International Journal of Coronaviruses
Editorial Policies
These policies define how manuscripts are assessed, how participants and research records are protected, and how concerns are handled before and after publication.
Peer-review model
Single-blind (double-blind on request). Reviewer identities remain confidential. Authors requesting double-blind review must remove identifying information from review files.
Assessment
Peer review and editorial independence
Initial assessment
Editors assess scope, completeness, research ethics, reporting quality and whether the work presents a sufficiently supported contribution. A manuscript may be declined before external review when it is out of scope, incomplete, methodologically unsuitable or raises unresolved integrity concerns.
External review
Editors select reviewers for subject and methodological expertise and screen for conflicts. Review reports inform the decision; editorial responsibility is not delegated to reviewers.
Independence
Decisions must be based on scope, scientific validity, originality, ethics and relevance. APC status, membership, waiver requests, paid services, institutional prestige or personal relationships must not influence review or acceptance.
Editor submissions
An editor or board member must not handle or influence a manuscript in which they are an author, collaborator or otherwise conflicted. An independent editor manages the submission and the published article should disclose the relationship where relevant.
Accountability
Authorship, contributorship and conflicts
Authorship
Every author must make a substantive contribution, approve the submitted and published versions, and accept accountability for the work. Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged with permission.
Contributor roles
Research articles should describe individual contributions using the CRediT taxonomy or an equivalent contributor statement. Changes to authorship require a reason and written agreement from all affected authors.
Competing interests
Authors, reviewers and editors must disclose financial and non-financial relationships that could reasonably be perceived to influence the work or its assessment.
Funding
Authors must identify funders and describe any role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation or the decision to submit.
Participants and responsible research
Human, animal, clinical and biosafety requirements
Human research
Manuscripts must identify the approving ethics committee, approval number where available, and the consent process. Identifiable information requires explicit publication consent. Exemptions must be explained and supported by the responsible authority.
Clinical trials
Clinical trials must be registered in a public trials registry at or before the time of first participant consent. The registry name, identifier and registration date must appear in the manuscript.
Animal research
Authors must report institutional or national approval, welfare safeguards and study methods consistent with relevant reporting standards, including ARRIVE where applicable.
Biosafety and biosecurity
Work involving infectious material, viral culture, genetic modification or enhanced pathogen properties must state the containment, approvals and risk controls appropriate to the procedures.
Dual-use concerns
Authors must disclose research that could reasonably create significant misuse risk. Editors may seek specialized review, request risk-mitigating changes, restrict procedural detail where justified, or decline work when risks cannot be responsibly managed.
Research record
Originality, data, images, sequences and reporting
- The manuscript must be original, not published elsewhere and not under consideration by another journal.
- Text overlap may be screened; plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate text recycling and citation manipulation are not permitted.
- Fabrication, falsification, selective omission or inappropriate manipulation of data or images may lead to investigation and editorial action.
- Research articles require a data-availability statement. Restrictions must be explained and consistent with consent, privacy, law or legitimate biosecurity needs.
- Sequence, structure, code and protocol records should be deposited in an appropriate repository with accession identifiers where the study depends on them.
- Authors should use the reporting guideline appropriate to the design and submit the relevant checklist when requested.
Digital tools and prior communication
AI-assisted tools, preprints and confidentiality
Authors
AI tools cannot be authors. Authors remain responsible for accuracy, citations, originality and confidentiality and must disclose substantive generative-AI use beyond routine spelling or grammar support.
Editors and reviewers
Confidential manuscripts or review material must not be uploaded to an external AI service. Editorial judgments and review reports must remain the accountable work of the assigned person.
Preprints
A disclosed preprint does not by itself prevent consideration. Authors must identify the preprint at submission and update it with the version-of-record DOI after publication.
Accountable record
Corrections, retractions, withdrawals and concerns
Corrections and updates
Errors that affect the scholarly record should be corrected through a linked notice that explains the change. The original article remains identifiable and the relationship between versions must be clear.
Retractions and expressions of concern
Retraction may be required for unreliable findings, serious misconduct, unethical research or other fundamental problems. An expression of concern may be used while a material investigation is unresolved. Notices must be freely accessible and bidirectionally linked.
Withdrawal
A withdrawal requested within three days of submission incurs no charge. After three days, the withdrawal charge is 30% of the applicable APC. Authors must receive official written confirmation of withdrawal before submitting the manuscript elsewhere. See the APC and withdrawal terms.
Complaints and appeals
A reasoned appeal should identify a specific error in the decision or process and must not be a repetition of the original argument. Complaints and misconduct reports are assessed separately from editorial decisions and escalated when a conflict exists.
Copyright and license
Authors retain copyright. Published articles use the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0), subject to any clearly identified third-party material.
Questions, appeals or confidential concerns should identify the manuscript or article and provide supporting information. Contact [email protected].
Before submission
Prepare the required declarations
The author instructions translate these policies into manuscript files, statements and submission checks.
Read the author instructions