About the Journal

 

1. Aims and Scope
2. Editorial Board
3. Types of Articles
4. Peer Review Policy
5. Open Access Policy
6. Plagiarism Policy
7. Copyright issue
8. Digital Data Archiving
9. Repository Policy
10. Post Publication Policies
11. Article transfer service
12. Special Issues
13. Publication Ethics and Malpractice Policy

1. Aim and Scope

Journal of Cancer Research Updates focuses on publishing novel and significant studies that may have impact on basic, advanced, and clinical research in the field of cancer –from prevention till the treatment and follow up of cancers. All articles related to the studies of cancers at cellular level till the studies in clinical setup and different communities are welcome for publication.

Subject categories include:

Immunology and Cancer	ABC Transporters and Cancer Chemotherapy
Inflammation and Cancer	Anti-cancer Drug Discovery and Delivery
Metabolism and Cancer	Biochemistry and Cancer
Microbiology and Cancer	Carcinogenesis
Pathology of Cancer	Cellular and Molecular Biology of Cancer
Pharmaceutics and Cancer	Clinical Cancer Research
Pharmacology and Cancer	Developmental Biology and Cancer
Radiology and Cancer	Epidemiology and Prevention of Cancer
Stem Cell and Cancer	Genetics, Genomics, and Proteomics of Cancer
Surgery and cancer

 

2. Editorial Board

Editor in Chief
Zhe-Sheng Chen (St. John's University, New York, NY, USA)
Associate Editors
Shamil Kzyrgalin (Bashkir State Medical University, Ufa, Russian Federation)
Yu Guo (Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China)
Editorial Director: Dr. Najia Mansoor

Meet the entire Editorial Team

3. Types of Articles

Original Research Articles

These articles report significant findings with innovative ideas, focusing on hypothesis-driven research and supporting data. The article should not exceed 6,000 words, including the body text and figure legends. You can include up to 8 figures, but there’s no limit on supplemental data and figures. References should not exceed 70. The abstract should be no longer than 250 words and can include only one citation. The article should include the following sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Content or figures must not have been published before.

Reviews

These are critical reviews on important topics in cancer research, written by established researchers. The article should not exceed 5,000 words, including the body text and figure legends. You can include up to 15 figures and at least 100 references, not counting any in supplementary files. The abstract should be no more than 200 words, and the review should include a conclusion of no more than 150 words. Authors of unsolicited review manuscripts must first send the proposed title, outline, and a brief background of the corresponding author to the Editors for pre-submission approval. Any previously published figures should have permission for reuse.

Philosophy, Logic, Perspectives in Research and Science

These articles represent viewpoints or opinions in science, philosophy, or research design, intended for a general scientific audience. The article should not exceed 5,000 words, including the body text and figure legends. Authors who wish to submit unsolicited articles should send the topic, title, outline, and a brief synopsis (200-1,000 words) to the editorial office as a pre-submission inquiry.

Technology, Method, and Commercialization Notes

These articles provide information on emerging technologies, business development, FDA regulations, and related topics. The manuscript should not exceed 2,500 words, including the body text and figure legends, with up to 5 figures and 15 references. The abstract should be no more than 200 words.

4. Peer Review Policy

All manuscripts are initially assessed by a handling editor who is a member of the journal’s Editorial Board. His duties include evaluating the suitability of the manuscripts to the scope of the journal;giving quick remarks on unsuitable articles before further processing to peer review; and selecting experts of the field for peer review of articles.

Editorials and Letters may be accepted at this stage but, for all other types of submission the decision is either to decline the submission or to send it for peer review. Papers which do not fulfil the basic requirements of the journal, or are out of the scope of the journal may be rejected at this point to avoid delays to authors willing to submit their articles elsewhere. A decision from this initial phase review may take 1 week after submission. Manuscripts going forward to the review process are reviewed by professional experts of the field. All papers are subject to undergo a double-blind peer review process by two or more reviewers. Every reasonable step is taken to conceal the authors’ identity during the review process except those which are beyond our capacity and self-revealing (e.g. authors’ statements about the details of their own prior publications etc.). In such cases, the review may be prone to be single-blinded (i.e. authors do not know reviewers' identities).

The journal’s targeted period of the review process is within 4 weeks of the initial editorial decision however, occasionally delays may happen and authors are requested to wait for at least 6 weeks from submissions before contacting the journal. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to the final decision regarding acceptance after receiving reviewers’ comments and whether to send the article back to the author for revisions or not. After receiving the revised copy of the manuscript from the authors, it is sent to the reviewers for their approval or additional comments. If further revision is required by the reviewer the article is sent to the authors for a second round of revision according to the reviewers suggestions. Only 3 rounds of revision are allowed for any manuscript before its final publication.

Editors of Neoplasia Research journals may submit their own articles in its journals however, such submission are dealt and evaluated by external field experts and reviewers at all stages of publication. To comply with our policy of transparency in the publication process no details/comments about these submissions are shared with any board member of the journal. The Editor-in-Chief of the journal is responsible for final acceptance/ rejection of these articles on the basis of external reviewers’ reports but, a third party expert opinion is also sought in this regard, as appropriate.

 In case of special issue focusing on a particular topic, the appointed Guest Editor may also be held responsible to conduct peer review of some related submissions accepted after the initial round of review process.However, special attention is given to avoid any conflict of interest in these circumstances.

The use of electronic submission and peer-review system of Neoplasia Research facilitates editors and reviewers during peer review process.

Reviewers Role

We consider peer review the foundation for safeguarding the quality and integrity of scientific and scholarly research. Therefore, peer review is compulsory for all submissions to the journals and assists the editorial board members in making editorial decisions, subsequent editorial communications with authors may also assist the authors in improving their articles. In this regard, if a selected referee feels him/herself sufficiently unqualified to review the assigned manuscript; or is unable to provide a timely review; or the article  is outside his/her area of expertise; he/she should notify the editor at the earliest excusing him/herself from the review process so that an alternative reviewer may be appointed by the editors (however, the reviewer may nominate an appropriately qualified colleague for review at this stage). All reviews should be conducted objectively with no personal criticism to the author. Reviewers should express their critique clearly with supporting arguments.

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that had been previously reported elsewhere should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call the Editor-in-Chief's attention to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper they have personal knowledge of. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential by the reviewers and not used for personal advantage; this also includes the reviewers who have declined to review the manuscript. Reviewers are bounded not to discuss about any article sent to them for review with anyone and editorial approval must be sought in advance for any third person’s advice, if the reviewer considers this necessary for evaluating the article. 

Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have any conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, firms or institutions connected to the papers. Any such conflict should be disclosed to the Editor-in-Chief by the reviewer. The Editors will then determine sufficiency of the conflict to exclude the reviewer from peer review.

Guidance for Peer Reviewers

Reviewers being the basic support in maintaining the high quality of publications should be especially vigilant about the quality and originality of articles . The reviewer may inform the editor if he finds the article submitted to him/her for review is under consideration in any other  journal  of his/her knowledge. 

Though no fixed rules for analyzing the articles are outlined and review may be carried out on case-to-case basis, scrutinizing the article for the worthiness, quality, and originality of the work must be the mandatory part of each review. If reviewer believes that the article may be accepted after revisions, he/she  should provide clear suggestions on how to improve the paper. Likewise, if an article is found to be not good enough and has no real prospects of improvement after revision, it may be rejected straightaway. 

In general, the following may be checked in a review 

• Structure of the submitted article and its relevance to authors’ guidelines 
• Purpose and Objective of the article 
• Sufficient details of Materials and Methods 
• Appropriateness between the Introduction and the discussion section
• conclusion/ suggestions provided 
• sufficiency of References provided to validate the content 
• English grammar, punctuation and spelling(just mention if English editing is required)
• Suitability of the article to the need of the field

As a reviewer you should also:

• Write clearly  so your comments can be understood by people whose first language is not English
• Avoid using complex or unusual words.
• Number your points and refer to the section of the manuscript while making specific comments
• If  you have been asked to comment only on some specific parts or aspects of the manuscript, you should clearly indicate these in the comments
• Be robust, yet polite while writing your comments
• If  a significant conflict of interest exists, the reviewer should reveal this to the editor
• If the conflict of interest  may cause a significant bias, whether positive or negative, it is advisable to decline the review request
• Judge the article only; refraining from any personal comment/critique at any time. Thisis more likely to lead the authors for to better working.

Privacy and Confidentiality 

In Journal of Cancer Research Updates, manuscripts are dealt at each step with due respect for authors’ confidentiality. While submitting their manuscripts to the journal authors entrust editors regarding the results of their scientific work and creative efforts which may be crucial for their reputation and career. Reviewers must keep in mind that any sort of disclosure of the confidential details during review of the manuscript may violate authors’ rights. Same applies for Reviewers’ rights to confidentiality, which must be respected by the editor. Only where any evident case of dishonesty or deception is suspected, confidentiality may need to be breached, otherwise it is to be honored at all costs. Editors must also not disclose information about manuscripts (including their receipt, content, status in the reviewing process, criticism by reviewers, or ultimate fate) to anyone other than the authors and reviewers. Any requests to use the materials for legal proceedings should not be considered without authors’ permission.

Editors must be very clear in informing the reviewers that manuscripts sent for review are privileged communications and the private property of the authors. Therefore, no reviewer and editorial staff member is allowed to publicly discussing the authors’ work or appropriating their ideas before the manuscripts’ final publication. Reviewers are not allowed to make copies of the manuscript for their record keeping or share it with others, except where a special permission has been granted by the editors. Reviewers are supposed to return or destroy copies of manuscripts after submitting their review comments. Editors should also not keep copies of rejected manuscripts. Reviewer comments are never to be published or otherwise publicized without permission of the author, reviewer, and editor.

COPE’s Guidelines & Flowcharts:

To promote transparency without hindering publication schedule Neoplasia Research execute every possible step to  be vigilant about potential conflicts of interest however, guaranteeing that our Editors are aware  of all competing interests of  reviewers is beyond truthfulness. Therefore, we appealour reviewers to report to  the Editor-in-Chief/Handling Editor if they note any potential competing interest during the course of a manuscript review process. Moreover, reviewers’ own conflict of interest with the content or authors of the manuscript should also be conveyed to the editors. If the assigned editor will find it appropriate to  remove the reviewer, weighing the type and extent of  the conflict, other reviewers will be contacted  for the review.

In particular, scholars from the same institution as the authors, current colleagues, recent colleagues, recent co-authors are avoided as reviewers . The editors are not involved in decisions about articles written  by themselves or  by their family members/ colleagues; or where the content of article  relates to products or servicesfor which editors may have an interest.

Conflict of Interest in Reviewing Process

Despite taking all measures to ensure a double-bind peer review, the possibility of reviewers knowing the authors cannot be excluded. A reviewer can certainly be relied upon for carrying out an unbiased assessment of an article by the author already known to the reviewer, but following measurements must be given high importance during such situations:

• If  a significant conflict of interest exists, the reviewer should reveal this to the editor;
• If the conflict of interest  may cause a significant bias, whether positive or negative, it is advisable to decline the review request;

•Judge the article only; refraining from any personal comment/critique at any time. This is more likely to lead the authors for to better working.

5. Open Access Policy

To increase the exchange of knowledge globally Neoplasia Research adopts Open Access Policy which means it provides immediate open access to its content from any part of the world. The readers are required only to have an internet connection to approach our articles without paying any subscription fee. This policy also means that the authors grant the Neoplasia Research a comprehensive and unalterable right to distribute their published articles for any non-commercial purpose. All articles published in Neoplasia Research open access journals are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ . This implies that the published content will be permanently free for everyone around the world to read and download; permitting them to copy, redistribute, transmit and adapt the work, provided that the original source is appropriately cited.

6. Plagiarism Policy

“Copying of text, completely or partially, from other published material or authors’ own previously published work without proper acknowledgment; and misquoting original ideas, authorship, text or results is considered as Plagiarism.”

There is no space for any form of plagiarized material in Neoplasia Research journals.

It is noteworthy that all articles submitted to Neoplasia Research are subjected to plagiarism check (copying of any material) on submission. Professionally-recognized soft wareis used to evaluate plagiarism in all submissions. Our authors are instructed to assure the journals’ editors about following this policy by providing proper citation of any directly quoted material whether in text form, images, data or ideas. Articles may be highly prone to major revisions or even rejection if their amount of similarity index to other articles in our database is found greater than the allowed limits. We make sure to check all articles against plagiarism just after their submission however, in rare cases of detection of plagiarism after publication of the article, Neoplasia Research reserves the right to retract the article from its website simultaneously issuing a note of retraction at the website along with the reason, and informing the authors’ institutions about their decision to do so.

7. Copyright Issue

If the manuscript is accepted, the corresponding author will be asked to complete a form of 'Publishing Agreement' following the copyright policy or open access policy by Neoplasia Research.

For all works published by the Neoplasia Research, articles are considered as the intellectual property of the authors who reserve ownership of the copyright for their article, but allow all readers to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles in the journals by Neoplasia research provided the original authors and source are appropriately cited.

All Submissions to our journals must be original work, the copyright to which is not previously owned by anyone, elsewhere. Genuine and innovative work is always welcomed along with a strong encouragement for cross-disciplinary approaches.

Licensing Policy:

With the vision to increase the global exchange of knowledge, Neoplasia Research makes the research freely available to readers worldwide and provides immediate access to all of its published content by choosing the open-access publication policy.

All of our published articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License, which permits the readers sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction and non-commercial use of our published articles in any medium or format, as long as appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source is given by the user.

Authors of our published articles retain intellectual property rights of their articles (including research data); attribution rights for their published work; and may share their article provided it contains the end user license and the DOI link to its version in our journal’s archive.

Authors have copyright but grant license exclusive rights of their article to Neoplasia Research.

Authors of Neoplasia Research are given the right to use their articles, in full or in part, for scholarly but non-commercial purposes including:

• Distribution of soft/print copies of their articles to known researchers/colleagues for their personal use rather than the Commercial Use
• Inclusion of their article in a thesis or dissertation that will not be published commercially
• Distribution for classroom teaching (including electronic/print copies)
• Use in a subsequent compilation of their works
• Extending the Article to book-length form
• For the Preparation of any noncommercial derivative works

8. Digital Data Archiving

Neoplasia Research takes full responsibility for the online presence of each published article. To ensure the fulfilment of our commitment in cases of unforeseen events, the content of all journals has been deposited and archived in LOCKSS through the PKP Preservation Network. All articles published by Neoplasia Research Journals will be indexed in the indexing agencies wherein the respective journals are listed.

Neoplasia Research also allows its authors having a substantial self-archiving policy by which authors are free to self-archive their accepted manuscript in any institutional/disciplinary/state repository shortly after its first online publication by its journals. However, in these archives proper acknowledgment is required to be given to our journals as original source of publication. For this, a link may be provided with the archived article to the originally published article by Neoplasia Research.

9. Repository Policy

The Neoplasia Research recognizes the importance of facilitating open access to scholarly work and encourages authors to deposit versions of their papers in institutional or other repositories of their choice.

Our repository policy regarding different versions of the paper is as follows:

1. Submitted Version: Authors are permitted to deposit the submitted version of their paper in repositories immediately upon submission to the journal. This version may include pre-peer review content and is often referred to as the preprint.

2. Accepted Version (Author Accepted Manuscript): Authors are allowed to deposit the accepted version of their manuscript, also known as the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM), in repositories immediately upon acceptance for publication. The AAM includes revisions made in response to peer review but has not undergone copyediting or formatting by the journal.

3. Published Version (Version of Record): Authors are encouraged to deposit the published version of their paper, also known as the Version of Record (VoR), in repositories. The VoR is the final, formatted version of the paper as it appears in the journal after copyediting, typesetting, and any additional enhancements.

At Neoplasia Research, we aim to support the dissemination of research findings while ensuring compliance with copyright and licensing agreements. Therefore, we allow authors to deposit all versions of their papers in institutional or other repositories of their choice without embargo.

This repository policy is in line with our commitment to promoting open access and transparency in scholarly communication.

For further information on our repository policy, authors are encouraged to consult our submission guidelines or contact the editorial office.

10. Post Publication Policies

Article Correction

It is Neoplasia Research’s policy that our published articles should remain exact and unaltered to the maximally possible extent however, if an author discovers a scientifically significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work specially those that may affect the interpretation of data or reliability of the information presented in the article, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor/ Publisher and cooperate with the editor to correct the error. The Editor of the journal will determine the impact of the change in the article and decide on the appropriate course of action. To keep our readers fully informed and maintain the integrity of the scholarly record any necessary changes will be accompanied with a post-publication corrigendum/Erratum/Editorial expression of concern, permanently linked to the original article. A correction for a published article will only be considered after receiving approval and instructions from the EiC of the journal. In rare cases, post-publication Corrections may be considered by the publisher if the errors adversely affect the publication record, or the repute of the journal. All corrections are made according to the COPE Guidelines https://publicationethics.org/case/how-correct-published-paper

Article Retraction

In rare cases of serious issues discovered after the publication of an article like errors in the conducting/analyzing/reporting of the study; Infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data, data falsification and fabrication by the authors, the articles may be retracted by Neoplasia Research. The original article will be visible on the journal’s website marked as “retracted” with a brief retraction statement linked to the PDF version of the original article.

Article Removal

In case Neoplasia Research faces exceptional circumstances of finding some published article defamatory, unlawful in any form, infringing on a third party’s legal rights, or imposing serious and immediate risks to health if practiced, or on receiving a clearly stated court/state order it reserves the right to remove such article, either temporarily or permanently. The title of the removed article and it’s authors’ names will be retained at the journal website however, and a short declaration note will be available to the readers for knowing brief reasons for the removal.

Appeals & Complaints

If any author wants that the decision of rejection of his/her article should be reconsidered, he/she may send such appeals to appeal@neoplasiaresearch.com. The appeals will be conveyed to the handling author of the article for consideration. As the priority is given to the active submissions to the journals the appeals may take time to be replied back. The journal’s editorial team’s consultation is sought after for final decision on an appeal and the authors will be informed about the final decision. In case of reasonable appeals authors will be notified about how their manuscript will be handled again.

Neoplasia Research editors are open to respond to any complaints reaching them through proper channel and reply to these at their earliest. Authors’ complaints about very long delays in processing of their articles; unethical conduct of reviewer/ editor may be sent via email to appeal@neoplasiaresearch.com. The handling editor of the articlein assistance with journal’s staff will be responsible for investigating and replying to the complaints of delays in processing of the manuscript. The complainant and the relevant participant from journal’s team will be timely provided with appropriate feedback for improving our processes and procedures. Necessary course of action will be taken by Editorial board members against the complaints of ethical misconduct; and the complainant will be given a feedback in minimal possible time that may be required for the appropriate investigations.

11. Article transfer service

This journal uses the Neoplasia Research Transfer Service to find the most appropriate journal for your manuscript. If the editor feels that your manuscript is more appropriate for another journal published by Neoplasia Research, they might suggest your manuscript be transferred to another journal. If you agree, your manuscript will be reviewed by the new journal independently.