Peer Review Journal Website Submission Standards

Foundation for Magnetic Science

Peer Review and Journal - Website Submission Standards

Foundation Homepage: www.magnetfoundation.org

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I. Introduction

1. The Peer Review Board and Editorial Board are charged with reviewing publications about Biomagnetics and Magnetic Fluid Conditioning.

The Foundation By-Laws provide that the Trustees may establish a Peer Review system and Foundation Journal and Website. The Professional Practice System Resolution provides for the Missions of the Peer Review and Editorial Boards. These Standards apply to those Boards, the Journal and Website.

2. Magnetics is the use of magnetic materials in many applications, from wellness, through home and vehicle use, industry, agriculture and elsewhere. Biomagnetics includes the application of magnets over or on the body. Biomagnetic practice includes experimental and clinical research and protocols for the application of magnets for the achieving and maintenance of a healthy status and for all other purposes. The Journal strives to set forth the theoretical basis and practical applications of magnetic and biomagnetic research and clinical study. It supports the Foundation certification program.

3. The use of magnetism is intended to benefit normal structure and function and is not prescribed as treatment for medical or psychological conditions, nor for diagnosis, care, treatment or rehabilitation of individuals, nor to apply medical, mental health or human development principles. Not intended to treat disease, support or sustain human life, or to prevent impairment of human health; for self-education and research purposes only.

4. The Journal is sponsored by the Foundation, a nongovernmental nonprofit corporation. This Journal has been established pursuant to Clause 9 of the Mission Statement of the Foundation (By-Law 2.B.), providing that the Foundation shall "develop and maintain publications and web sites" and Clause 11 of By-Law 6, "To sponsor the Journal of International Biomagnetic Research, as a peer-review research journal and the Foundation web site" all for the publication of submissions on the subjects of magnetics and biomagnetics. The Editor-in-Chief and the Webmaster are each appointed and removable by the oversight officer with the consent of a majority of the Trustees of the Foundation.

5. The Journal publishes, in the area of magnetics and biomagnetics as established by the research initiated by Foundation Founder Peter A. Kulish and carried on by the Foundation, Peer Reviewed articles and practice notes subject to the oversight of the Peer Review Board.

II. Instructions for Contributors

1. Manuscripts should be emailed to the Editor-in-Chief at editor@magnetfoundation.org

The email cover letter should include:

- the name, telephone number and email of the author(s);

- the title of the paper and a statement of its main point;

- keywords to be used for indexing;

- the total number of words (including text, references, and figure and table legends) in the manuscript;

- a statement or request from the author(s) allowing publication under the auspices of the Journal

- relevant manuscripts published by you in the past.

2. By submitting a manuscript, an author accepts the responsibility that all those listed as authors of a work have agreed to be so listed, have seen and approved the manuscript, and are responsible for its content. Submitted papers are reviewed in depth by two or more Referees as well as other warranted parties, legal evaluation for instance, as indicated. The Editor-in Chief and the Webmaster may relax these rules whenever they deem is necessary or convenient.

III. Peer Review Standards

1. The Purpose of the Peer Review Standards is to guide the Peer Review Board, Editor-in-Chief, oversight officer and Webmaster in reviewing articles and formal notes submitted for publication and in publishing approved articles and notes. These Standards apply to the Journal and also to the Foundation web site, insofar as applicable, in the discretion of the Webmaster.

2. The Editor-in-Chief shall publish the Journal on line (and downloadable) at the Journal site and may publish hard copies of the Journal or provide for copies on demand either directly or through third party providers. The Journal may accept articles and formal notes in the area of magnetics and biomagnetics, that have been subject to Peer Review as provided in these Standards.

3. The Peer Review Board consists of the Referees appointed from time to time by the Editor-in-Chief and assigned to specific submissions to review. The Referees review, and the Editor-in-Chief approves, all articles and notes for publication under these Standards. The articles and notes shall be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief who shall forward them to oversight officer and at least two Referees for Peer Review. The written comments of the oversight officer and Referees will be provided to each other, the writer and the Editor-in-Chief. Resubmitted articles and notes shall be submitted again to the Referees and oversight officer and no article or formal note shall be published until the Editor-in-Chief is satisfied that it has been adequately Peer Reviewed. The names of the Referees may be published with the article or note, if they have approved the final version.

4. The Standard for Peer Review approval is that the article, note or other submission accurately reflect or advance scientific knowledge in the field of magnetics and biomagnetics. Submissions that meet this Standard and have been subject to Peer Review under these Standards may be noted as "Peer Reviewed." The standard for substantiation of claims is "competent scientific evidence." Where submitted articles involve human subject research, the research should generally meet the requirements of the Foundation IRB documentation.

5. Letters, practice and informational or informal notes, general statements and news articles may be published in the Journal or on the web site with the approval of the Editor-in-Chief or Webmaster. Where the Editor-in-Chief or Webmaster deems it advisable, such writings may be submitted for formal Peer Review.

6. Articles and other writings submitted by Peter A. Kulish shall be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief or Webmaster and published as directed by Mr. Kulish.

7. Appeals: All Appeals of any decision of the Editor-in-Chief or Webmaster shall be made in writing to the oversight officer, with a copy to the body or person subject to appeal. That body or person shall respond in writing within 5 days and the oversight officer shall make a written decision within 5 days thereof; all such communications should be by electronic means. The decision of the oversight officer shall be final and no further appeal is allowed.

8. Referees are expected to return their comments within two weeks. It is the policy of the Journal that Referees are only kept anonymous upon request of the Referee. Authors are notified of acceptance, rejection, or need for revision, usually within 3 to 5 weeks. Papers cannot be resubmitted over a disagreement on interest level or relative merit.

IV. Condition of Acceptance

1. When a submission is accepted for publication in the Journal, it is understood by the Editor-in-Chief that any materials and methods necessary to verify the conclusions of the experiments reported will be made available to other investigators under appropriate conditions. The submission will remain a privileged document and will not be released to the press or the public before publication. If there is a need in exceptional cases to publicize data in advance of publication, Editor-in-Chief must be consulted.

V. Selection of Manuscripts

1. In selecting papers for publication, the editor(s) Editor-in-Chief gives preference to those submitted by Foundation certified researchers that are well written, well organized, and intelligible to lay persons as well as magnetic and biomagnetic professionals. Manuscripts containing proprietary information or nomenclature will not be published in the public version of the Journal, without redacting such nomenclature or information. An attempt is made to balance the subject matter among theory, research and practice but any well conceived magnetic or biomagnetic-based or associated topic will be considered if the premise, writing and conclusions are solidly developed.

2. Categories of submissions include: general, experimental, clinical, theoretical, reports, correspondence, technical comments, book and software reviews, column ideas, perspectives, and policy forums. All submissions should contain a title, an abstract, key words, and include, where relevant, an introduction, hypothesis, procedures, protocol, results and discussion sections with brief subheads, references, and appropriate notes and footnotes. Remember that the most read articles can tell the story and draw conclusions by the headings alone. Sometimes this is the first and last chance to interest your reader.

3. General Papers/Articles: General papers are expected to (i) review new developments; (ii) describe a current research problem or a technique of interdisciplinary significance; or (iii) discuss some aspect of the history, logic, policy, or administration of magnetics and biomagnetics. Readers should be able to learn from a general article what has been firmly established and what are unresolved questions.

4. Experimental Papers/Articles: A research paper is expected to contain new data representing significant information for contemplation or review. Clinical papers should advance a clinical procedure or technique; include a review of relevant case studies illustrating the author(s) premise. Clinical papers should not only include sufficient magnetic or biomagnetic methodology but should also include information from other disciplines that support the premises.

5. Theoretical Papers/Articles: Theoretical papers should present a discussion of a current scientific standard as it articulates/supports understanding between magnetic, biomagnetic and other disciplines.

6. Perspective Articles: In contrast to the peer reviewed papers in the Clinical, Theoretical, or Experimental Sections, Perspective Articles are designed to point toward directions worth pursuing, even when there may not be enough research to fully justify or explain the insights presented. Perspectives are invitational, will appear irregularly, are not refereed, but rather approved by the Editor-in-Chief, and represent the unmodified and singular view of authors selected from our community for the quality and originality of past work.

7. Formal Notes, Practice Notes: Such submissions are expected to contain important, but preliminary, clinical or experimental research results.

8. Correspondence: Letters are selected for their pertinence to material published in the Journal or because they discuss general issues of interest. Letters pertaining to material published in the Journal may correct errors; provide supporter, agreement or professional argument; or offer different points of view, clarifications, or additional information. Letters may be reviewed by outside consultants and are approved for publication by the Editor-in-Chief. The authors of the submission in question are usually given an opportunity to reply. Preference is given to letters that do not exceed 900 words. Letters accepted for publication are frequently edited and shortened in consultation with the author.

9. Technical Comments: Technical comments, papers, notes or explanations will be published in professional addenda to the Journal, available privately to currently certified researchers and practitioners, upon request and approval..

10. Book and Software Reviews: The Editor-in-Chief selects the reviewers and the books and software packages to be reviewed. Instructions and length specifications to accompany items to be reviewed, when they are sent to reviewers. Such reviews are best designed to be constructive, informative and relevant. They are published with the approval of the Editor-in-Chief.

11. Messages from the oversight officer are published as a matter of course.

VI. Manuscript Preparation

1. The guidelines for manuscript preparation are:

a. Typing. Use single spacing throughout the text, tables, figure legends, and references and notes and leave margins of at least 1-inch/2.5 centimeters. A single space should be left between sentences, and after semi-colons and colons.

b. Title. Title should be short, specific, and amenable to indexing. Chose your title based on your intent - informative or a call to action, etc.

c. Abstract. This should explain to the general reader why the research was undertaken and why the results should be viewed as important. The abstract should convey the main point of the paper and present, if relevant, the central research findings, and outline the conclusions.

d. Keywords. Author(s) should select keywords to be included on the abstract page.

e. Text. A brief introduction should indicate the broad significance of the paper. The whole text should be intelligible to readers in different disciplines. Technical terms should be defined but we caution the author to use definitions which have general professional approval and the author should be prepared to show evidence of such approval upon request by the Editor-in-Chief. All tables, figures and images should be cited in the text in numerical order.

f. Symbols and Abbreviations. Define all symbols, abbreviations, and acronyms the first time they are used. At first mention any trademark or other such symbols should be designated but it is not necessary to include such marks thereafter.

g. Units of Measure. Authors should use generally accepted units of measure.

h. References and Notes. Number references and notes in the order in which they are cited, first through the text and then through the table and figure legends. List a reference only one time. References that are always cited together may be grouped under a single number. Use conventional abbreviations for well-known journals. Reference examples follow:

.i. References to Papers. G. Bravo & C. Grob, Shamans, Sacraments and Psychiatrists, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 21, 1 (1989), pp. 123-128.

.ii. References to Books. N. Cousins, Human Options: An Autobiographical Notebook (W. W. Norton, New York, NY, 1981).

.iii. References to Chapters in Books. C. G. Jung, Psychological Commentary, In The Tibetan Book of the Dead (W. Y. Evans-Wentz, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 1957).

.iv. References from Conference Proceedings. B. A. Rubik and D. E. Coshland, Jr., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 75, 7820 (1978).

.v. References to Internet sources should include the entire URL that links to the item cited.

.vi. Unpublished Observations. Reference to unpublished data should be given a number in the text and placed, in correct sequence, in the references and notes.

.vii. Acknowledgments. Gather all acknowledgments into a brief statement at the end of the references and notes.

i. Informed Consent. Investigations on human subjects must include a statement indicating that informed consent was obtained after the nature and possible consequences of the studies had been fully explained. This is particular important for minor and/or incapacitated clients under the jurisdiction of a guardian

j. Figures/Images. For each figure or image submit high-quality jpeg or similar generally accessible files integrated into the word processing file.

k. Tables. Tables should supplement, summarize or clarify, not duplicate, the text. They should be numbered consecutively with respect to their citation in the text. Each table should be integrated into the word processing file.

l. Equations and Formulas. No proprietary formulas or formulations should be included in any manuscript written for public review.

m. Uncertainties and Reproducibility. Evidence that the results are reproducible and the conditions under which this reproducibility (replication) was obtained are not always possible but every effort should be made to at least speculate as to the avenue in which the results were obtained. The effect of limitations in experimental conditions on generalizability of results should be discussed.

n. Permissions and Copyright. Illustrations and tables reprinted from other publications must be credited. It is the author's responsibility to obtain written permission from the copyright owner (usually the publisher) to reprint such illustrations in the Journal, where required. The appropriate credit line is usually supplied by the copyright owner. Papers cannot be published until copies of all required permission letters have been received by the Editor-in-Chief. Authors retain their Copyright in their original work while the Journal is hereby given a general, permanent license by the Authors to publish and reproduce the work in any media, including but not limited to, print, electronic, Internet, publication on demand, audio, video, blogging and similar existing and future technologies.

o. Computer Disk Submission. Computer submissions are preferred in a format that can be used universally.

VII. Printing and Publication

1. Proofs and Reprints. A proof file is emailed to the author(s) at their last known email address and is deemed acceptable unless returned with corrections within 72 hours. Publication and reprints are usually done in PDF format or through publication on demand. The Journal reserves the right to reprint in any media and format.

2. Scheduling. Submissions can be scheduled for publication at any time, since the Journal is electronically printed and posted or available through ping on demand or other media and formats. Generally, items will be accumulated and published at regular intervals in sequentially numbered Issues of the Journal.

3. Cover Images. Particularly good images that pertain to a submission will be considered for use on the cover of the Journal. Submit digitally formatted pictures, drawings, graphs or the like with the manuscript.

© 2007 - Rev.01.30.07