Editorial Policies

1. Scope

1.1 Subject areas

Research Square is a multidisciplinary preprint server that posts research in all scientific areas, including physical, biomedical and social sciences.

1.2 Article types

We currently accept the following article types:

Research Article - a full article of the kind that appears in academic journals. Research Articles usually take the form of Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions; however, we accept other formats as well.
Systematic Review - a formal evaluation of the literature on a particular topic, including clearly defined inclusion/exclusion criteria, an exclusion flowchart and a meta-analysis of available results.
Method Article - a full description of a new method. A Method Article should include a write-up of the steps taken to validate the method, with results to support this validation. Protocol articles are also accepted.
Short Report - a brief write up of a single experiment. This often takes the form of a single figure with brief accompanying text to explain how the figure was obtained.
Case Report - a write-up of an individual clinical presentation. This is usually accompanied by a literature review to place in the context of current clinical understanding.
Data Note - a single dataset accompanied by a brief write up of how the data were obtained.

Manuscripts reporting negative results are included. We do not accept literature reviews, hypotheses, opinions, theories or commentaries.

2. Journal preprint policy

Most journals allow posting of a preprint to places like Research Square before publication in the journal. A list of journal policies can be found on Wikipedia here.

3. Formatting guidelines

We accept the following file formats: doc, docx, RTF, Tex/LaTeX.

If you need help with writing in English you should consider:

Asking a colleague who is a native English speaker to review your manuscript for clarity.
Using a professional language editing service where editors will improve the English to ensure that your meaning is clear and identify problems that require your review. One such service is our American Journal Experts language editing service.

4. Data availability

We strongly encourage authors to make the data on which the conclusions of their manuscript rely publicly available. For an index of relevant data repositories, see Fairsharing.org. We recommend authors include a Data Availability statement, documenting where the data can be found.

Data availability statements can take one of the following forms (or a combination of more than one if required for multiple datasets):

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS]
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
Not applicable. If your manuscript does not contain any data, please state 'Not applicable' in this section.

5. Screening

Preprints submitted to Research Square are checked for appropriate ethics and consent statements; patient identifiers; disclosure of competing interests; and inappropriate, alarming, or pseudoscientific claims. Checks at Research Square are carried out by our trained PhDs editorial staff. Preprints that are posted to the platform as part of In Review display the set of checks that have been carried out by the journal. They will include any checks the journal carries out in addition to the above-mentioned Research Square performed checks. These checks are displayed in the “integrity check badge”.

6. Time to post

Once received, preprints receive a range of ethical, biosecurity, and integrity checks and are posted within 24-48hrs. Preprints received through an In Review service first undergo a quality check at the journal. Once the quality check is complete, Research Square will begin processing the manuscript for posting as a preprint.

7. Withdrawal and removal policy

Manuscripts posted on Research Square receive a DOI making them a citable part of the scientific record. They are widely indexed by indexers such as Crossref and Google Scholar, giving them a permanent digital presence. Once manuscripts receive a DOI, we cannot remove these from the platform without cause.

7.1 Withdrawal

At times, we may choose to withdraw an article due to the findings no longer being valid, or due to ethical reasons or reasons of a similar nature. Authors or readers may request the withdrawal of a manuscript from the platform by emailing [email protected]. If a manuscript is withdrawn, a new version of the manuscript is posted that explains why the author has chosen to withdraw their manuscript. The previous versions remain available.

7.2 Removal

In very rare circumstances we may decide that an article needs removing from the site altogether for legal reasons. In these cases the manuscript is removed and replaced with a placeholder explaining why it has been removed.

8. Indexing

Preprints at Research Square are indexed through Crossref, Google Scholar, and Researcher. Indexing with Meta, Europe PMC, and PubMed Central are in development.

9. Appeals

If we make a decision not to post a manuscript to the platform due to concerns identified at the screening step described in section 4, that decision cannot be appealed.

10. Commenting Policies

10.1 Commenter identification

Commenters are required to provide a name and email address.

10.2 Comment moderation

Comments that are flagged for moderation should only be removed if they contain offensive or inappropriate content. Comments written in a disrespectful manner may also be removed.

10.3 Comments guidelines

Language that is insulting, inflammatory, or obscene will not be tolerated.
Unsupported assertions or statements should be avoided. Comments must be evidence-based, not authority-based.
When previously published studies are cited, they must be accurately referenced and, where possible, a DOI and link to a publicly accessible version supplied.
Unpublished data should be provided with sufficient methodological detail for those data to be assessed. Alternatively, a permanent web link to such information should be provided.
Arguments based on belief are to be avoided. For example the assertion, “I don't believe the results in Figure 2” must be supported.
Discussions should be confined to the demonstrable content of articles and should avoid speculation about the motivations or prejudices of authors.
Questions about experimental data are appropriate, but need to be phrased in a way that does not imply any misconduct on the part of the authors. If a reader is concerned about potential misconduct, such concerns must always be raised with Research Square editorial staff. Please contact us at [email protected]
Concerned readers should not rely solely on posting their comments on blogs, social media, or other third party websites to make us aware of concerns, but should ensure to contact [email protected] directly.

11. Archiving

Articles are held in an archive run by Portico, who will post the full Research Square content repository in the event of the site ceasing to exist. This ensures permanence of all content posted to the platform.

12. Licencing

All papers on the platform are published under a CC-BY 4.0 licence. For more guidance on licensing, please see the Preprint Licensing Information Page at ASAPbio.

13. Citation

Please cite preprints on Research Square using the following format:

Martina Bientzle, Ulrike Cress, Joachim Kimmerle. Development of domain-specific epistemological beliefs of physiotherapists: A longitudinal study, 22 October 2019, PREPRINT (Version 3) available at Research Square [+https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.2.9685/v3]

Editorial Policies

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

Legal Notice

Editorial Policies

1. Scope

1.1 Subject areas

1.2 Article types

2. Journal preprint policy

3. Formatting guidelines

4. Data availability

5. Screening

6. Time to post

7. Withdrawal and removal policy

7.1 Withdrawal

7.2 Removal

8. Indexing

9. Appeals

10. Commenting Policies

10.1 Commenter identification

10.2 Comment moderation

10.3 Comments guidelines

11. Archiving

12. Licencing

13. Citation

Questions or concerns?