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Peer-review policy

Peer review is the system used to assess the quality of a manuscript before it is published. Independent researchers in the relevant research area assess submitted manuscripts for originality, validity and significance to help Editors determine whether the manuscript should be published in their journal. You can read more about the peer-review process here.

BMC Global and Public Health operates a transparent peer-review system, where, if the article is published, the reviewer reports are published online alongside the article under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, but the reviewer is not named. The benefit of transparent peer review is that it increases transparency. In addition, published review reports can serve an educational purpose in helping facilitate training and research into peer review.

Manuscripts submitted to BMC Global and Public Health are assessed by our experienced in-house Editorial team who make all decisions based on extensive and rigorous peer review by academic experts who specialize in the manuscript topic. Editorial Board Members may provide advice on manuscripts submitted to the journal. Decisions may be made in consultation with Editorial Board Members but final editorial decisions lie with the Chief Editor. 

Manuscript transfers

A submitted manuscript might not meet the expectations for publication at BMC Global and Public Health, but could be well-suited for another journal within the Springer Nature portfolio. To help authors publish their work quickly, we offer a transfer service between our journals. 

Please note that if a manuscript you reviewed at BMC Global and Public Health is transferred by the authors to another journal within Springer Nature, your identity and report will also be transferred for full assessment by the in-house Editorial team. If you are asked to review a revised version of the previously reviewed manuscript post-transfer, we ask that you aim to adapt your expectations to the standards of the receiving journal in relation to perceived significance and interest.

Portable peer review policy

To improve the efficiency of peer review, we are open to considering manuscripts on the basis of reviews received at other journals, including those outside of Springer Nature. Authors wishing to transfer papers with reviews to BMC Global and Public Health should email us at bmcglobalpublichealth@biomedcentral.com to enquire about the suitability of the manuscript, and provide the previous journal’s identity and all reviews, alongside a point-by-point response to the reviewers’ comments. We typically ask the previous journal to share with us the reviews and reviewers’ identities, and - subject to agreement from all parties - original reviewers may be consulted if deemed appropriate. We aim to expedite the decision-making process in these cases, but reserve the right to seek additional advice from experts when needed.

We are also happy to facilitate transfers to journals within and outside Springer Nature by sharing reviews and reviewers’ identities at the authors’ request. Authors can request that reviews are passed on, and inform the receiving journal’s Editors that they can contact us for further information.

Please note that sharing of reviews and reviewers’ identities is subject to reviewers’ approval.

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