Peer Review

BJCVS adopts a double-anonymous peer review process to ensure an unbiased judgment and the quality of published articles. The process includes the following steps:

1. Initial Evaluation by the Editor: After submission, the Editor assesses whether the manuscript complies with the journal’s scope and quality standards. Manuscripts failing to meet these criteria are rejected at this stage.
2. Standards Compliance: The Editorial Assistant verifies if the manuscript adheres to the Instructions to Authors. Otherwise, the manuscript is returned to the authors for adjustments. Once the requirements are met, the manuscript proceeds to the Editor-in-Chief.
3. Editor-in-Chief Review: The Editor-in-Chief evaluates the manuscript and, if deemed appropriate, assigns an Associate Editor, who selects expert reviewers for further assessment.
4. Reviewer Opinions: Reviewers evaluate the manuscript anonymously and submit their opinions through the BJCVS Author Portal system. Based on these opinions, the Associate Editor makes a preliminary recommendation, which is forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief.
5. Final Decision: The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision on the manuscript, which can be accepted, rejected, or returned for revisions. This decision is communicated to the authors

Transparency and Openness in Peer Review Policy:

1. Disclosure of the Responsible Editor(s): BJCVS will publish the names of the associated editors and reviewers responsible for the evaluation in the final article. This practice reinforces the journal's commitment to editorial integrity of and acknowledges editors for their crucial role in maintaining publication quality standards.
2. Transparency Options in Peer Review: BJCVS offers additional options, subject to mutual agreement between authors and reviewers:

a. Publication of Reviewer Opinions: Opinions of the reviewers can be published alongside the article, with the option for reviewers to remain anonymous. b. Mutual Dsiclosure of Identities: Authors and reviewers can choose to reveal their identities during the evaluation process if desired.

These options should be discussed and agreed between authors and reviewers, then communicated to BJCVS during the submission and evaluation stages. Adherence to these practices is voluntary and seeks to promote an open and transparent evaluation environment, respecting the confidentiality preferences of all involved parties

BJCVS recognizes the importance of new scientific mediums and enables readers and researchers to have faster access to recent research findings prior to its publication. Therefore, BJCVS welcomes manuscripts that have been deposited on non-commercial preprint servers.

A preprint is a preliminary version of a scientific work that is publicly shared in online repositories before undergoing peer review and eventual publication in a scientific journal. It is a way to accelerate the process of scientific communication, enabling researchers to promptly share their findings with the academic community. Preprints can be found in public repositories such as bioRxiv and medRxiv, dedicated to biology and medicine publications, respectively. These repositories, maintained by non-profit organizations, provide free access to the public for reading and downloading purposes.

To ensure transparency and integrity in handling preprints submitted to BJCVS, authors are encouraged to provide the following information:

• Preprint Identification: Authors must provide information about the preprint, including its title, authors, repository name where it was published, publication date and DOI.
• Relationship with the Submitted Work: Authors should clarify the connection between the preprint and the work submitted to the journal, for example, if the preprint is an earlier version or if it contains complementary information.
• Conflicts of Interest: Authors should disclose any conflicts of interest related to the preprint, such as funding from a company or institution with an interest in the work.

BJCVS recommends completing the Open Science Compliance Form, that must be submitted as a Supplementary File along with the manuscript. This information is important for the BJCVS editors to evaluate the originality and relevance of the submitted work, as well as to avoid duplication or redundant information in subsequent publications.

At BJCVS, we understand that transparency about competing interests is essential to make the best editorial decisions and to maintain the trust of our readers. We therefore require all participants in the publication process—authors, reviewers, and editors—to declare any potential sources of conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest, often referred to as a competing interest, is any financial, personal, religious, political or other affiliations or relationships that may influence or could be perceived to influence the objectivity and integrity of an author, reviewer or editor. This includes, but is not limited to, patents, stock ownership, participation in company boards of directors or advisory boards, consulting, or receipt of speaker fees.

For Authors:

• Declare all sources of conflicts of interest when submitting the manuscript through the BJCVS Author Portal system, including, but not limited to, commercial and other relationships.
• If there are no conflicts to declare, this should be explicitly stated in the cover letter.
• The corresponding author should ensure review of this policy with all co-authors and collective disclosure of all relevant relationships

For Reviewers and Editors:

• Declare any conflicts of interest directly to the journal or editor-in-chief before initiating the review process or making editorial decisions.
• Clearly detail relevant conflicts or confirm absence of conflicts.

Important Considerations:

• The existence of a conflict of interest does not prevent the publication of a manuscript, but transparency is vital for an impartial evaluation.
• Readers should be informed of any competing interests of the authors when an article is published.
• This process aims to ensure maximum transparency and integrity throughout all stages of the editorial and scientific publication process of BJCVS