Peer review and editorial policy

The journal follows the Springer Nature Peer Review Policy, Process and Guidance, Springer Nature Journal Editors' Code of Conduct, and COPE's Ethical Guidelines for Peer-reviewers.

Approximately 10% of the manuscripts are rejected without review based on formal criteria as they do not comply with the submission guidelines. Each manuscript is assigned to one or two peer reviewers. The journal follows a single-blind reviewing procedure. The average period from submission to the first decision is usually at most 30 days. The approximate rejection rate is lower than 20%. The final decision on the acceptance of a manuscript for publication is made by the Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Coordinating Editor if all reviews are positive and the Meeting of the Editorial Board in more complicated cases.

Special issues published in the journal follow the same procedures as all other issues. If not stated otherwise, special issues are prepared by the members of the editorial board without guest editors.