EDITORIAL POLICY

01. Editorial line
02. Focus, Scope and Objective 
03. Open Access Policy
04. Peer Review Process
05. Submission on line
06. Pre- and post-prints
07. Systematic Reviews
08. Clinical Trials

 

01. Editorial line

Official Journal of the Italian Hospital Otology Association (A.O.O.I.) and, since 1976, also of the Società Italiana di Otorinolaringoiatria e Chirurgia Cervico-Facciale (S.I.O.Ch.C.-F.).

Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica is cited in Index Medicus, MEDLINE, PubMed Central, Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science Core Collection), Scopus, Open-J Gate, Free Medical Journals, Index Copernicus, Socolar, Doaj

 

2022 Journal Impact Factor^TM Journal Citation Reports^TM (Source Clarivate^TM, 2023)

 2.0

Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica is available on Google Scholar

 

02. Focus, Scope and Objective 

Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica first appeared as “Annali di Laringologia Otologia e Faringologia” and was founded in 1901 by Giulio Masini.

The journal publishes original articles (clinical trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional surveys, and diagnostic test assessments) of interest in the field of otorhinolaryngology as well as clinical techniques and technology (a short report of unique or original methods for surgical techniques, medical management or new devices or technology), editorials (including editorial guests – special contribution) and letters to the Editor-in-Chief.

Articles concerning science investigations and well prepared systematic reviews (including meta-analyses) on themes related to basic science, clinical otorhinolaryngology and head and neck surgery have high priority.

The journal publishes furthermore the Official Report of the annual Congress of the Italian Society of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery as well as special columns regarding the Italian Society.

Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica is published bimonthly and is sent, free of charge, to all members of Società Italiana di Otorinolaringoiatria e Chirurgia Cervico-Facciale (S.I.O.Ch.C.-F.). up to date with annual dues. Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica is printed by Pacini Editore S.r.L.., Pisa (Italy) with total chlorine free paper and water varnishing.

 

03. Open Access Policy

As previously reported, this journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

The journal is distributed in accordance with the CC-BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International) license: the work can be used by mentioning the author and the license, but only for non-commercial purposes and only in the original version. For further information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en

 

04. Peer Review Process

Peer reviewed articles include:

Original articles

Clinical techniques and tecnology

Reviews

Editorial

Letter to the Editor-in-Chief

The Editorial Board of the Journal will immediately screen all articles submitted for publication in that journal. Those articles which fail to reach the scientific standards of the journal may be declined without further review. Those articles which satisfy the requirements of the Editorial Board will be sent to the Section Editor, that will be responsible for identifying reviewers and, after receiving reviews, for making a recommendation on the acceptability of the manuscript for publication. The reviewers are experts in the field who have agreed to provide a rapid assessment of the article. Every effort will be made to provide an editorial decision as to acceptance for publication within 3 months of submission. Referees may request a revision of the article to be made. In this case, it is generally understood that only one revised version can be considered for a further appraisal under the peer-review system. The Editorial Board, and in particolarly the Section Editors, of the journal are responsible for the final selection of referees to conduct the peer-review process for that journal. The names of referees will not be made available to authors. However, referees will be informed as to the identity of the authors whose articles are subject to review. All selected members of the Editorial Board and referees are asked to declare any competing interests they may have in reviewing a manuscript. If on receiving the editorial decision concerning their manuscript authors are not satisfied they are invited to appeal to the Scientific Secretariat. In cases in which this is considered appropriate a second opinion on the manuscript will be requested.

All final decision on acceptability will be made by the Editor-in-Chief or the Managing Editor.

 

05. Submission on line

Submit new article via our new Editorial Manager System

(Please before submitting your manuscript check our Authors Guidelines)

 

06. Pre- and post-prints

Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica allows and encourages authors to deposit both their pre- and post-prints in Open-Access institutional archives or repositories. The primary benefit of pre- and post-print self-archiving is reaching a larger audience which enhances the visibility and impact of your research.

 

07. Systematic Reviews

Systematic reviews should be reported using the PRISMA guidelines available at http://prisma-statement.org. A PRISMA checklist and flow diagram (as a Figure) should also be included in the submission material.

 

08. Clinical Trials

Clinical trials should be reported using the guidelines available at www.consort-statement.org. The Journal encourages authors submitting manuscripts reporting from a clinical trial to register the trials in any of the following free, public clinical trials registries: www.clinicaltrials.gov, http://clinicaltrials.ifpma.org/clinicaltrials/, http://isrctn.org/. The clinical trial registration number and name of the trial register will then be published with the paper.

The authors should ensure that they have met the requirements of their funding and regulatory agencies regarding aggregate clinical trial results reporting in clinical trial registries.

It is the authors’, and not the journal editors’, responsibility to explain any discrepancies between results reported in registries and journal publications.

 

ETHICAL STATEMENT

Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica meets and upholds ethical behavior at all stages of the publication process, by following the standards for best practices by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

Following a summary of duties of editors, peer-reviewers, and authors we expect our journals to comply with.

 Editors are expected to:

• act in a balanced, objective and fair way while evaluating manuscripts, considering solely their intellectual merit without regard to authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.
• handle submissions for sponsored supplements or special issues in the same way as other submissions, so that articles are considered without commercial influence.
• adopt and follow reasonable procedures in the event of complaints of an ethical or conflict nature, in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Journal, where appropriate.
• give authors a reasonable opportunity to respond to any complaints. Documentation associated with any such complaints should be retained.
• not disclose any information about a manuscript that is submitted to the journal to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

 Reviewers are expected to be professional, honest, courteous, prompt, and constructive. They should:

• assist in improving the quality of the published paper by reviewing the manuscript objectively, in a timely manner.
• comment on major strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript as a written communication, independent of the design, methodology, results, and interpretation of the study.
• maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by the editor or author and not retain or copy the manuscript.
• alert the editor to any published or submitted content that is substantially similar to that under review.
• be aware of any potential conflicts of interest (financial, institutional, collaborative or other relationships between the reviewer and author) and to alert the editor to these.

 Authors have an ethical obligation to submit creditable research results for publication. They should:

• confirm that the manuscript as submitted is not under consideration or accepted for publication elsewhere.
• confirm that all the work in the submitted manuscript is original and to acknowledge and cite content reproduced from other sources. To obtain permission to reproduce any content from other sources.
• declare any potential conflicts of interest.
• maintain records of data associated with their submitted manuscript, and to supply or provide access to these data, on reasonable request.
• ensure that any studies involving human or animal subjects conform to national, local and institutional laws and requirements and confirm that approval has been sought and obtained where appropriate. Authors should obtain express permission from human subjects and respect their privacy.
• notify promptly the journal editor or publisher if a significant error in their publication is identified.

 

PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

01. Ethical Approvals 
02. Informed Consent
03. Data Availability
04. Conflict of Interest and Source of Funding
05. Authorship and Contributorship
06. Acknowledgements
07. Plagiarism and Malpractice Policy
08. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies policy
09. Use of generative AI and AI-assisted tools in figures, images and artwork
10. Corrections
11. Retractions

 

01. Ethical Approvals

Trial involving human subjects will only be published if such research has been conducted in full compliance with ethical principles, including the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013) and any additional requirements of the country where the research was carried out.

Manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were conducted with the understanding and written consent of each subject and according to the principles mentioned above. When experimental animals are used, the methods section must clearly state that adequate measures have been taken to minimize pain or discomfort. The experiments should be performed in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, established by the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the USA (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK54050/) , or with the Directive of the Council of the European Communities of 24 November 1986 (86 / 609 / EEC) (https://op.europa.eu/it/publication-detail/-/publication/226db30a-a20f-41bb-90ed-5b2afc7b9962/language-en/format-PDF/source-search),  and in compliance with local laws and regulations. Further guidance on animal research ethics is available from the World Medical Association (2016 revision).

All manuscripts submitted to Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica must include in the Materials and Methods section, an explicit statement in this regard, the name of the Ethics Committee and the reference number, where appropriate. Where a study has been granted an exemption from seeking ethical approval, this should be detailed in the manuscript, together with the name of the Ethics Committee that granted the exemption. Manuscripts may be rejected if the Editors believe that the research was not carried out within an appropriate ethical framework.
If a study has not been submitted to an Ethics Committee before initiation, it is usually not possible to obtain retrospective ethical approval and it may not be possible to consider the manuscript for peer review.

Authors must have obtained Ethics Committee approval and informed patient consent for any investigational use of a new procedure or tool where a clear clinical benefit based on clinical need was not evident prior the treatment.

For retrospective/protocol studies where only aggregate data is analyzed, ethical approval from an appropriate Committee is usually not required, as the data cannot be traced back to specific patients.

The Editors reserve the right to refuse manuscripts in case of doubts about the use of adequate procedures.

 

02. Informed Consent

For all manuscripts that include details, images, or videos relating to individual participants, written informed consent for the publication of these must be obtained from the participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 16) and a statement to this effect should appear in the manuscript. If the participant has died, then consent for publication must be sought from the next of kin of the participant. This documentation must be made available to Editors on request, and will be treated confidentially. In cases where images are entirely unidentifiable and there are no details on individuals reported within the manuscript, consent for publication of images may not be required. The final decision on whether consent to publish is required is at the Editor(s)’ discretion.

Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica strictly follows the ICMJE Protection of Research Participants policy. Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. When informed consent has been obtained, editors may request authors to provide a copy before making the editorial decision.

 

03. Data Availability

To promote transparency of data supporting the results reported in the article, the Journal encourages authors to provide a statement of data availability, provided that the research data can be made publicly. This should be included at the end of the “Materials and Methods” section under a separate “Data availability” subheading. Data availability statement should include information on where data can be found, whether data are deposited on publicly available data research repositories or they are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author. Such data will not be published as Supplementary Digital Material.

Examples of data availability statements: 1) the data associated with the paper are available in the [NAME] repository; 2) the data associated with the paper are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request; 3) the data associated with the paper will be available in the [NAME] repository following an embargo period).  

 

04. Conflict of Interest and Source of Funding

A conflict of interest occurs when any financial interest may affect the content of an article. This does not imply that any financial involvement with a sponsor that supported the research or funded a consultation is problematic.

Financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, and paid expert testimony) are the most easily identifiable conflicts of interest and the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, and of science itself.

All participants in the peer-review and publication process must disclose all relationships that could be viewed as potential conflicts of interest. Disclosure of such relationships is also important in connection with editorials and review articles, because it can be more difficult to detect bias in these types of publications than in original research reports.

To promote transparency and avoid any possible bias of the readers towards the article, each author must disclose any potential conflict of interest both in the Authorship responsibility – Financial disclosure – Copyright Transfer Form and at the end of the manuscript file in the notes under the “Conflicts of interest” section.

Publishers may use information disclosed in conflict-of-interest and financial-interest statements as a basis for editorial decisions, and may ask for further information relating to competing interests. Potential conflicts of interest can be directly or indirectly related to an article and may include but are not limited to research funds from organizations that have financial interest in the results of publication, financial support for attending symposia or educational programs, advisory relationships, employment funds, personal financial interests. Disclosure of the conflict of interest should follow the recommendations of the ICMJE.

All submitted manuscripts must include a ‘conflict of interest’ section listing all competing interests (financial and non-financial). In the absence of a conflict of interest, the Authors should state at the end of the manuscript file in the notes under the “Conflicts of interest” section: “The Authors declare to have no conflict of interest”.

All sources of funding must be mentioned at the end of the manuscript file in the notes in the “Funding” section. The role of the possible sponsor in the study design, acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data must be briefly described in the drafting the manuscript. If the sponsor was not specifically involved in the research, this should be disclosed. 

 

05. Authorship and Contributorship

Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica endorses the ICMJE criteria for defining the roles of Authors and Contributors to justify authorship.

According to the ICMJE, authorship criteria should be based on 1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work, 2) draft the article or revise  it critically for important intellectual content, 3) final approval of the version to be published and 4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, 3 and 4. It is a requirement that all authors have been appropriately accredited at the time of manuscript submission. Contributors who do not qualify as authors should be credited in the Acknowledgements section.

 

06. Acknowledgements

Contributors to the manuscript other than credited authors should be specified in the acknowledgements section.  Details of the funding source for the study and any potential conflict of interests, if any, should also be included.

 

07. Plagiarism and Malpractice Policy

Authors must avoid any unethical and improper actions such as plagiarism, simultaneous submission, falsification, fraudulent authorship, copyright infringement, hiding of competing interests, etc. For further information:

1. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (2017). Core practices. https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
2. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). (n.d.). Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals. https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf
3. WAME Publication Ethics Committee. (n.d.). Recommendations on publication ethics policies for medical journals. World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). http://wame.org/recommendations-on-publication-ethics-policies-for-medical-journals

By submitting a manuscript, authors certify that the submission is free of the aforementioned unfair malpractices, adheres to ethical standards, applicable laws and regulations, and that all necessary consents, permissions, and legal documents are prepared. The authors take full responsibility for the opinions, results, discussions, and conclusions provided in the articles and to resolve any issues that may arise from the inclusion of copyrighted content without the necessary authorization. 

Plagiarism is the use of the intellectual property of existing literature, in whole or in part, by copying as is or translating from another language. Plagiarism or repetition of another text is prohibited, even if it precedes the author’s publication. Exceptionally, i) works derived from the author’s university thesis; ii) preliminary studies by the author presented at a conference or as a poster. Furthermore, findings from a database and clinical trial registries may be repeated in more than one article. If in doubt, authors should consult the editorial team office before submission.

To prevent plagiarism, all submissions undergo an initial screening. When ethical misconduct, such as plagiarism, is discovered in a manuscript under review or a published article, editors must investigate the details of the case and take necessary actions using the appropriate COPE flowcharts, even if the misconduct is discovered years after publication. In such cases, the manuscript under review can be immediately rejected, the published article can be retracted, and the relevant legal bodies can be informed about the details of the case.

 

08. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies policy

Where authors use AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, these technologies should only be used to improve readability and language of the manuscript and not to replace key writing tasks. The application of the technology should be carried out with human supervision and control and all work should be carefully reviewed and edited.

Authors should disclose the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in their manuscript and a statement will appear in the published article. 

Authors should not list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, or cite AI as an author. 

 

09. The use of generative AI and AI-assisted tools in figures, images and artwork

Pacini Editore does not allow the use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools to create or alter images in submitted manuscripts. This can include enhancing, darkening, moving, removing, or introducing a specific feature within an image or figure. 

The only exception is if the use of AI or AI-assisted tools was part of the research design or methods. In this case, such use must be described in a reproducible way in the methods section, and also include an explanation of how they were used.

The use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in the production of graphical abstracts is not permitted.

 

10. Corrections 

The correction procedure depends on the publication phase of the article, but in any case a correction notice will be published as soon as possible:

10.1 Online First publication

When the first online version of a given article is published, the Editorial team will evaluate the possibility of replacing this version with an updated version that corrects the error and notes the changes made, by means of a correction notice at the end of the article.

10.2 Publication in an issue

If the article has already appeared online, the online version of the article will link to the correction notice, and vice versa.

 

11. Retractions

Journal editors will consider withdrawing an article at the request of the Authors, or in case of evidence of unreliable data or results, plagiarism, duplicate publications and unethical research.

11.1 Publication in an issue 

A replacement version of the article will be posted containing just the metadata, with a retraction note replacing the original text. The PDF will be replaced with a version watermarked with “Retracted”, but the original text will remain accessible.

In rare cases, we may need to remove the original content for legal reasons. In these cases the metadata (title and authors) will be left and the text will be replaced by a note informing that the article has been removed for legal reasons. A recall notice will be posted online.

Retraction notices are indexed and linked to the original records in Medline.

https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines

 

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Società Italiana di Otorinolaringoiatria e Chirurgia Cervico-Facciale (S.I.O.Ch.C.-F.) and Pacini Editore srl inform readers and users of the journal Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica, that the published articles reflect only the research and the opinion of the authors signing the contents. These articles therefore do not represent and do not in any way constitute indications or guidelines of the S.I.O.Ch.C.-F. itself. This differs from the texts and contents that are explicitly declared as official institutional matrix and published in the appropriate sections of the Journal, which are dedicated to the Guidelines of S.I.O.Ch.C.-F.

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