Oncology in Clinical Practice (OCP)  is a peer-reviewed, Open Access journal that features papers on various types of neoplastic disease, including diagnosis, therapy (predominantly systemic treatment but also radiotherapy), molecular biology of cancer, pathology and also psychooncology.  The Journal publishes research articles, reviews,  case studies, information on conferences, literature reviews and letters to the Editor.  OCP is published on a bimonthly basis in both electronic and print versions with first being the primary one. OCP is a reading recommended for all those with an interest in the treatment of cancer.

Peer Review Process

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. 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. Papers submitted to ‘OCP’ but not accepted for publication may, in some cases, be eligible for publication in other journals of the Publisher. 

Manuscripts authored by Editors or members of Editorial Board are treated no differently to any other manuscript submitted to 'OCP'. 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 OCP, 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.

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 Editors or members of Editorial Board are treated no differently to any other manuscript submitted to Oncology in Clinical Practice. 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.

The Editor is responsible for everything published in the journal. The Editor takes all reasonable steps to ensure the quality of the material published. The Editor’s decision to accept or reject a paper for publication is based only on the paper’s importance, originality, clarity and the study’s relevance to the remit of the journal. The description of peer review process is published and clarified and the Editor is able and ready to justify any important deviation from the described process. The authors and peer reviewers’ identities are protected. The Editor provides guidance to authors and reviewers on everything that is expected of them. The Editor does not reverse a decision to accept a submission unless serious problems are identified.

The relationship of the Editor to the publisher and owner is based firmly on the principle of editorial independence. The Editor makes decisions on which articles to publish based on quality and suitability for the journal and without interference from the journal owner/publisher.

The Editor can ensure that research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines. The Editor is able to protect the confidentiality of individual information.

The Editor has a duty to act if they suspect misconduct. The duty extends to both published and unpublished papers. The Editor should seek a response from those accused. If not satisfied with the response, the Editor should ask the relevant employers or some appropriate body to investigate.

Editors should have systems for managing their own conflicts of interest as well as those of their staff, authors, reviewers and Editorial board members.

Authors are forbidden to publish the same research in more than one journal.

Oncology in Clinical Practice (OCP) 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. OCP 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.

Advertisements and sponsorship must be legal, trusthworthy and comply with the relevant industry codes, laws and regulations.

This policy applies to complaints on policies, procedures and actions of OCP’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 OCP’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 OCP’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 (included in Cover Letter) together with the manuscript (the Authors' statement is available at https://journals.viamedica.pl/oncology_in_clinical_practice. All authors must agree to the conditions of publication, however the final responsibility for this information lays on the author submitting the manuscript.

This publication is intended for doctors and students of medicine. Every effort has been made to provide actual information, especially on medicine dosage, however, it is advisable that doctors make final decisions on their usage. This publication is not meant to replace a proper medical diagnosis or therapy. Responsibility taken by authors is suitable for this kind of publication and is not tantamount to responsibility for an individual medical advice.

The publisher has made every effort concerning reliability of the publication and the included information on the assortment, medicines and their prices. Yet the only legal information valid in the Republic of Poland are legal acts and in terms of trade – price offers of drugstores. As far as the information on medicines is concerned, the only lawful information is an updated characteristic of a medicinal substance and its producer’s leaflet.

The authors, consultants and publishers of this publication do not take any responsibility for possible mistakes or harms resulted from the information usage. Any cases of legal claims connected with medicines and chemical substances being under clinical examination are not going to be taken into consideration.

This journal encourages you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project. If you are sharing data, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation. 

If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset thus giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described. There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. 

Via Medica recommends the use of Mendeley Data, which enables you to deposit any research data (including raw and processed data, video, code, software, algorithms, protocols, and methods) associated with your manuscript in a free-to-use, open access repository. 

All articles published in “Oncology in Clinical Practice” are available in gold open access formula and are published under Creative Common Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0, International Licence (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 the final PDF version and/or early publication of aricles 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, the acknowledgment should be provided with the full bibliographic record.