The review process

The following types of contributions to JMB are peer-reviewed: Review Article and Research articles in all fields (eg. medicine, nursing, history of medicine, ethics), Other contributions such as editorials, book reviews are not usually peer-reviewed as they are usually commissioned. However, if these type of contributions present scientific, technical or philosophical information may be peer-reviewed at the discretion of the editors.

All submitted manuscripts are assessed by the editor(s) for suitability for the review process. The views of an Editorial Board member may be sought for further input towards this decision. To save authors and referees time, only those manuscripts judged most likely to meet the editorial criteria are sent out for formal review.

Manuscripts that are sent for formal review typically go to two referees, with expertise in the pertinent subject area. It is the major editorial policy to review the submitted articles as fast as possible.

Reviewers are asked whether the manuscript is scientifically sound and coherent, and will assess the manuscript quality. Reviewers are also asked to indicate which articles they consider to be especially interesting or significant.

The JMB shall not accept or publish manuscripts without prior peer review. Based on their advice, the editor decides:

• to accept the manuscript, with or without minor revision;
• to invite the authors to revise the manuscript to address specific concerns before a final decision is reached;
• Reject, but indicate to the authors that further work might justify a later resubmission to the journal
• to reject the manuscript, typically on grounds of specialist interest, lack of novelty, insufficient conceptual advance, or major technical and/or interpretational problems.

Referees may recommend a particular course of action in their confidential comments to the editor but should bear in mind that the editors may have to make a decision based on conflicting advice. Furthermore, editorial decisions are not a matter of counting votes or numerical rank assessments, but rather are based on an evaluation of the strengths of the arguments raised by each referee and by the authors.

The comments of the anonymous reviewers will be forwarded to the authors.

Referees may be asked for further advice, particularly in cases when there is a certain level of disagreement among reviewers, or when the authors believe that they have been misunderstood in specific points. In certain cases, additional referees or members of our Editorial Board may be consulted to resolve disputes, but this is avoided unless there is a specific issue on which further advice is required.

Referee policy treats the contents of papers under review as privileged information not to be disclosed to others before publication. It is expected that no one with access to a paper under review will make any inappropriate use of the special knowledge which those access providers.

The review process shall ensure that all authors have equal opportunity for publication of their papers.

When reviewers agree to assess a paper, we consider this a commitment to review subsequent revisions. However, editors will not send a resubmitted paper back to the reviewers if it seems that the authors have not made a serious attempt to address the criticisms.

Acceptance and scheduling of publication of papers in these periodicals shall not be impeded by added criteria and procedures beyond those contained in the review process.

Reviewer selection is critical to the publication process, and JMB bases its choice on expertise, reputation, specific recommendations, and our own previous experience of a reviewer's characteristics. Reviewers should bear in mind that these messages contain confidential information, which should be treated as such.

We do not release reviewers' identities to authors or to other reviewers, except when reviewers specifically ask to be identified.

As a matter of policy, we do not change reviewers' reports or any comments that were intended for the authors are transmitted, regardless of what we may think of the content. However, on rare occasions, we may edit a report to remove offensive language or comments that reveal confidential information about other matters.

Submitted papers must be in Romanian or English and should not have been published elsewhere or being currently under consideration by any other journal.

The Editor-in-Chief, co-editors and series editors will then make a decision about publication in the bulletin and authors will be notified.

All manuscripts accepted for publication are subject to editing by the publisher for presentation, style, and grammar. The Editor's committee decision is final.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.