Policies

Peer review process

Manuscripts are double-blind peer reviewed, unless otherwise stated. Papers will only be sent to review if they meet the appropriate quality and relevance requirements – they should be of high quality, original and relevant to the journal’s readership. The Editor’s decision on this is final.

Two independent reviewers are usually assigned to each manuscript, although more may be assigned in some cases. Peer reviewers are selected based on their expertise and are asked to evaluate whether the manuscript is scientifically sound, whether it duplicates already published work, and whether the manuscript is sufficiently clear for publication. Editors will consider the peer review reports when making a decision, but are not bound by the opinions or recommendations received. After comments from the reviewers have been received, the editors will decide to accept, accept with minor revision, revise and resubmit or reject based on the reviewers’ recommendations. If there are conflicting reviews, Editors will either invite an additional reviewer or seek advice from members of the Editorial Board. Authors will receive peer review reports with the editorial decision on their manuscript.

Reviewers should always be independent of the authors, and not know them in any personal or professional capacity. Reviewers who are suspected to be known to the author will not be contacted or the request will be terminated if they have already been invited to review.

When an article is published, the dates of submission and acceptance are included. The details of who reviewed the manuscript are not included in the published article.

Articles written by members of the Editorial Board will be handled by another member of the Editorial Board to maintain the integrity of the peer review process.

Publication ethics and publication malpractice

The International Journal of Tissue Repair takes reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, including but not limited to plagiarism, citation or image manipulation and data falsification or fabrication. Any concerns by peer reviewers will be investigated. 

If the journal is made aware of an allegation of research or publication misconduct relating to a published article, the journal shall follow COPE’s guidelines in dealing with allegations. Contact us IJTReditor@gmail.com

Institutions will be informed if misconduct by their researchers is suspected, with the relevant evidence sent to them, and the journal will respond to institutions’ questions about misconduct allegations.

Corrections and retractions

Significant changes to published articles are not allowed. However, minor grammatical issues, spelling mistakes and changes to author names can be changed post publication.

Decisions to retract are based on the reliability of the article and whether the Editor still has confidence in the work and/or conclusions being presented. Retractions will be considered in cases of evidence of plagiarism, unreliable data or findings, duplicate publication and unethical research. All retraction notices explain why the article was retracted.

Conflict of interest
The International Journal of Tissue Repair requires that all authors disclose any potential conflicts of interest.  Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise, that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or directly related to the work described in the manuscript. This is not meant to imply that a financial relationship with an organization that sponsored the research or compensation received for consultancy work is inappropriate. ​​The existence of a conflict of interest does not preclude publication. If the authors have no conflict of interest to declare, they must also state this at submission. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to review this policy with all authors and to disclose all relevant commercial and other relationships at submission.

Potential sources of conflict of interest include, but are not limited to: commercial or other sources of funding, personal relationships, or direct academic competition.

Human and animal rights
All research articles must have ethical approval. The name of the approving committee and the reference number should be included in the manuscript. Where exemption from ethics approval has been granted by an appropriate body, this should be specified and the reason for exemption should be provided.

Policies will be reviewed periodically to ensure effectiveness and relevance, with revisions made as necessary to address emerging issues or concerns.

Human studies: Authors must confirm that their research procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as amended in 2013. A statement to this effect must be provided within the Methods section.

Animal studies: When animals were used, authors must indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. A statement to this effect must be provided within the Methods section. Research involving animals should be conducted with the same rigor as research in humans. 

Informed consent
Informed consent is required for relevant articles. Identifying information, including patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions or photographs unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. 

Under certain circumstances consent is not required as long as information is anonymized and the article does not include images that may identify the person. Informed consent for publication should be obtained if there is any doubt.

Authorship
International Journal of Tissue Repair requires that all authors whose names appear on the submission:

• Made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data
• Drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content;
• Approved the version to be published; and
• Agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

One author should be assigned as Corresponding Author and acts on behalf of all co-authors. 

Author contributions
Authors are required to include a statement of responsibility in the manuscript that specifies the contribution of every author. 

Changes to authorship policy
Authors should ensure the order of authors is correct at submission. Any changes to the author list after submission, such as a change in the order of the authors or the deletion or addition of authors, must be approved by every author. Changes of authorship by adding or deleting authors, and/or changes in Corresponding Author are not permitted after acceptance of a manuscript. 
Authors should ensure the names of all authors are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are current.

Adding and/or deleting authors at revision stage is generally not permitted, but in some cases it may be warranted. Reasons for these changes in authorship should be explained. Approval of the change during revision is at the discretion of the Editor.

Plagiarism
All manuscripts submitted to IJTR are checked for plagiarism and duplication before they are sent for peer review. Manuscripts where plagiarism or duplication is shown to have occurred will not be considered for publication.

Authors should not submit the same manuscript, in the same or different languages, simultaneously to more than one journal. Authors are asked on submission if they have submitted their work elsewhere. If it is found that an author has already had their work accepted elsewhere before it has been peer reviewed, their manuscript will be withdrawn.

Artificial intelligence
In accordance with COPE guidelines, IJTR will not accept artificial intelligence (AI) tools as an author or co-author. AI tools cannot meet the requirements for authorship as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work. 

Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphs, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent in disclosing in the Materials and Methods of the paper how the AI tool was used and which tool was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool.

Clinical trial registration
To ensure the integrity of the reporting of patient-centered trials, authors must register prospective clinical trials (phase II to IV trials) in suitable publicly available repositories. A question will be included on submission and registration details will be included in the published article. If your trial is not registered, or was registered retrospectively, please explain the reasons for this.

Accepted trial registries include the following examples: 
anzctr.org.au
clinicaltrials.gov
isrctn.org 

Preprints policy
Articles that have been published on preprint servers will not be considered for publication.

Data sharing policy
All research based articles must include a Data Availability Statement, whether or not the data used in the article is shared. 

Complaints and appeals
Any complaint made against the journal should be directed to the Editor. The Editor will attempt to address the complaint, referring to the Editorial Board and Publisher where necessary. 

Appeals against editorial decisions should be directed to the Editor. Authors should note that this process may take extra time if additional reviews are required. IJTR does not consider second appeals.

Copyright and licensing

Open access articles in IJTR are published under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND licence. This provides an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles.

Where the costs of OA publication are covered by an institutional or funder OA agreement, the OA licence options available to authors may vary according to the agreement terms. Please contact IJTReditor@gmail.com to discuss further. 

Author rights

For open access publishing this journal uses an exclusive licensing agreement. Authors will retain copyright alongside scholarly usage rights and the Publisher will be granted publishing and distribution rights.

Advertising policy

IJTR accepts advertisements that are relevant to our readers, promote high quality products and services, and are provided by reputable organizations. Advertisements will be clearly identifiable as advertisements. Advertising does not influence editorial decisions. The editor will have final approval of advertisements and sponsorship.