1.    Review Policy This journal adopts a strict three-stage review system (preliminary review, double-blind peer review, final review by editors-in-chief, and panel discussion). Authors can check the processing status of their manuscripts at any time. The journal selects manuscripts fairly and objectively based on academic quality and the research topic.

2.    Editorial Policy In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, the journal may make some technical or wording amendments to the accepted manuscripts. However, if the amendment involves a change of meaning, the editorial office will contact the authors for confirmation.

3. Review and Editing Process

(1) Submission: The authors submit the manuscript online and will receive a confirmation email.
(2) Receipt: The editor receives the manuscript, assign a serial number, and sends the number to the author via email.
(3) Preliminary review: The editor conducts a preliminary review. If passed, the manuscript will be sent out for external review.
(4) External review: The manuscript will be reviewed by at least two reviewers.
(5) Final review: The editor-in-chief will make the final decision (accept /modify /reject) taking into consideration the comments of external reviewers.
Once the manuscript is accepted, authors will soon receive 3 documents: Copyright Transfer Agreement, Manuscript Processing Comment, and Revision Feedback. Authors will be required to email back the Manuscript Processing Comment and Revision Feedback and should mail back the Copyright Transfer Agreement signed by all authors. If the manuscript is supported by a fund, a copy or a scanned copy of the supporting document of the fund is required.

The accepted manuscript will be arranged for publication by the editorial office, during which the authors will be contacted for several revisions.  A proof version (electronic version in pdf format) will be sent to authors about 15 days before publication. Authors will mark the revisions directly on the electronic proof. There should be no major changes except significant problems or errors. This is to avoid affecting the layout. The proofs should be returned within 2 days in order to keep the publishing plan.

4. Timing  If authors do not receive any feedback within 3 months, the manuscript can be deemed as rejected.

5. Fast Track  For articles with significant scientific value, APCs will be waived and publication priority will be given to the articles.

6. Submission by Editors The editors and editorial board members should not be involved in publishing decisions on papers that they have written themselves or have been written by their family members or colleagues. Any such submission should be strictly subject to the journal’s usual editorial process. Experts related to the author and his/her research groups must be avoided for peer review.

7. Appeal The authors may make an appeal if they disagree with the comments of the reviewers. The authors need to write an appeal letter (with the manuscript serial number) and send it to fzjzgcxb@vip.163.com. Detailed reasons for appealing must be stated, including a comprehensive and reasonable answer to the reviewers’ comments. The appeal letter should also be stamped by the author’s institute. The editorial office will consider whether to change the decision case by case.

Correction and Retraction

1. General Situation Articles published online or in print are considered the final and complete version. In principle, the journal does not make corrections or retractions on published articles. However, in the case of the situations described below, corrections or retractions may be carried out if truly necessary.

2. Correction  If there appears to be an unintended scientific mistake in the article which would not lead to significant impacts on the results and conclusions, the editorial office will publish corrections in the journal as soon as possible, detailing the changes made to the original article and indicating the source of the article. The journal will release the corrected new version of the article, and specify the changes to the original article and the date of the update. In addition, the superseded version will also be archived. Readers can obtain it directly, but only the latest version of the article should be used for citation.

3. Reject & Retraction

Manuscripts with evidence showing academic misconduct will be rejected. The author’s research group and institution will be notified.

Should evidence arise after publication, academic misconduct can be grounds for retraction. A retraction statement will be issued by the editorial office, and the editorial office will delete all data in related databases in order to minimize the negative impact caused by it. The author’s institution and journals in related areas will be notified. The practice of processing misconduct follows the guidelines of COPE.