How to pass F1000 pre-publication checks
All Platforms powered by F1000 run a series of pre-publication checks to ensure submitted research meets our quality and ethical standards. These checks are integral to the F1000 publishing model, enabling our editorial team to assess the soundness and integrity of the research so it can be published as quickly as possible. Before submitting to one of our publishing Platforms, set your research up for success by following these simple tips from our team.
Check #1: Authorship and author affiliation
Authors must be formally affiliated with an accredited institution or recognized organization to be able to publish with F1000. Author affiliation is verified through institutional/organizational email address AND institutional/organizational website profile (or other means).
Please note that some gateways have more specific criteria; details can be found in each gateway under “About this gateway”.
Funder and partner Platforms will require different authorship criteria to publish; please see the “Policies” page for the Platform you are interested in.
Check #2: Plagiarism
All articles submitted to our Platforms must be original, and our team will reject the article if apparent plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, is identified. “Avoid including extensive quotations from any one source in particular and be mindful of excessive or inappropriate self-citations,” advises David Sadler, Associate Editor at F1000.
If you have any concerns about your article, it may be worth running your article through a plagiarism checker, such as iThenticate, prior to submission.
Check #3: Data availability
All our Platforms have strong open data policies and endorse the FAIR Data Principles.
Authors must deposit the dataset(s) underlying their results in an appropriate data repository. The dataset(s) must have a license applied which allows reuse by others (CC0 or CC-BY) and must have a persistent identifier (e.g., a DOI), allocated by a data repository. You must also provide a data availability statement as a section at the end of your article.
Please check the Data Guidelines for the particular Platform you are submitting to. These will outline how to write your data availability statement and list our recommended repositories for the data type.
We recognize that openly sharing data may not always be feasible due to ethical considerations or third-party restrictions. Your chosen Platform will have specific guidance on exceptions to our policy on the Data Guidelines page.
Check #4: Ethics and consent
All F1000 Platforms require articles to adhere to the COPE guidelines regarding ethical oversight. If your research involves humans, animals, or plants, you must comply with our Ethical Policies and obtain ethical approval before conducting the research.
“Some articles don’t include any ethical or consent information upon submission. Often, this is because the author does not deem the participant data included in the paper to be sensitive or identifying,” says Deirbhile McQuillan, Senior Assistant Editor at F1000. “Nonetheless, we would still expect the authors to have obtained informed, preferably written, consent, and if ethical approval was waived by a review board, this should be stated in the ethics statement.”
Please check the Ethical Policies for the Platform you wish to submit to, as different platforms have different requirements. Open Research Europe, for example, has specific requirements regarding the Ethics Statement in the manuscript.
Check #5: Scope
We accept a broad range of traditional and non-traditional article types across the physical and life sciences, engineering, medicine, arts and humanities, and social sciences. Each Platform has an Article Guidelines page where you can identify the specific article types available. Ensure you submit your research as the most appropriate article type for maximum impact.
Authors should refer to the specific guidelines for the article type they wish to submit, as each one will have specific stipulations relating to content, format, word count, and more.
Check #6: Language
Articles should be well-written, and language quality shouldn’t impede understanding of the research. If our team thinks an article needs extensive copyediting, they will reject it and alert the author to some professional copyediting services they may wish to consider.
Jessica Torr, Editorial Lead at F1000, suggests asking a qualified proofreader or colleague to copyedit your article before submitting it to ensure readability and flow. If English is not your first language or you can’t find a suitable proofreader, Taylor & Francis offer translation and editing services.
Ready to submit your research to one of our publishing Platforms? Explore all our open publishing venues to find the right home for your research today.