Policies for Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies
Editorial Process
All submissions are initially evaluated by the editor to insure that they conform to the general criteria for publication. Manuscripts will then be sent to at least two reviewers who have agreed in advance to assess the paper rapidly. Since the editor is unlikely to have expertise in all areas published by the TNAS, the corresponding author of a submission should suggest three reviewers, at least two of which are outside of the corresponding author’s home institution. The editor will make every effort to ensure that the reviews are obtained in a timely manner, and will send reminders to reviewers so that the corresponding author will receive an initial decision on their submission within one month. After a manuscript is reviewed, authors will either receive notice that the manuscript has been accepted, tentatively accepted pending revision with or without re-review, or rejected. Manuscripts will be published on-line immediately after their acceptance in advance of the assembly of a complete volume.
Manuscripts are considered with the understanding that no part of the work has been published previously in print or electronic format and that the paper is not under consideration by another publication or electronic medium. All in-press or submitted works pertinent to the manuscript under consideration by the TNAS (including those cited in the manuscript under consideration) must accompany the submission. Related manuscripts that have been submitted elsewhere during the period of revision must accompany revised manuscripts. Failure to provide copies of related manuscripts under consideration elsewhere may delay the review process and may be grounds for rejection.
Authorship
The TNAS uses the authorship and contributorship guidelines defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.ICMJE.org).
One corresponding author and unrestricted joint authorship is allowed. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all appropriate contributors are listed as authors and that all authors have agreed to the manuscript’s content and its submission to TNAS.
Conflict of Interest
All authors should disclose any financial conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. Authors must declare any such conflict in the cover letter accompanying the manuscript and in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript. As a guideline, any affiliation associated with a payment or financial benefit exceeding $10,000 per year or 5% ownership of a company or research funding by a company with related interests would constitute a conflict that must be declared. This policy applies to all submitted research manuscripts and review material. Examples of statement language include: AUTHOR is an employee and shareholder of COMPANY; AUTHOR is a founder of COMPANY and a member of its scientific advisory board; This work was supported in part by a grant from COMPANY.
Studies Involving Humans and Animals
For manuscripts reporting results of studies of either human subjects or materials obtained from human subjects, the Material and Methods section must indicate that the study was approved by the appropriate institutional review board (IRB) and/or that appropriate informed consent was obtained from human subjects. In general, manuscripts should not include photographs of human study subjects. If this is absolutely essential, the corresponding author should indicate, in their cover letter to the editor, why this is the case and a copy of signed consent forms from identifiable persons appearing in any photographs, with their names blocked out to avoid violation of HIPAA regulations, should be submitted with the manuscript at the time of submission. Research describing experiments on live vertebrates or higher invertebrates must be performed in accordance with relevant institutional and national guidelines and regulations. In the manuscript, a statement identifying the committee approving the experiments and confirming that all experiments conform to the relevant regulatory standards must be included in the Material and Methods section. Reviewers will be asked to comment on the alignment of the research with the relevant institutional and national guidelines and regulations, and the editor may request additional information from authors if concerns arise.
Distribution of Materials and Data
By submitting a manuscript for publication in the TNAS, authors agree that they are willing to distribute any materials and protocols used in the published experiments to qualified researchers for their own use. Materials include but are not limited to cells, DNA, antibodies, reagents, and organisms. These materials must be made available with minimal restrictions and in a timely manner, but it is acceptable to request reasonable payment to cover the cost of provision and the transport of materials. If there are restrictions to the availability of any materials, data, or information, these must be disclosed in the cover letter and the Material and Methods section of the manuscript at the time of submission. Information on nucleic acid and protein sequences, high-dimensional datasets (e.g., microarray data), and macromolecular structures must be deposited in the appropriate public database and must be accessible without restriction from the date of publication. The URL of the databases used must be included in the Web Resources section of the manuscript. All entry names and/or accession numbers must be included in the Material and Methods section.
Computer Programs
Novel computer programs should be made publicly available by providing a URL and title for the website in a Web Resources section within the manuscript.
Copyright
Authors retain copyright to their work.
Permissions
The corresponding author should insure that, if excerpts from other copyrighted works are included in a manuscript, written permission has been obtained from the copyright owners and the sources credited in the article.
Types of Submissions
TNAS publishes peer-reviewed scholarship related to science, science policy, science education, the history of science, and the impact of scientific endeavors. It publishes original articles that can be classified in the categories described in the following sections. In all cases, authors retain original copyright. The guidelines for formatting each type of manuscript are given in the Submission Guidelines page.
Research Articles
Research Articles should present original research that has not been published elsewhere and which constitutes a comprehensive study of a scientific problem. Authors are encouraged to publish complete data sets and a comprehensive analysis of their data.
Short Communications
Short Communications should present important original research findings that do not constitute a comprehensive study on their own.
Novel Hypotheses
Novel Hypotheses should present an original, thoughtful review of the scientific literature to develop and support proposals that can help address challenging problems in science.
Reviews
Reviews should present an original overview of, and perspectives for future progress on, an important scientific topic.
Perspectives
Perspectives should provide original, reasoned and well-documented viewpoints on trends in science, science policy, science education, the history of science, or other areas of science, and reflect an author’s unique and valuable perspective.
Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor are brief commentaries concerning manuscripts published in TNAS.
Removal
A paper may be updated or removed from public view by sending a request to the editor (Bruce Chase, bchase@unomaha.edu). However, a citation to the original version of the paper will always remain on the site.
Author Review
Authors are asked to review any PDFs created from their papers within 5 days of being sent the PDF. Authors should notify the editor of corrections to be made to the file.
Rights and Permissions
Before submitting a paper to the repository, please be sure that all necessary permissions have been cleared. You retain the copyright to your paper. By submitting a manuscript for publication in the TNAS, you grant us the nonexclusive right to publish this material in this repository. You may also publish it elsewhere.