We publish supplements and series in accordance with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Definition

•    Supplements
A supplement is a collection of papers that addresses specific issues or topics. A supplement may be published as a separate issue of the journal or as part of a regular issue and may be supported by sources of funding other than the journal’s publisher. For the time being, we will only be publishing supplements relating to the proceedings of meetings or conferences (full articles or abstracts).

The many benefits of publishing a supplement include：

• Providing a vehicle for education
• Delivering quality content in a tailored format
• Reaching target audiences
• Enhancing exposure
• Making the content permanent available online and gaining impact

•    Special series
A special series may also be referred to as a “special column”, “featured column” or “focused issue”. The purpose of a special series is to provide a critical analysis and comprehensive overview of contemporary topics within the coverage of the journal. In most of the cases, a special series is commissioned by the editorial office and led by a special Guest Editor (an international authority on the subject in question who oversees its thorough exploration). Besides, a special series is usually published as part of a journal issue and comes to fruition based on the ideas of the Guest Editor, without any sponsorship or funding.

All proposals for supplements and series must undergo evaluation and be approved by the Editorial Office. The Guest Editor of the supplement or series assists with the organization of the supplement and the decision-making of manuscripts depending on their availability in accordance with the journal’s peer review process policy. All manuscripts proposed for a supplement or series will be sent for external peer review organized by the Editorial Office, and final decisions on their publication rest with the journal's editors, in consultation with the Guest Editor of the supplement or series.

Peer review process policy
Generally, all research articles, reviews, and clinical case-based articles should undergo the standard peer review process. However, if an article is approved for the Rapid Communication Pathway, it will undergo a rapid review process, facilitated by previous peer review comments and revisions obtained after rejection from another esteemed journal. In such cases, there will be a “Provenance and Peer Review” statement in the footnote of the article.

To assure impartial decision-making and to avoid any potential conflicts of interest, authors with a position in the journal’s editorial team (Guest Editor/Editorial Board Member/Editor-in-Chief, etc.) will be excluded from any editorial handling of their manuscript (including reviewing, editing, and the final decision). Besides, articles from the Editor-in-Chief will be assigned to an Associate Editor or, in cases where the Associate Editor is not available, to an Editorial Board Member with related expertise. After the review comments have been received from external reviewers, the manuscript will be returned to the Associate Editor or Editorial Board Member to make a final decision.

For more details, please refer to the “Peer Review Process” tab under the “Journal Info” Manu bar of the journal website navigation bar for more details.

Statements related to the publication process for supplements and series

1. Individuals with an interest in publishing a supplement or special series can send a proposal of the suggested contents and authors to the Editorial Office. The proposal should indicate any relevant deadlines for sponsors, if any (e.g. conferences where the supplement will be made available). It should also indicate the number of manuscripts that will be included in the supplement/series and when they are likely to be received by the Editorial Office.
2. The proposal will then be reviewed by the Editorial Office, which takes full responsibility for the policies, practices, and content of supplements, including complete control of decisions relating to the selection of authors, peer reviewers, and content for the supplement/special series. Editing by the funding organization is not permitted.
3. To ensure high-quality content for a specific target audience, all articles submitted for a supplement or series must undergo a standard peer-review process organized by the Editorial Office and match the scope of the journal.
4. All supplements should contain a general introduction. The source of the idea for the supplement, sources of funding for the supplement’s research and publication, as well as products of the funding source related to the content of the supplement, should be clearly stated in the introductory material.
5. Advertising in supplements follows the same policies applied to all AME journals: https://www.amegroups.com/pages/advertising-policy.
6. The pages of the supplement are distinguished from ordinary editorial pages by an “S” before the page number. The title of the supplement will also be highlighted on the cover.
7. Articles for supplements/series should follow the guidelines for authors, the same principles of authorship and relationship disclosure, and the other related editorial policies of the journal. Secondary publications (papers previously published elsewhere) should be clearly identified by the citation of the original paper and in the title of the secondary publication.

Updated on September 2, 2020