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Submission guidelines

Our 3-step submission process

  1. Before you submit

    Before you submit, we recommend familiarizing yourself with the following.

  2. Ready to submit

    To give your manuscript the best chance of publication, follow these editorial policies and formatting guidelines.

  3. Submit and promote

    After acceptance, we provide support so your article gains maximum impact in the scientific community and beyond.

Submit manuscript

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Annual Journal Metrics

  • Citation Impact 2023
    Journal Impact Factor: 3.7
    5-year Journal Impact Factor: 5.1
    Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP): 1.452
    SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 0.994

    Speed 2023
    Submission to first editorial decision (median days): 4
    Submission to acceptance (median days): 103

    Usage 2023
    Downloads: 444,163
    Altmetric mentions: 274

More from SpringerOpen - read our blog!

In our blog you’ll find highlights and opinions on the best research we publish, interviews with our Editors, as well as insights and perspectives on open access publishing.

Need help with APC funding?

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We offer a free open access support service to make it easier for you to discover and apply for article-processing charge (APC) funding. ​​​​​​​Learn more here.