intellectual and scientific content, without reference to gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality or political views of the authors. Authorship should be limited to persons who have made substantial contributions like conception and design; acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; drafting of the article or critical revision for important intellectual content; final approval of the version to be published. The corresponding author must ensure that all authors involved have seen the final version of the contribution and agreed to its publication. All manuscripts received for review will be treated confidentially. Editorial boards and editorial staff will warrant a timely evaluation of received manuscripts. In addition, they are intended to support authors in improving the quality of their contributions, for example by providing constructive feedback.
Peer review policy
Our publishing house releases a number of journals from various fields of expertise. The peer review policy depends on the journal. In some cases, evaluation of manuscripts is provided by a specialized editorial office (i.e., employed editors) which can seek the support of an advisory board if necessary. For other journals, there is a regular peer review process, managed by the employed editorial staff, where external experts in the field and/or scientific editors review the manuscripts. Reviewers remain anonymous to the authors. EfSM is a peer reviewed journal.
Advertising policy
If a journal (print or online) contains advertisements, users should immediately be able to distinguish between advertising and editorial content. Advertising or sponsorship are not allowed to influence editorial decisions. There is a clear separation between editorial office and advertisement management with regard to organization and content responsibility. EfSM is free of advertisements, i.e., no advertisements can be booked here.
Research ethics policy
Authors must adhere to the common principles of scientific conduct and integrity (e.g., authorship, citation rules). Fraudulent or scientifically inaccurate claims constitute unethical and unacceptable behavior. Ideas and work of others that find their way into a contribution must be marked accordingly. All parties involved in the publication process are obliged to comply with the legal provisions regarding defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
If individual patient data is reported, authors should make any effort to prevent identification of the patient (e.g., remove individual data from photographs, omit details that are unnecessary for comprehension of the text). Where this is impossible or the risk of identification cannot be excluded, authors are strongly advised to acquire a written consent from the patient.
The process for handling cases requiring corrections, retractions, and editorial expressions of concern
Any allegations of research or publication misconduct shall be forwarded to the editorial office of the respective journal. They will be discussed with the editors, the author(s), and the publisher's legal department, accordingly. If warranted, corrections, clarifications, retractions, and/or apologies will be published promptly. In case of retraction of an online article, the content will be removed from the corresponding website and only the bibliographic data with the annotation “[retracted]” will be kept. 