Editorial Policies

Peer Review

APCR conducts double-blind peer review. Authors upload a Title Page (with authorship details) and a Blinded Manuscript (no identifying information). The editorial office screens submissions for scope, ethics, completeness, and originality prior to review.

Authorship & Contributorship

Authorship must reflect substantial scholarly work, including conception or design; data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation; drafting or critical revision; and final approval of the version to be published. All authors share accountability for the integrity of the work. A contributorship statement should specify the roles of each contributor (e.g., conceptualization, methodology, investigation, visualization, supervision, funding acquisition, writing-original draft, writing-review & editing).

• Group authorship: permitted where contributions are clearly defined.
• Changes to authorship: require written agreement of all listed authors with justification prior to acceptance.
• Acknowledgments: name individuals who contributed but do not meet authorship criteria; obtain their permission.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any relationships that could be perceived to influence the work, including financial interests, advisory roles, intellectual property, and personal or institutional affiliations. Editors recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where conflicts exist. Funding sources and the sponsor’s role in study design, data access, and publication decisions must be declared.

Ethics: Human Participants, Animals, and Data

• Human research: provide institutional ethics approval identifiers and statements of informed consent where applicable; ensure de-identification of patient data and images, or include explicit consent for identifiable materials.
• Animal research: state compliance with national/international standards and committee approvals; describe welfare considerations and humane endpoints.
• Clinical trials & diagnostics: include registration identifiers where required; describe pre-specified outcomes and analytical plans.
• Biosafety: indicate compliance for studies involving biohazards or recombinant DNA.

Data, Code & Materials Availability

APCR encourages open sharing of data, code, and materials when legally and ethically permissible. Each manuscript should include a Data Availability Statement specifying where data and code can be accessed, any access restrictions, and conditions for reuse. Authors must retain raw data for a reasonable period after publication and provide it to editors upon request to verify analyses.

• Use stable repositories that assign persistent identifiers to datasets and software.
• For sensitive or patient-related data, controlled-access repositories and robust de-identification are expected.
• Provide version numbers for software, and specify key parameters for computational pipelines.

Image & Figure Integrity

Preparing images must not obscure, enhance, move, remove, or introduce features. Adjustments to brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable only if applied uniformly across the entire image and do not misrepresent the original data. Composite images should be clearly demarcated with dividing lines and labeled. Authors should retain original, unprocessed image files and be prepared to supply them on request.

• Indicate magnification and scale bars for photomicrographs.
• Disclose any use of image-analysis software or AI-assisted segmentation.
• For gels and blots, include complete, uncropped images in supplementary materials when feasible.

Use of AI Tools

Computational tools, including large language models and image generators, may support research and writing but do not qualify for authorship. Authors must describe how such tools were used and are responsible for verifying the accuracy of tool-generated content. AI tools must not be used to fabricate data, references, images, or patient information. When AI aids image enhancement or analysis, methods and validation should be documented.

Plagiarism, Redundancy & Preprints

• Plagiarism: submissions undergo similarity checks; text recycling must be disclosed and kept to a minimum with proper citation.
• Redundant/duplicate publication: manuscripts under consideration elsewhere will not be reviewed. Translations or secondary publications require transparency and permissions.
• Preprints: posting on reputable preprint servers is allowed; include the preprint DOI in the cover letter and update the preprint record with the article DOI upon publication.

Corrections, Expressions of Concern & Retractions

APCR maintains the scholarly record through formal notices. Substantive errors that affect interpretation will prompt a correction. Where evidence of unreliable findings emerges but is incomplete, an expression of concern may be issued. Proven cases of misconduct or invalid results may lead to retraction. All notices are permanently linked to the affected article and remain openly accessible.

Appeals & Complaints

Authors may appeal editorial decisions by emailing a detailed rebuttal that addresses reviewers’ and editors’ points. Appeals are assigned to an uninvolved senior editor for reconsideration; where needed, additional external review may be sought. Complaints about editorial conduct or publication ethics are investigated by the editorial leadership and, when appropriate, escalated to the publisher. All parties are expected to engage respectfully and provide timely responses.

Advertising, Supplements & Sponsored Content

Editorial decisions are independent from advertising or sponsorship. Any sponsored supplements or collections must meet the same peer-review and ethical standards as regular submissions, with sponsor roles disclosed. Editors retain full authority over acceptance decisions, reviewer selection, and content presentation.

Privacy & Confidentiality

Editors and reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential documents. Information gained through peer review will not be used for personal advantage. Identifiable patient information is published only with explicit consent or when permitted by law and ethical standards; otherwise, data should be de-identified and presented with caution to avoid deductive disclosure.