Manuscript Editorial and Peer Review Policies of China Tropical Medicine

1. Review System

All manuscripts published in this journal undergo a triple-review process: initial editorial review, review by the Editorial Director, and final review by the Editor-in-Chief, supplemented by external peer review. External review is conducted as double-blind peer review. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two peer reviewers and assigned based on their professional expertise to ensure fairness and impartiality. For manuscripts involving statistical concerns, additional review by a professional statistician may be arranged.

Confidentiality: No information regarding a submitted manuscript shall be disclosed to anyone other than the reviewers and editorial staff. Reviewers must keep manuscripts confidential and shall not disclose any information related to a specific manuscript or its content to any third party without permission from the editorial office. If necessary, information from submitted manuscripts may be systematically collected and analyzed to help improve editorial or peer review quality, but such processes shall remain strictly confidential.

Online Review System: https://manu35.magtech.com.cn/Journalx_zgrdyx/expertLogOn.action

Authors are required to revise their manuscripts in accordance with review comments until they meet publication requirements. For the detailed publication process, please refer to the figure below.

2. Editorial Policy

Authorship responsibility: Authors take full responsibility for their manuscripts. While the journal fully respects authors’ viewpoints, the editorial office reserves the right to edit or abridge accepted manuscripts. Authors who disagree with such editing shall state this when responding to revision comments.

3. Processing Time

After submission, authors may log into the system at any time to check the review status. The peer review period is generally completed within 3 months. Authors must contact the journal before submitting the same manuscript to another journal. Authors must return revised manuscripts within the specified time after receiving review comments; otherwise, the manuscript will be deemed automatically withdrawn.

4. Submissions by Editorial Board Members and Editors

Submissions by editorial board members and editorial staff must comply with all journal review and editorial procedures. Editorial board members and editors shall not participate in the review, editing, or acceptance decisions of manuscripts written by themselves, their family members, or colleagues. Peer review must be conducted independently of the relevant authors, editors, and their research groups.

5. Appeal Policy

Authors who disagree with editorial decisions or review comments may submit an appeal. Authors must submit a written appeal clearly indicating the manuscript number and send it to the official email: ctmffff@vip.163.com. The appeal must state detailed and reasonable grounds, including a comprehensive and justified response to the review comments. The appeal must be affixed with the official seal of the author’s institution to take effect. The editorial office will decide whether to accept the appeal based on the specific circumstances.

6. Correction and Retraction

Generally, articles published online or in print are considered final versions. The journal does not routinely correct or retract published articles. Corrections or retractions may be made only when strictly necessary (as described below).

Correction

If an article contains unintentional scientific errors that do not significantly affect the results or conclusions, the editorial office will promptly publish a correction notice detailing changes made to the original article and citing its source. If necessary, the journal may publish a revised version of the article with details of changes and an update date. The original version will remain archived and accessible; however, the latest version should be used for citation.

Retraction

The editorial office will retract an article and issue a retraction notice in the following cases:

(1) The article contains serious scientific errors that render the results and conclusions unreliable;

(2) If an article is suspected of academic misconduct (including plagiarism, data falsification, etc.), the editorial office will launch an investigation and issue a statement to alert readers of potential issues. The results will be disclosed after the investigation. If academic misconduct is confirmed, the editorial office will retract the article and publish a formal retraction notice.