Nuclear Medicine Review (NMR) is an open access, peer-reviewed journal publishing papers which report original clinical and experimental research contributing to the advancement of knowledge in the field of nuclear medicine. The Journal also accepts review papers, clinical vignettes, letters and book reviews. Editors include editorials and also news on congresses and symposia.

The Journal is committed to prompt evaluation and publication of submitted articles. All manuscripts together with supplementary files (if applicable) should be submitted online via the journal web page. The submission and review process is fully electronic and submissions by e-mail or postal mail will not be accepted. Please follow the manuscript preparation directions presented below. Manuscripts submitted for publication in the Journal are evaluated as to whether they present new insights into the announced topic and are likely to contribute to progress in research or to changes in medical practice. Received manuscripts are initially examined by the Journal editors. Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication are rejected immediately to allow the authors to recognize deficiencies and submit the paper to another journal or resubmit a revised version. Incomplete submissions or manuscripts not prepared in the required style are sent back to the authors without scientific review.

If manuscript is accepted for review, the authors will be notified in the electronic way only with the reference to the article ID number in the electronic system. Articles are evaluated by at least two outside referees who are contacted before being sent a paper and asked to return comments within time period indicated by Editors. All submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential documents, and reviewers are instructed to treat manuscripts as such. The peer review process is also confidential and identities of reviewers are not released. Referees are asked to provide a written review together with recommendation of acceptance, requirement for revision or rejection of the article.

Authors are notified of decisions by e-mail only. Selected papers are edited to improve accuracy and clarity and for length. Criteria for acceptance of manuscripts or review forms are available at the Journal web page. Names of reviewers of individual manuscripts or journal issues are not revealed; the list of reviewers cooperating with the Journal is announced once a year. In cases author(s) of manuscripts and reviewers are no more anonymous, reviewers are asked to confirm in writing no conflict of interests, i.e. no direct personal relationships (first- and second-degree kinship, legal ties, relationship by marriage), superior/subordinate professional relations or direct scientific cooperation within the two years preceding the review.

The review process
Manuscripts submitted for publication in NMR are evaluated as to whether they present new insights into the announced topic and are likely to contribute to progress in research or to changes in clinical practice. Received manuscripts are initially examined by the NMR editors. Manuscripts that do not comply with the basic standards of scientific publication are rejected. Incomplete submissions or manuscripts not prepared in the required style (see below) are sent back to the authors without scientific review. Accepted manuscripts are registered and submitted for the independent review. We encourage authors to suggest the names of possible reviewers, but we reserve the right of final selection. Submitted papers are accepted for publication after a positive opinion has been returned by the independent reviewers.

Reviewers’ criteria for manuscripts qualification
Title reflects the subject undertaken
Assumptions are proper
Work of practical nature
Work of educational nature
Aims are clearly defined
Appropriate methodology*
Ethical criteria fulfilled*
Research-based work*
Results are adequately presented
Statistical analysis is reliable*
Discussion refers to results*
Conclusions based on study findings*
Conclusions refer to aims*
Suitably chosen, proper number and up to date references
Proper length
All figures and tables are required
Standard of written English acceptable

*criteria exclusively for research papers

Manuscripts authored by a member of a journal’s editorial team

Manuscripts authored by Editors or members of Editorial Board are treated no differently to any other manuscript submitted to Nuclear Medicine Review. All possible measures are undertaken to avoid any potential conflict of interest in handling of such manuscripts at all the stages including allocation of handling Editor, selection of reviewers, decision making and, if required, processing for publication.

Editors or Editorial Board members may submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in The Journal occasionally, but they are completely excluded from peer–review process and publication decisions when they are authors or co–authors of a manuscript. Manuscripts authored by a member of a journal’s editorial team (editors, Editorial Board members) are independently peer–reviewed and the peer review process is managed by the alternative members of the Editorial Board.

Conflict of interest
Authors of research articles should disclose at the time of submission any financial arrangement they may have with a company whose product appears prominently in the submitted manuscript or with a company making a competing product. Such information will be held in confidence while the paper is under review and will not influence the editorial decision, but if the article is accepted for publication, the editors will usually discuss with the authors the manner in which such information is to be communicated to the reader. Journal policy requires that reviewers, associate editors, editors, and senior editors reveal in a letter to the Editor-in-Chief any relationships that they have that could be construed as causing a conflict of interest with regard to manuscript under review. The letter should include a statement of any financial relationships with commercial companies involved with a product under study.

Permissions
Materials previously published should be accompanied by written consent for reprinting both from the relevant Publishers and the authors (if required).

Articles published on-line are open access and available under Creative Common Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) allowing to download articles and share them with others as long as they credit the authors and the publisher, but without permission to change them in any way or use them commercially.

Via Medica (Publisher) self-archiving policy establishes that authors can archive only accepted manuscripts including final PDF version and/or  'ahead of print' in any repository. In details, the author may only post their version provided acknowledgment is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Via Medica (Publisher) website. Apart from the link mentioned above, the acknowledgment should be provided with the full bibliographic record with DOI number.

Our policy is to keep all articles published as final VOR (Version of Record) unaltered and exact. However, if changes in already published VOR articles are necessary, they will be executed after case-by-case analysis by Journal Editors and respective staff of Via Medica and in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). They will be implemented as a Correction Notice, Expression of Concern, Retraction, or Removal. These will be explained in a post-publication notice, permanently linked to the original work to guarantee full transparency and permanency. If authors find errors in their published articles and there is consensus about that among all co-authors, the corresponding author should formulate a detailed request for changes and submit it using the Support contact e-mail at the Journal’s website.

Correction Notice (CN)

A separate CN will be published if an error to be corrected can impact the interpretation of the article, but the integrity of the article has been preserved. Such CN will provide details of the error and changes made to the VOR article. It will be linked to the article of interest, which will also be corrected. Additionally, a footnote will be added to the article displaying the electronic link to the correction notice.

Retractions

A Retraction Statement will be published in accordance with COPE guidelines in all instances where a major disclosed error undermines or invalidates the presented conclusions or where research misconduct or publication misconduct has occurred (fabricated data, plagiarism, manipulated images, etc.). Issuing a retraction will always be preceded by an investigation by our editorial team and an appropriate Editor. In case of retraction, a statement on this matter will be made available in the online issue of the Journal and will be linked to the retracted article online. Additionally, a ‘retracted’ watermark will be added to the article. If articles are retracted, they are not usually removed from the website. In most cases, the arguments for the retraction are so severe that such manuscripts should not be cited in any other scientific literature.

Expressions of Concern

In cases where serious concerns have been raised about a published article, however, the results of the investigation are not conclusive or have not been completed for an extensive period, an Expression of Concern may be issued and linked to the article. This can be later followed by a Correction Notice or Retraction Statement, which will constitute a permanent part of the published record together with the original article.

Article Removal

A Removal Notice (replacing an online article) is restricted for very rare cases of serious problems that cannot be addressed by a Correction Notice or Retraction Statement (e.g., a defamatory article or an article infringing other legal rights, violating privacy, etc.).

Addenda

An addendum represents a different type of notification aiming to add information to an article and not contradict it. This may be published if authors request updates to their original publication. Addenda in this Journal will usually be subject to review by the Editors and – if accepted – will be electronically linked to the online article to which they relate.

This policy applies to complaints on policies, procedures and actions of NMR’s editorial staff and as a rule is regarded as an opportunity for improvement. Complaints will be dealt with by members of the editorial staff, escalating (if required) to editor-in-chief, whose decision is regarded as final. Complaints should be directly emailed to a person indicated as a support contact at the Journal’s contact panel.  All complaints will be acknowledged within three working days and, if possible, a full response will be made within three weeks. If this is not possible an interim response will be given within this timeframe. Further responses will be provided until the issue is resolved.

If authors are convinced that the article they submitted was rejected wrongly, they should send rebuttal letter via NMR's support contact rather than submitting a revised article at this stage. If the editors agree to such appeal, authors may be asked to submit a revised version of the article in question which will enter again into NMR’s review process. The rebuttal letter should be detailed and include responses to comments from external reviewers and from Journal’s editors. Only one appeal per article will be considered. An invitation for resubmission after appealing is by itself not a guarantee of acceptance.

To secure release from the responsibilities to the third parties, corresponding author is required to return to the Publisher a singed copy of the ‘Authors' statement together with the manuscript. The Authors' statement is available via <Author Guidelines> panel (bottom line). All authors must agree to the conditions of publication, however the final responsibility for this information lays on the author submitting the manuscript. 

Nuclear Medicine Review (NMR) will accept advertising for services and products that are of value to readers in their professions. Distinction between advertising and editorial content should be easy. NMR does not allow advertising to influence editorial decisions. Online advertising or sponsorship should not impede users’ access to editorial content. Journal accepts advertising from competitors. Advertisements or sponsorship related to tobacco products will not be accepted.
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