About

Editorial Policies

Hematopathology holds the highest standard of scientific journalism with the goal to spread evidence-based medical knowledge on diagnosis of blood diseases. Editors will treat all manuscripts submitted to Hematopathology in confidence and remain neutral regarding different viewpoints or opinions. Submission of a manuscript to Hematopathology implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content and the manuscript conforms to the journal’s following policies.

Role of Editors

Editors consider manuscripts for publication based solely on the scientific merits. They act in a balanced, fair and objective way while carrying out duties without discrimination based on sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, gender, ethnic or geographical background of the authors. Editors have responsibilities to ensure that there is no conflict of interest with respect to manuscripts they review, that all manuscripts, including submissions for sponsored supplements or special issues are handled in the same way as other submissions, to preserve the anonymity of reviewers, to adopt and follow reasonable procedures in the event of any complaints, ethical or otherwise, in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

To give authors a reasonable opportunity to respond to any complaints. All complaints should be investigated no matter when the original publication was approved, and documentation associated with any such complaints should be retained.

To promote the publication of corrections and/or retractions when errors are found.

Peer Review Policy

Hematopathology maintains the highest standards of peer review while increasing the efficiency of the review process. All manuscripts submitted to Hematopathology will be subjected to rigorous scientific review by two to three experts in the pertinent fields selected by the Editor-in-Chief and/or Associate Editor(s). Author recommended reviewers are welcome but not always used. Potential reviewers (up to three) who have conflict of interests can be excluded with request from the authors. Based on the reviewers’ comments and recommendations, the Editor-in-Chief and/or Associate Editor(s) will decide whether to accept, reject or request revisions.

Authorship

All authors on submission of their manuscript must affirm in the cover letter that they have met the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship, have agreed to be authors, and are aware of the terms of publication. The corresponding author will serve as the first contact for all communication about manuscripts submitted to Hematopathology, and it is this person’s responsibility to share all Hematopathology communication with all of the authors. In addition, it is the corresponding author’s responsibility to respond to any questions regarding the integrity of the work.

Role of the Funding Source

All sources of funding should be declared as an acknowledgment at the end of the text.

Ethics and Consent

All authors should observe the highest standards with respect to publication ethics as set out by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Hematopathology has zero tolerance of the following unacceptable practices: falsification or fabrication of data, plagiarism, and misappropriation of the work.

It is the authors’ sole responsibility to make sure that no identifiable information is used, including but not limited to, patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. Identifiable information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that the patient be shown the manuscript to be published.

Papers including animal experiments or clinical trials must be conducted with approval by the local animal care or human subject committees, respectively. As outlined by both COPE and ICMJE, all clinical trials should be conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki. All manuscripts, except reviews, must include a statement in the abstract and the Methods section that the study was approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) and/or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

Conflict of Interests

At the time of submission, all of the authors need to reveal any financial interests or connections, direct or indirect, that might cause any bias in the work submitted. The examples include, but are not limited to, sources for consulting fees, sources for research funding, employment by a related company, holding stocks or shares in a related company, reimbursement for attending a related symposium or meeting, personal relationships, and direct academic competition. Further guidelines can be found on the ICMJE website. If the manuscript was accepted for publication, relevant Conflict of Interest declaration needs to be included in the section of Acknowledgements.

Copyright

Authors of articles accepted for publication in Hematopathology retain copyright to their work. Authors agree to release their article with a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 license.

Appealing and Complaints

Misconduct and/or unethical behavior may be identified and brought to the attention of the editorial office and/or publisher at any time, by anyone. Whoever informs the editorial office or publisher of misconduct should gather sufficient evidence and information for an investigation to be initiated. Evidence should be gathered in a discreet manner, to avoid spreading allegations beyond those who absolutely need to know, to protect the confidentiality of the parties in question until a conclusion has been reached. All allegations will be taken seriously and handled in the same manner.

The editor will take initial action, with additional input from the publisher where appropriate. In every case, authors will be given the opportunity to respond to any allegations.

Minor breaches of conduct might be dealt with internally, without the need for any outside consultation. Depending on the severity of the infraction, other outcomes may include, but are not limited to the following:

1. A written warning regarding the breach of conduct, informing the author or reviewer of the infraction, and educating the author or reviewer on how to avoid future breaches;
2. Publication of a formal notice and/or editorial detailing the misconduct; a formal letter to the author’s department head and/or funding agency; retraction of the publication from the journal, and informing both the Abstracting & Indexing services as well as the readership of the publication of the infraction;
3. Suspension of the author’s eligibility for publication; reporting the breach of conduct to a higher authority for further investigation and action.

Corrections, Retractions, and Papers with Concerns

Whenever major errors or incorrect information are identified in the published papers by editors, authors, or readers, Hematopathology will publish corrections to, or retractions of, articles published to maintain the integrity of the academic record. Corrections to, or retractions of, published papers will be made by publishing an Erratum or a Retraction article, without altering the original article in any way other than to add a prominent link to the Erratum or Retraction article. Decision to publish an Erratum or Retraction will be at the Editor(s)’ discretion and the COPE guidelines will be followed. The original article will remain in the public domain and the subsequent Erratum or Retraction will be widely indexed. Only in the exceptional event that material is considered to infringe certain rights or is defamatory, we may have to remove the material from our archives.

Open Access Statement

Hematopathology is a fully open access journal, with no charges for either readers or authors. All content is freely available online. Authors of articles published in Volumes 1 through 5 of Hematopathology were originally asked to transfer their copyright to the journal as a condition of publication. As of the publication of Volume 6 and September 2021, Hematopathology has reverted copyright back to the original authors of all published articles. All content published in Hematopathology is released under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 license.