Publication and authorship
- All manuscripts submitted to Acta Histochemica et Cytochemica are subjected to strict single-blind peer-review process by at least two independent referees that are experts in the field of the submitted paper. Acceptance is based on scientific significance, originality, and clarity.
- Based on the referees’ comments, a decision (Acceptable in the present form; Minor revision; Major revision; Reject and resubmission; Reject) is made by the Associate Editor in charge of the review process. At the end of the review process, the Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision.
- Even if authors are encouraged to revise and resubmit a manuscript, there is no guarantee that the revised manuscript will be accepted.
- Rejected manuscripts will not be re-evaluated.
- Manuscripts may be rejected without review if the editor considers the article obviously not suitable for publication or out of scope of the journal.
- The manuscript acceptance is constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.
Authors' responsibilities
- Authors must ensure that the manuscript is entirely their original work, that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere, and that the manuscript is not currently being under consideration for publication elsewhere.
- Authors must participate in the peer review process.
- If at any point in time the authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in the submitted manuscript, they are obliged to report the error or inaccuracy to the editor immediately.
- Every author listed in the manuscript must make a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. Authors must also ensure that all the authors have seen and agreed to the submitted manuscript and their inclusion as co-authors.
- Authors must disclose all sources and methods used to obtain and analyze data.
- Authors must prepare manuscripts in accordance with the ethical standards laid down by the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments, and must contain a statement to the effect that all human studies have been examined and approved by the appropriate ethics committee and that all participants have given their informed consent to participate in the study. For manuscripts using animal experiments, authors must follow The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (The National Academies Press, 8th ed, 2011) as well as specific national laws where applicable. Authors will be held responsible for false statements or for failure to fulfill the above-mentioned requirements.
- Authors must notify the editors of any conflicts of interest.
- Authors must ensure that the manuscript has been read and corrected for clarity, grammar, and spelling by an English native speaker.
Referees' responsibilities
- Referees should respect the confidentiality of peer review and not reveal any details of a manuscript during or after the peer-review process.
- Referees should be objective and constructive, refraining from being hostile or inflammatory and from making libelous or derogatory personal comments.
- Referees should evaluate the manuscript based on its suitability for the journal and its originality. Referees should also evaluate whether the manuscript has clear objectives, sound methods, and clear and sufficient results supporting the conclusions with appropriate figures, tables, and references.
- Referees should report their review results clearly with supporting arguments.
- Referees should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
- Referees should bring the editor's attention to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
- Referees should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
Editors' responsibilities
- Editors are held accountable and should take responsibility for everything they allow to be published.
- Editors must base their decisions solely on the papers' importance, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal's scope, without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
- Editors must not share information about the manuscripts, including whether they have been received and are under review, their content and status in the review process, any criticism by reviewers, and their ultimate fate, to anyone other than the authors and reviewers. Editors must also make clear that reviewers should keep manuscripts, associated material, and the information they contain strictly confidential.
- Editors must preserve the anonymity of the referees.
- Editors must make sure that the funding source of the research should be declared and published, and that the role of the funding source in the conception, conduct, analysis, and reporting of the research is stated and published.
- Editors must ensure that all research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines.
- Editors must not allow any conflicts of interest between editorial staff, authors, referees, and editorial board members.
- Editors must guard the integrity of the publication by issuing corrections and retractions when needed and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct.
Plagiarism
All articles published by Acta Histochemica et Cytochemica must be only original material. Passing off another's paper as the author's own, copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper (without attribution), or claiming results from research conducted by others are all considered to be forms of plagiarism. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
Duplicate Submission
Authors should not submit for consideration a manuscript that has already been published in another journal. Submission of a manuscript concurrently to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
Data Fabrication and Falsification
Authors should not include spurious data or false research results in the manuscript. Also, manipulation of the research process or the arbitrary alteration or omission of data which leads to the distortion of the contents or the results of the research should not be done.
Citation Manipulation
Authors should not include citations whose primary purpose is to increase the number of citations to an author’s given article.