Peer-review process

Manuscripts must be submitted via our platform Publishing Manager, where authors will receive all the communications regarding the evaluation of their article. 

JOINTS operates a single-blind review process. All contributions will be initially evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief for suitability for the journal. Contributions deemed as suitable are subsequently sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the manuscript. The journal usually recruits both internal and external reviewers for each article undergoing peer review. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the final decision regarding the rejection or acceptance of articles. Editors are not responsible for decisions regarding the rejection or acceptance of papers that they have written themselves or have been written by colleagues or family members or which relate to services or products in which the Editor has an interest. Such submissions will be subject to all of the journal’s usual procedures, with peer review usually handled by external reviewers and independently of the relevant Editors and their research groups.

As 2 up to 4 expert peer reviewers are recruited by the Editor, they are asked to complete and submit their review report via Publishing Manager within 21 days. By using Publishing Manager, reviewers can also save their progress and decide to submit the final review report at a later stage. For more details on the peer review process, visit the page “Policies, Licensing and COI”.

Revised submission

Authors must resubmit the revised version of their article as a unique Word document (.doc, .docx). Authors must revise their manuscript using a word processing program and mark the changes within the document by using red text or highlighting the revised text in yellow. Authors must not use the “Track Changes” option in Microsoft Office documents to highlight the changes made in the revised version of their manuscript. Authors are also required to add continuous line numbering throughout the document to facilitate the review process.

The revised version of the article must always be accompanied by a Word document containing the point-by-point response to reviewers’ comments.

Authors must resubmit the revised version of their article within 2 months after the receipt of the complete report from our reviewers. Articles that are not resubmitted within 2 months after the receipt of the complete reviewer reports will be deemed as rejected. However, authors can contact the Editorial Office at submission.joints@verduci.it if they need to request a deadline extension for the resubmission of the revised manuscript.

After acceptance

Proofreading and Final Check

In our dedication to upholding scientific integrity, JOINTS adheres to a rigorous proofreading process following peer review, ensuring thorough scrutiny before publishing a paper. At this stage, publishing editors meticulously review the manuscript, identifying and addressing editorial inconsistencies, ambiguities, and any grammar mistakes. Any remaining queries are resolved through discussion with the author. This meticulous process is designed to minimize errors that could require post-publication corrections. If minor revisions are necessary, the article will only be published once the identified issues are satisfactorily addressed by the authors.

The Editor-in-chief retains the right to overturn the article’s acceptance if evidence of scientific misconduct is discovered during the production or copyediting process. This includes issues such as figure manipulation/duplication, plagiarism, and other ethical violations.

Galley Proofs

To ensure a fast publication process of the articles accepted for publication, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within three days. The Corresponding Author will receive an e-mail containing the galley proofs. The galley proofs can be downloaded as a PDF file. Authors can annotate and upload their edits on the PDF version or provide them in a separate Word document. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail that we send to the authors. We discourage excessive changes made to the proofs by the authors (usually exceeding 300 characters). After acceptance, authors cannot apply major corrections to the manuscript, Figures, Tables, or authorship. Before publication, we send galley proofs twice to authors, who are asked to carefully check them and send their approval for publication.

Authors must check carefully the typesetting, editing, correctness, and completeness of the text (including author names, affiliations, and corresponding author information), figures and tables. At this stage, significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered with permission from the Editor. All corrections must be returned to us at submission.joints@verduci.it in a unique communication. Authors must check the galley proofs carefully before replying, as the inclusion of any subsequent corrections will not be allowed. Proofreading is solely authors’ responsibility. The Editorial Office will do everything possible to get accepted articles published quickly and accurately.

After publication

Post-Publication Corrections

We set no time limit for notifying errors or publishing corrections. Anyway, the editorial team will evaluate corrections case by case to determine the impact of the amendments within the manuscript and decide how to handle them.

In case authors discover a mistake between online and galley proof, we will normally correct it by making the article correct in the online version.

Publishing schedule

Rather than publishing conventional complete online issues at fixed intervals, starting from March 2023, JOINTS has moved to a continuous publication model, with articles being published on an ongoing basis.

Post-Publication concerns

Post-publication critiques may be submitted to the journal as “letters to the editor” and “commentaries” via Publishing Manager, providing a foundation for the raised criticisms. The journal provides original authors with the opportunity to respond to criticisms through a “reply letter.” Both the critique and response letters are peer-reviewed.

To report serious post-publication concerns, you can write to submission.joints@verduci.it. When complaints are raised, applicants should provide evidence to support the claims. The journal adheres to COPE guidelines for addressing significant post-publication concerns, such as errors, substantial mistakes leading to invalidated conclusions, plagiarism, data falsification, image manipulation, and undisclosed conflicts of interest. Specifically, the journal adheres to COPE guidelines to handle whistleblower concerns submitted via email. Upon becoming aware of this, the journal adheres to COPE guidelines when addressing concerns raised about a published article on a social media platform.

The Editor in Chief and the Editorial Board Members may start an independent investigation with a new set of reviewers to establish any error and/or malpractice. The authors are promptly informed about the investigation and may be required to provide a detailed and official reply letter to concerns. Original data must be available for journal review if any concerns arise post-publication. If the investigation yields a result, such as a correction or retraction, the journal will promptly notify both the individual who initially raised the concern and the authors involved. Instances of suspected misconduct will be reported to the author’s affiliated institution and/or university.

Erratum

Honest errors require the publication of a correction when they are detected. The journal publishes erratum when a significant error has been detected in a published article and some changes are required. Significant mistakes involve tables, incorrect information, and spelling errors. Corresponding authors should send an email stating the type of error and the requested corrections. All authors have to agree with the erratum by signing a formal document. To ensure that corrections are handled consistently, one editor deals with them all.

To issue an erratum, the journal follows the ICMJE guidelines.

• An erratum notice linked to the article to be corrected will be published.
• The erratum notice will clearly state the title and authors, the DOI, and the PMID in the erratum heading.
• Corrections will be clearly stated in the erratum notice from the original version and the date(s) on which the changes were made.
• The erratum notice will be freely available to all readers online.
• We will post a new article version with details of the changes.
• The journal will archive all prior versions of the manuscript.

Should the error arise from the journal or publisher, it will be distinctly identified through a specified publisher’s note.

Serious errors that invalidate the results and conclusions of the study may require retractions.

Retractions

In case a third party informs us about mistakes, problems or manipulation related to data or research itself, the Editor in Chief can decide to conduct an independent peer-review to establish whether the published data are reliable or accurate. In particular, the journal follows the COPE’s guidance to deal with warnings of image manipulation in a published article. The Editor in Chief can decide to retract an article without the consent of the authors in case of malpractice or evident mistakes.

Retractions will be considered by the journal in case of evidence of unreliable data (i.e., experimental error), plagiarism, unethical research, and misconduct (i.e., data fabrication and image manipulation). In particular, the Editor in Chief may consider retracting a publication following guidelines on Good Publication Practice as reported in COPE and in ICMJE guidelines.

• A retraction notice will be published with a direct link to the original retracted article.
• The retraction notice will clearly state the title and authors, the DOI, and the PMID in the retraction heading.
• The retraction notice will be freely available to all readers and will state who is retracting the article and the detailed reason(s) for retraction.
• The original retracted article will be flagged as retracted with a red label on the original PDF file.

All requests for retractions by authors must be sent by the corresponding author, who should provide detailed reasons for retraction. Authors should also provide a signed document stating that all authors agree with retraction and related reasons. The Editor in Chief reserves the right to start an investigation after authors’ request to retract the manuscript to assess the article’s results and validity.

Expressions of Concern

Following guidelines on Good Publication Practice as reported in COPE, the Editor in Chief may consider issuing an Expression of Concern if well-founded concerns arise after publication to warn readers that an investigation is ongoing and in case the investigation may take more time to be concluded.

Expressions of Concern may also be issued in case an investigation has proved inconclusive and if there remain strong indicators that the concerns are valid.

• An expression of concern with a direct link to the original article will be published.
• The expression of concern will clearly state the title and authors, the DOI, and the PMID in the expression of concern heading.
• The expression of concern notice will be freely available to all readers, and the reason for the investigation will be stated.

Electronic offprints 

Electronic offprints are sent, upon request, to the email address of the Corresponding Author of the manuscript. Therefore, the Corresponding Author must ensure that his/her name, postal address and email address are clearly and correctly indicated on the title page of the manuscript.

Special Issues and Supplements

For any information on supplements, please check all details here, or contact the editorial office at submission.joints@verduci.it.

Author inquiries

All author inquiries should be sent to submission.joints@verduci.it.

Preservation and Archiving

JOINTS is committed to ensuring the permanent availability, accessibility, and preservation of scholarly research by upgrading digital file formats to comply with new technology standards. All our files and manuscripts are archived and preserved in CLOCKSS.