Instructions For Authors

INTRODUCTION

The Open Transportation Journal is an open access journal that publishes research articles, reviews, letters and guest-edited single-topic issues in the field of transportation, aiming at providing the most complete and reliable source of information on current developments in the field.

Each peer-reviewed article that is published in a Bentham Open Journal is universally and freely accessible via the Internet in an easily readable and printable PDF format.

ONLINE MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

Authors are requested to electronically submit their papers to this journal for evaluation and submission at https://bentham.manuscriptpoint.com/journals/totj / View Submission Instructions. The Manuscript Processing System (MPS) has been designed to ensure step-by-step online processing and tracking of manuscripts for authors, editors, and publishers from submission to acceptance and final reproduction.

This website will guide the authors through each stage of the submission process. The text, tables, and artwork should be uploaded at (https://bentham.manuscriptpoint.com/journals/totj) in electronic format by the authors. However, the authors who are unable to provide an electronic version or who are facing other difficulties must contact the editorial office by emailing at info@benthamopen.net to discuss any alternatives. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines will unfortunately not be taken into consideration.

Manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript and should not be submitted by anyone on their behalf. The principal/corresponding author will be required to submit a copyright letter along with the manuscript on behalf of all the co-authors (if any). The author(s) will confirm that the manuscript (or any part of it) has not been published previously or is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Furthermore, any illustration, structure, or table that has been published elsewhere must be reported, and copyright permission for reproduction must be obtained.

FREE FORMAT SUBMISSION

The author's time is valuable and should not be wasted on research formatting. Free Format Submission makes it easier and faster to prepare text for submission.

When submitting to any Bentham journal, authors are not required to follow any formatting guidelines. When an article is accepted for publication, authors can submit it in the format of their choice, and Bentham will convert it into a journal-specific format for them.

If the submission is accepted for publication, Bentham will format it in accordance with the style and format of the journal.

For all online submissions, please provide soft copies of all the materials (main text in MS Word or Tex/LaTeX), figures/illustrations in TIFF, PDF or JPEG, and chemical structures drawn in ChemDraw (CDX) / ISISDraw (TGF) as separate files, while a PDF version of the entire manuscript must also be included, embedded with all the figures/illustrations/tables/chemical structures etc. It is advisable that the document files related to a manuscript submission should always have the name of the corresponding author as part of the file name, i.e., "Cilli MS text.doc", "Cilli MS Figure 1", etc.

It is imperative that before submission, authors should carefully proofread the files for special characters, mathematical symbols, Greek letters, equations, tables, references and images to ensure that they appear in a proper format.

References, figures, tables, chemical structures, etc., should be referred to in the text at the appropriate place where they have been first discussed. Figure legends/captions should also be provided.

Successful electronic submission of a manuscript will be followed by system-generated acknowledgements to the principal/corresponding author. Any queries therein should be addressed to info@benthamopen.net

NOTE: Any queries therein should be addressed to oa@benthamopen.net and copied to Jalil@benthamopen.net

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Authors who publish in Bentham Open journals retain copyright to their work. It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to this journal have not been published and will not be simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. Plagiarism is strictly forbidden, and by submitting the article for publication, the authors agree that the publishers have the legal right to take appropriate action against the authors if plagiarism or fabricated information is discovered. Once submitted to the journal, the authors may not withdraw their manuscript at any stage prior to publication.

Open Access Articles are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode, which permits unrestricted, distribution and reproduction in any medium, as long as the work is properly credited/attributed. The use of a Creative Commons License enables authors to retain copyright to their work.

Copyright Letter

It is mandatory that a signed copyright letter be submitted along with the manuscript by the corresponding author. The article should not contain any such material or information that may be unlawful, defamatory, fabricated, plagiarized, or which would, if published, violate the terms and in the copyright agreement. The authors acknowledge that the publishers have the legal right to take appropriate action against the authors for any such violation of the terms and conditions of the copyright agreement. The copyright letter can be downloaded from the journal's website. Download the Copyright Letter

PERMISSION FOR REPRODUCTION

Published/reproduced material should not be included unless you have obtained written permission from the copyright holder, which should be forwarded to the Editorial Office in case of acceptance of your article for publication.

For reproducing any material published in an article by Bentham Open, please fill in the FORM and send it to info@benthamopen.net for consideration.

Third-Party Permissions

Authors are responsible for managing the inclusion of third-party content as an author/editor of a work. We refer to 'third-party content' as any work that authors have copied or adapted from other sources such as text, figures, photographs, tables, screenshots, and other similar items.

Unless the figure is in the public domain (copyright-free) or permitted for use under Creative Commons or other Open licenses, the author must get permission from the copyright holder(s).

Published/reproduced material should not be included unless written permission has been obtained from the copyright holder, which should be forwarded to the Editorial Office in case of acceptance of the article for publication.

ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES (APC)

The Article Processing Charges (APC) for each general article (Irrespective of Research Article, Review Article, Case Study, etc.) published in this journal is US $1100.

The Article Processing Charges (APC) for articles published in this journal within thematic issues is US $990.

Once the paper is accepted for publication, the author will receive an electronic invoice via email.

Special Fee Waivers and Discounts:

Bentham Open offers a discount of 50% on the publication fee for manuscripts of all corresponding authors who reside in countries that are categorized as low-income economies by the World Bank. To see if you qualify for the discount, please refer to the complete list of these countries by clicking here.

REFUND POLICY

Requests for waivers or discounts should be made during the initial submission of the article and not when the article has been accepted. The payment process does not involve the editors nor does it have any influence on the editorial decisions. Payment can be made once the article is accepted. The accepted articles will not be published until the payment has been received. Bentham Science does not refund the Publication Fee once it has been paid.

Submission Checklist

The author (s) is advised to review the following key points before submitting a manuscript to the journal for evaluation. For more information, please refer to the relevant section of the guide to authors.

  • References should not be cited in the abstract.
  • References should be cited sequentially in the text, and all references should be available in the reference section.
  • Figures, schemes and tables should be provided with captions.
  • Tables and figures should be cited in the text in proper sequence and numerical order.
  • Each table should be provided separately in an editable Word document, along with table captions.
  • Manuscripts containing language inconsistencies will not be published. Make sure that you seek professional assistance for correction of grammatical, scientific and typographical errors before submission of the revised version of the article for publication.
  • Chemical structures must be prepared in ChemDraw/CDX.
  • The information about the funder, who provided funding for the research or article preparation, should be mentioned.
  • Financial contributions to the work should be clearly acknowledged, as should any potential conflict of interest.

MANUSCRIPT PUBLISHED

The journal accepts original research articles, review articles and letters written in English. Single-topic/thematic issues may also be considered for publication.

Conference Proceedings

For proposals to publish conference proceedings in this journal, please contact us at email: proceedings@benthamopen.net.

Supplement/Single Topic Issues

The journal also considers Supplements/Single topic issues for publication. A Supplement/Single topic issue will be a collection of review/research articles (minimum of 6, maximum of 20 articles) based on a contemporary theme or topic of great importance to the field. Mini-supplements consisting of between 3 to 5 articles are also welcome. The Guest Editors' main editorial task is to invite the contributors to the Supplement and to manage the peer review of submitted manuscripts. A short summary or proposal for editing a supplement should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief at the e-mail address specialissue@benthamopen.net.

Manuscript Length

Research Articles

Research articles should be of 4000-6000 words with 75 or more references excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc .

Review Articles

The length of a published comprehensive review article is from 6000-10000 words with 100 or more references excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc.

Systematic Reviews

Systematic Reviews include systematic updates in review protocols, methods, research and results from all relevant fields for any studies and updates on already published issues. The total number of words for a published systematic review is from 4000 to 6000 words with 100 or more references excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must be reported according to PRISMA guidelines; ( www.prisma-statement.org).

Mini-Review Articles

Mini-reviews should be 3000- 6000 words with 75 or more references excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc.

Letter Articles

Letters should be 3000-4000 words with 40 or more references excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc.

Book Reviews

This journal publishes open access reviews on recently published books (both print and electronic) relevant to the journal. The total number of words for a book reviews is 850 to 100 words excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc . Publishers and authors of books are invited to contact our book reviews editor at totj@benthamopen.net with book review requests. All submitted books will be reviewed by an independent expert in the field. No page charges will be levied to authors for the publication of book reviews.

Case Reports

Case reports should describe new observations of findings or novel/unique outcomes relevant to the field. The total number of words for a published case report is 1500 to 2500 words with 40 or more references excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc .

Current Frontiers

The articles should be contributed by eminent experts on cutting-edge recent developments. They should be written in the format of mini-reviews (about 4 to 5 pages, approximately 800 to 850 words per composed page excluding tables, structures, graphics, figures and captions) with about 70 references to recent literature. All pages should be numbered sequentially.

Editorials

Editorials are short papers on important topics related to the journal. The total number of words in an editorial should not exceed 1000 to 1500, and it should contain only 10-15 references. An abstract is not required.

Commentaries

Commentaries present an analysis by scientists on different important issues related to the publications in the journal. Commentaries should contain less than 3000 words, including the abstract, main text, references, and figure legends. However, an abstract is not necessary.

Perspectives

A perspective provides a short overview of a research topic relevant to the field. The length of a published perspective ranges from 1500 to 1800 words, with 20 or more references, excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc.

Industry News

Industry News should provide important developments in industries related to the scope of the Journal that could be of interest to the readers. The length of the submission should be about 1000 words, and it should ideally have 10 or more references (abstract is not required).

There is no restriction on the number of figures, tables or additional files e.g. video clips, animation and datasets, that can be included in each article online.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

The manuscript should be written in English in a clear, direct and active style. All pages must be numbered sequentially, facilitating in the reviewing and editing of the manuscript.

Microsoft Word Template

It is advisable that authors prepare their manuscript using the template available on the Web, which will assist in preparation of the manuscript according to the journal’s format. Download the Template.

Manuscript Section For Papers

Manuscripts submitted for research and review articles in the respective journal should be divided into the following sections:

  • Title
  • Title page
  • Structured Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Text organization
  • Conclusion
  • List of abbreviations (if any)
  • Consent for Publication
  • Availability of Data and Materials
  • Funding
  • Conflict of interest
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
  • Appendices
  • Figures/illustrations (if any)
  • Chemical structures (if any)
  • Tables and captions (if any)
  • Supportive/supplementary material (if any)

Title

The title should be precise and brief and must not be of more than 120 characters. Authors should avoid the use of non-standard abbreviations and question marks in titles. The title must be written in title case except for articles, conjunctions and prepositions.

As recommended by the reporting guidelines, information about the study should be a part of the title (particularly for randomized or clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta analyses).

Authors should also provide a short ‘running title’. The title, running title, by line correspondent footnote and the keywords should be written as presented in the original manuscript.

Title Page

The title page should include paper title, author(s) full name and affiliation, corresponding author(s) names and complete affiliation/address, along with phone, fax and email.

Structured Abstract:

The abstract of an article should be a clear, concise and accurate summary, having no more than 250 words, and including the explicit sub-headings (as in-line or run-in headings in bold). Use of abbreviations should be avoided and the references should not be cited in the abstract.

All the original research articles, systematic reviews and meta-analyses must be accompanied by a structured abstract. Ideally, each abstract should include the following sub-headings, but these may vary according to the requirements of the article.

Introduction/Objective: Summarize the objective or purpose of the research in a few sentences.

Methods: Give a brief description of the research design, methodology, and other relevant details about the conduct of the study.

Results: Outline the main conclusions or findings of the study, often with statistical data or significant findings.

Conclusion: Provide an overview of the study's key findings and any implications

The headings can vary but must state the purpose of the study, details of the participants, measurements, methods, main findings and conclusion.

Keywords

6 to 8 keywords must be provided. Keywords should be important and relevant so that researchers in this field be search for them so that and your paper should appear in top in a database search. The keywords should be contained in the title and they should appear several times in the article. In biomedical fields, MeSH terms are a good ‘common vocabulary’ source to draw keywords from https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html.

Text Organization

The main text should begin on a separate page and should be divided into title page, abstract and the main text. The text may be subdivided further according to the areas to be discussed, which should be followed by the List of Abbreviations (if any), Conflict of Interest, Acknowledgements and Reference sections. For review, the manuscript should be divided into title page, abstract and the main text. The text may be subdivided further according to the areas to be discussed, which should be followed by the Acknowledgements and Reference sections. The Review Article should mention any previous important recent and old reviews in the field and contain a comprehensive discussion starting with the general background of the field. It should then discuss the salient features of recent developments. The authors should avoid presenting any data or material which has already been published in a previous review. The authors are advised to present and discuss their observations in brief.

For Research Articles the manuscript should begin with the title page and abstract followed by the main text, which must be structured into separate sections as Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Conflict of Interest, Acknowledgements and References.

The manuscript style must be uniform throughout the text and 10 Times New Roman fonts should be used. The full term for an abbreviation should precede its first appearance in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement. The reference numbers should be given in square brackets in the text. Italics should be used for Binomial names of organisms (Genus and Species), for emphasis and for unfamiliar words or phrases. Non-assimilated words from Latin or other languages should also be italicized e.g. per se, et al., etc.

Section Headings

Section headings should be numbered sequentially, left aligned and have the first letter capitalized, starting with the introduction. Sub-section headings however, should be in lower-case and italicized with their initials capitalized. They should be numbered as 1.1, 1.2, etc.

INTRODUCTION

The introduction section should include the background and aims of the research in a comprehensive manner.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This section provides details of the methodology used along with information on any previous efforts with corresponding references. Any details for further modifications and research should be included. Sufficient details should be provided to the reader about the original data source in order to enable the analysis, appropriateness and verification of the results reported in the study.

It is important that the ‘Method Section’ should be sufficiently detailed with respect to the data presented, and the results produced from it. This section should include all the information and protocols gathered for the study at the time when it was written. If the study is funded or financially supported by an organization to conduct the research, then it should be mentioned in the Method Section. Methods must be result-oriented.

Transparent reporting on AI and AI-assisted Technologies

Authors who use AI tools for the production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must disclose the use of such tools in the Materials and Methods (or similar section) of the paper, stating how the AI tool was used and which tool was used.

Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, including parts produced with the assistance of an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.

Bentham Open will assess whether the manner AI was used and declared is reasonable and compliant with its published principles and practices. After publication, content may be rejected or changed due to inadequate declaration or the specific circumstances of its use.

RESULTS

The important and main findings of the study should come first in the Results Section. The tables, figures and references should be given in a sequence to emphasize the important information or observations related to the research. The repetition of data in tables and figures should be avoided. Results should be precise.

DISCUSSION

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, present a reproducible procedure and emphasize the importance of the article in light of the recent developments in the field. Extensive citations and discussion of published literature should be avoided.

This section of research articles should discuss the implications of the findings in the context of existing research and highlight the study's limitations. The authors should justify the sample size according to the study purpose and methods.

The results and discussion may be presented together under one heading of “Results and Discussion”. Alternatively, they may be presented under two separate sections (“Results” Section and “Discussion” Sections). Short sub-headings may be added in each section if required.

CONCLUSION

A small paragraph summarizing the contents of the article, presenting the final outcome of the research or proposing further study on the subject, may be given at the end of the article under the Conclusion section.

FUNDING

The authors need to declare the funding sources of their manuscripts clearly by providing the name of the funding agency or financial support along with the allotted grant/award number in round brackets (if applied), for instance, “This work was financially supported by [Name of the funding agency] (Grant number XXX).

Similarly, if a paper does not have any specific funding source, and is part of the employment of the authors, then the name of the employer will be required. Authors will have to clearly state that the funder was involved in writing, editing, approval, or decision to publish the article.

Greek Symbols and Special Characters

Greek symbols and special characters often undergo formatting changes and get corrupted or lost during the preparation of manuscripts for publication. To ensure that all special characters used are embedded in the text, these special characters should be inserted as a symbol but should not be a result of any format styling ( Symbol font face) otherwise they will be lost during conversion to PDF/XML.

Authors are encouraged to consult reporting guidelines. These guidelines provide a set of recommendations comprising a list of items relevant to their specific research design. All kinds of measurements should be reported only in International System of Units (SI). Chemical equations, chemical names, mathematical usage, unit of measurements, chemical and physical quantity & units must conform to SI and Chemical Abstracts or IUPAC.

List of Abbreviations (if any)

If abbreviations are used in the text either they should be defined in the text where first used, or a list of abbreviations should be provided.

Appendices

In case there is a need to present lengthy, but essential methodological details, use Appendices, which can be a part of the article. An appendix must not exceed three pages (Times New Roman, 10-point fonts, 900 max. words per page). The information should be provided in a condensed form, ruling out the need for full sentences. A single appendix should be titled as APPENDIX, while more than one can be titled as APPENDIX A, APPENDIX B, and so on.

Supportive/Supplementary Material (if any)

We do encourage the authors to append supportive material, for example a PowerPoint file containing a talk about the study, a PowerPoint file containing additional screenshots, a Word, RTF, or PDF document showing the original instrument(s) used, a video, or the original data (SAS/SPSS files, Excel files, Access Db files, etc.) provided it is inevitable or endorsed by the journal's Editor.

Published/reproduced material should not be included unless you have obtained written permission from the copyright holder, which must be forwarded to the Editorial Office in case of acceptance of your article for publication.

Supportive/Supplementary material intended for publication must be numbered and referred to in the manuscript but should not be a part of the submitted paper. In-text citations as well as a section with the heading "Supportive/Supplementary Material" before the "References" section should be provided. Here, list all Supportive/Supplementary Material and include a brief caption line for each file describing its contents.

Any additional files will be linked to the final published article in the form supplied by the author, but will not be displayed within the paper. They will be made available in exactly the same form as originally provided only on our Website. It should also be made sure that each additional file is a single table, figure or movie (please do not upload linked worksheets or PDF files larger than one sheet). Supportive/ Supplementary material must be provided in a single zipped file not larger than 4 MB.

Authors must clearly indicate if these files are not for publication but meant for the reviewers'/editors' perusal only.

RESEARCH ETHICS AND POLICIES

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
AUTHORS

All potential conflicts of interest (competing interests) that could have a direct or indirect influence on the work must be disclosed by the authors. Even if an author does not have a conflict, disclosing affiliations and interests allows for a more comprehensive and open approach, which leads to a more accurate and objective evaluation of the work. Conflicts of interest, whether genuine or imagined, are a perspective to which the readers are entitled.

The publication of a conflict statement in the article itself, as well as the submission of the conflict disclosure form, is required for all types of papers. It is not necessarily the case that a monetary relationship with examination support or funding for counseling work is inappropriate. Even if the authors do not have any conflict of interest, they still need to provide a confirmation statement in their manuscripts, i.e., “The author(s) confirm(s) that there is no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.”

The following are some examples of potential conflicts of interest that are directly or indirectly related to the research:

Financial competing interests include (but are not limited to):

  • Type of support/grant number
  • Institutional Conflicts of Interest
  • Funds received by the author
  • Funds received by the institution
  • Travel allowances for the research
  • Funds received for article preparation and reviewing
  • Funds for conducting review activities
  • Support provided for article writing assistance, for drugs, equipment, etc
  • Paid lectures
  • Pending fund or grant

Financial conflicts of interest can be personal as well as institutional. A personal conflict of interest occurs when a contributor involved in the publication process either receives an amount of money or expects to receive some financial help (including any other financial benefits such as patents or stocks, gifts, or services) that may impact the work related to a specific publication. More importantly, in academic research, such financial relationships can lead to institutional conflicts of interest (COIs) because the economic interests of the institution or institutional representatives may unsuitably affect the decision-making process.

An institutional conflict of interest arises in a situation when the financial interests of an institution or any institutional official (e.g., investments held by the university in a company) have the potential to unduly influence the research conducted by its employees or students, or pose an unacceptable risk to human subjects. Such conflicts usually arise in a state of affairs where a research project directly offers assistance or a benefit to an external entity via evaluation, validation, trial, or test of an invention, product, drug, service, or technology, and the institution holds a financial interest with the external entity. Such financial interests incorporate, but are not limited to, the receipt of licensing payments or royalties from the external entity, or ownership interest with the external entity. When human subjects are involved in any research project, and the institution supports such a financial interest, the conflict of interest is speculated to be unreasonable.

Non-financial competing interests include (but are not limited to):

In addition, interests other than monetary and any funding (non-financial interests) should be declared if they are relevant to readers. Personal relationships or conflicting interests directly or indirectly related to research, as well as professional interests or personal opinions that may impact your research, are examples of these.

Intellectual property, in basic terms, refers to any intangible property that is the result of creativity, such as patents, copyrights, etc. Similarly, this section seeks to know about copyright and patent (licensed patent, pending or issued) and any payment received for intellectual property, such as:

  • Patent
  • Licensed Patent
  • Issued Patent
  • Pending Patent
  • Royalties
  • Licensee
  • Remarks
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

All conflict of interest disclosure forms are collected by the corresponding author. It is sufficient for the corresponding author to sign the disclosure form on behalf of all authors in author collaborations when legal agreements for representation allow it. The templates of the form can be found here.

Before the reference list, the corresponding author will include a summary statement in the text of the article that reflects what is reported in the potential conflict of interest disclosure form (s). Author(s) may declare(s) names of reviewers who they think might have a potential conflict of interest; therefore, the Editorial Office could avoid inviting such reviewers for an unbiased opinion.

UNDISCLOSED CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Undisclosed conflict of interest cases before or after the publication of an article are dealt with as per the guidelines of COPE.

  1. Undisclosed conflict of interest in a submitted article (View COPE guidelines)
  2. Undisclosed conflict of interest in a published article (View COPE guidelines)

For more information on COIs, see the guidance from the ICMJE.

PEER REVIEWERS

Bentham Open tries to conduct a transparent peer-review process with the help of reviewers who do not have any conflict of interest with the authors. In this connection, reviewers who belong to the same institute or countries as authors are not invited to review manuscripts. However, it is not possible for the Editorial Office to be aware of all competing interests; therefore, it is expected from authors to submit:

  • List of reviewers who they think have a conflict of interest to ensure a transparent and unbiased review process.

The Editorial Office expects reviewers:

  • Not to accept manuscript review requests if they have any potential conflict of interest and inform the Editorial Office accordingly.
  • To decline review requests if they have recently published or submitted an article with any of the authors listed in the manuscript.
  • To inform the Editorial Office if they have any personal relationship with the authors or work in the same institutes as of authors, which could affect the review transparency.
  • To abstain from reviewing and informing the Editorial Office/Editor-in-Chief/Handling Editors about any scientific misconduct or fraud, plagiarism, conflict of interest, or any other unethical behavior related to the manuscript.

During the submission of review comments, reviewers are asked to reconfirm that they do not have any conflict of interest related to the article. After confirming the below statement, they can submit their comments.

“I hereby confirm that I don’t have any conflict of interest related to the manuscript.”

If, however, there are still any remaining interests, then reviewers must mention those in the ‘Confidential’ section of the review form.

Reviewers are not encouraged to contact authors directly regarding any of their conflicts of interest. Peer reviewers should follow journals’ policies in situations they consider to represent a conflict.

UNDISCLOSED CONFLICT OF INTEREST

If reviewers intentionally do not disclose any conflict of interest, they will be blacklisted for any future peer-reviewing activity of the journal.

The editorial office always ensures that an author, if added after the peer review activity of a manuscript, is not part of the reviewers’ list who have conducted a peer review of the same manuscript.

EDITORS

Editors must not review submitted manuscripts if they have any personal, professional or financial involvement/conflict of interest with the authors of the manuscript. Every participant involved in the peer review process, including editorial board members, reviewers, and editors, must declare any potential conflicts of interest to ensure a transparent and unbiased review activity.

Editors-in-Chief or editors who are responsible for the initial and final decision should abstain themselves from reviewing or taking decisions for any manuscript that is written by authors affiliated with the same institute as of editor, or if they have been a family member, competitor, collaborator, or have published any manuscript in the last three years with the authors associated with the manuscript. They can, however, nominate someone else on the board who could provide a neutral opinion on the manuscript.

The editorial office recommends that the editors follow COPE and WAME guidelines to process such manuscripts to which they are personally related.

Manuscript Submission by an Editor/Editor-in-Chief

The initial and final decision on the manuscripts submitted by an Editor/Editor-in-Chief will be taken by any other member of the board. The Editorial Office will identify members who do not have any potential conflict of interest with the Editor or Editor-in-Chief.

Acknowledgements

Any research assistants or other individuals who assisted with the research but are not listed as authors, such as those who carried out the literature review, produced, computerized, and analyzed the data, or helped with the language, writing, or proofreading of the article, or offered any comments or suggestions, should be acknowledged. Briefly, everyone who has contributed significantly to the improvement of the paper should be acknowledged. In case, the author does not wish to acknowledge anyone, it is recommended to mention "Declared none" in the acknowledgement section.

Guest or honorary authorship based solely on position (e.g., research supervisor, departmental head) is discouraged.

The specific requirements for authorship have been defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors ( www.icmje.org). The examples of authors' contribution are as follows: 'designed research/study', 'performed research/study', 'contributed important reagents', 'collected data', 'analyzed data', 'wrote paper', etc. This information must be included in the submitted manuscript as a separate paragraph under the heading ‘Authors' Contribution’. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining permission from all co-authors for the submission of any version of the manuscript and making any changes in the authorship.

Hazard Study

Any unusual risks associated with the use of any chemicals, procedures, or equipment used in the work must be explicitly stated by the author in the manuscript, preferably in both the materials and methods section and the declaration section. For more information, visit The World Medical Association ( https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/public-health/chemicals )

RESEARCH CONDUCTED IN SPECIAL OR CRITICAL SITUATIONS

Bentham Open expects all contributors to respect the values of justice, benevolence, and autonomy when conducting research. We understand that certain situations, such as medical emergencies or humanitarian crises, may differ from non-emergency scenarios. Bentham Open recommends that research efforts should not hurt human subjects/respondents or the researchers and should be conducted with sufficient scientific rigor as permissible in these situations, respectively. Care should be taken to address potential problems faced by persons who may be victims of disasters or involved in a medical emergency. These are vulnerable individuals and their privacy and dignity should be respected. Researchers should note and identify potential issues in their work that may arise because of such situations. Research conducted in an emergency circumstances should be to the greatest advantage of survivors involved in the research and with the goal of minimizing any future casualties. For guidance, the essential requirements of research in emergencies situations are the preservation of human life, well-being and security, along with the rights to protection, privacy, and confidentiality of subjects.

UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR

Unethical behavior and misconduct may be pointed out by anyone to the editor and publisher with sufficient evidence. The editor, in consultation with the publisher, must initiate an investigation against any unethical misconduct, complete the procedure till an unbiased decision is reached, and maintain confidentiality throughout the process of the investigation. The author should be given the opportunity to reply to all minor or major accusations.

In case of serious breaches, the author may be informed, where appropriate, by the Editor/Publisher, after reviewing all available information and evidence or after seeking help from experts in that field.

Conclusion
  • Author(s) and reviewers must be informed in case of misinterpretation or mishandling of acceptable International Standards.
  • A strict notice should be sent to the author and reviewer to avoid future unethical misconduct.
  • An editorial on the reported misconduct should be published, or an official notice of unethical behavior should be posted on the website.
  • Official letters about this misconduct should be issued to the heads of departments, funding agencies of the accused author, the reviewer, and the abstracting and Indexing Agencies.
  • Where required, retraction and withdrawal of publication may be undertaken from the publisher’s journal in discussion with the Head of the Department of the author or reviewer, and other higher authorities should be informed.
  • The publisher may impose restrictions on future publications from the accused author in the journals for some period.
Consent for Publication

If the manuscript has an individual’s personal data, such as personal details, audio-video material etc., consent should be obtained from that individual. In the case of children, consent should be obtained from the parent or the legal guardian.

POST-PUBLICATION DISCUSSIONS

Post-publication discussions are well-timed and engaging scientific remarks and justifications on research articles published in “The Open Transportation Journal”. These remarks must be based on the information concurrent with the original study and not on the scientific advancements achieved subsequently.

Manuscript Preparation, Submission, and Editorial Process:

  • Post-publication discussion should commence with a short paragraph that outlines the summary of the article.
  • Authors are advised to avoid using inciting tone in the comments and keep the message clear and concise.
  • The main text should not exceed 1200 words with up to 15 references and may include one or two figures and/or tables.
  • References should be submitted in IEEE style.
  • The correspondents are recommended to contact the original authors first prior to submitting their comments to the journal, as this may resolve the issues that may arise due to some misunderstanding.
  • The correspondence that has been done with the authors should also be submitted as an attachment with the manuscript.

Any queries therein should be addressed to info@benthamopen.net.

REFERENCES

References must be listed in IEEE style only. All references should be numbered sequentially [in square brackets] in the text and listed in the same numerical order in the reference section. The reference numbers must be finalized and the bibliography must be fully formatted before submission.

The references should be relevant to the study and should refer to the original research sources. Self-citation and self-interest should be avoided by the authors, editors and peer-reviewers.

The author will be responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the references.

See below few examples of references listed in the correct IEEE style:

Journal Articles:
  • [1]  G. Liu, K. Y. Lee, and H. F. Jordan, "TDM and TWDM de Bruijn networks and shufflenets for optical communications", IEEE Trans. Comp., vol. 46, pp. 695-701, June 1997.
Books:
  • [2]  S. M. Hemmingsen, Soft Science. Saskatoon: University of Saskatchewan Press, 1997.
  • [3]  A. Rezi and M. Allam, "Techniques in array processing by means of transformations," in Control and Dynamic Systems, Vol. 69, Multidimensional Systems, C. T. Leondes, Ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 1995, pp. 133-180.
Edited Book:
  • [4]  D. Sarunyagate, Ed., Lasers. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.
Conference Proceedings:
  • [5]  N. Osifchin and G. Vau, “Power considerations for the modernization of telecommunications in Central and Eastern European and former Soviet Union (CCE/FSU) countries,” in Second International Telecommunication Energy Special Conference Special Conference, 1997, pp. 9-16.
Patent:
  • [6]  K. Kimura and A. Lipeles, "Fuzzy controller component", U. S. Patent 14,860,040, December 14, 1996.
Thesis:
  • [7]  H. Zhang, "Delay-insensitive networks", M.S. thesis, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, 1997.
Electronic Publication:
E-Books:
  • [8]  L. Bass, P. Clements, and R. Kazman. Software Architecture in Practice, 2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley, 2003. [E-book] Available: Safari e-book.
E-Journals:
  • [9]  P. H. C. Eilers and J. J. Goeman, "Enhancing scatterplots with smoothed densities", Bioinformatics, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 623-628, March 2004. [Online]. Available: www.oxfordjournals.org [Accessed Sept. 18, 2004].
E-citations:
  • [10]  Citations for articles/material published exclusively online or in Open Access (free-to-view), must contain the exact Web addresses (URLs) at the end of the reference(s), except those posted on an author’s Web site unless editorially essential, e.g. ‘Reference: Available from: URL’.

Some important points to remember are as follows:

  • All references must be complete and accurate.
  • All authors must be cited and there should be no use of the phrase et al.
  • Online citations should include the date of access.
  • Journal abbreviations should follow the Index Medicus/MEDLINE.
  • Special care should be taken for the punctuation convention as described in the above-mentioned examples.
  • The use of superscript in the in-text citations and reference section should be avoided.
  • Abstracts, unpublished data and personal communications (which can only be included if prior permission has been obtained) should not be given in the reference section but they may be mentioned in the text and details provided as footnotes.
  • The authors are encouraged to use a recent version of EndNote (version 5 and above) or Reference Manager (version 10) when formatting their reference list, as this allows references to be automatically extracted.

AVAILABILITY OF DATA AND MATERIALS

The source of data and materials should be mentioned in the manuscript in support of the findings. Sharing research data is integral to its transparency and reproducibility. Data sharing involves the citation and availability of data that support the findings of the research.

Bentham Open encourages authors to share the source of data and materials in the manuscript, in support of the findings.

Research Data Policy Types:

Four types of research data policies are mentioned below.

  • Case 1: Data sharing and data citation
  • Case 2: Data sharing and its evidence
  • Case 3: Statement for Data sharing and data availability
  • Case 4: Data sharing, evidence of data sharing and data for peer-review
Case 1: Data Sharing and Data Citation

Wherever appropriate and possible, the journal encourages authors to publish data to support their research findings in a public repository. Any datasets mentioned in the article that are available in external repositories should be cited.

How to Cite the Data?

Whether the data was developed by the author(s) or researcher(s), all publicly available data referenced in the preparation of an article should be cited in the text and reference list. The references relating to the data availability should be presented in the following format:

Example: Name of author(s), the title of data set, data repository, document version (e.g., most recent updated version), Digital Object Identifier (DOI), and Bentham Open reference style should be included in data citations.

Case 2: Data Sharing and Its Evidence

When authors submit a paper to a journal, the authors agree that the data provided in the publication, including the relevant raw data, will be freely available to any researcher who wants to use these for non-commercial reasons without jeopardizing participant anonymity.

Case 3: Statement for Data Sharing and Data Availability

Data availability declarations are required under Bentham Open research data policy types.

The statement relating to the data availability should be presented in the following format under a separate section for ‘Availability of Data and Materials’ in the manuscript:

  1. The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials.
  2. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [author initials], on special request.
  3. The datasets generated or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to [mention the reason(s)].
  4. Authors who do not wish to share their data should clearly state that the data will not be shared, and thus mention as ‘Not applicable’.
  5. The statement relating to the data should be presented in the following format:
    "The data supporting the findings of the article is available in the [repository name] at [URL], reference number [reference number]”.

Additional Data Availability Statements

Authors can add or change the statement(s) above to fit their work the best. Depending on the nature of the research, several assertions may need to be merged.

Case 4: Data Sharing, Evidence of Data Sharing and Data for Peer-Review

All datasets on which the paper's conclusions are based must be made accessible to reviewers and readers, according to the journal's rules. Prior to peer review, authors must either deposit their datasets in publicly accessible repositories or provide them as supplementary materials with their submission. For further details, please visit the complete guidelines at: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html

Archiving of Datasets

Authors may deposit their datasets openly to Zenodo Repository, in addition to their own or their institutional archives.

Zenodo - a repository which is funded by the European Commission, CERN, and OpenAIRE—features a Data for Policy community.

Data for Zenodo site is primarily used to host Data for Policy for conference papers and posters. However, we also encourage authors who are already submitting to Data and Policy, to use Zenodo for presenting content associated with their articles.

Additionally, Zenodo can be used as a repository to host data and other materials that are referred to in the Data Availability Statement. These may include:

  • datasets
  • data management plans
  • software documentation
  • codes
  • audio and video files
  • proposals
  • reports, and
  • technical notes

Moreover, authors who wish to cite any relevant materials could use the unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI) that Zenodo assigns to the uploaded content.

Data Access and Retention

Authors may provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review and should be prepared to provide public access to such data and retain it for a reasonable time after publication.

FIGURES/TABLES

Figures/Illustrations (if any)

All authors must strictly follow the guidelines below for preparing illustrations for publication in The Open Transportation Journal. If the figures are found to be sub-standard, then the manuscripts will be rejected.

The authors are expected to submit good quality figure(s) in PDF, PPT, MS Word, TIFF, or JPEG versions, which, if required, should be improved by themselves or by professional graphic designers of their organization/country. The authors may even consider approaching our contracted service provider, Eureka Science, for graphics enhancement services.

The graphics designing team at Eureka Science can assist in improving the quality of the images at affordable rates. Eureka Science provides special rates of US $155 for the improvement of up to five figures, with any additional figures being charged at US $25 each.

The quality of graphic enhancement services offered by Eureka Science can be viewed at http://www.eureka-science.com/images/Binder1.pdf, along with valuable feedback on their services at http://www.eureka-science.com/testimonials.php. Eureka Science can also be contacted at info@eurekascience.net.

Note: Availing of graphics enhancement services does not guarantee acceptance of the manuscript for publication. The final acceptance/decision on the manuscript is taken by the EiC.

Guideline for Figures/Illustrations

Illustrations must be provided according to the following guidelines:

  • Illustrations should be embedded in the text file and must be numbered consecutively in the order of their appearance. Each figure should include only a single illustration, which should be cropped to minimize the amount of space occupied by the illustration.
  • If a figure is in separate parts, all parts of the figure must be provided in a single composite illustration file.
  • Photographs should be provided with a scale bar, if appropriate, as well as high-resolution component files.
  • All the numbers, symbols, and letters in figures should be consistent and clear throughout and large enough to remain readable when the size is reduced for publication.
  • Each figure must be cited in the text in sequence.

Scaling/Resolution

Line art image type is normally an image based on lines and text. It does not contain tonal or shaded areas. The preferred file format should be TIFF or EPS, with the color mode being monochrome 1-bit or RGB, in a resolution of 900-1200 dpi.

Halftone image type is a continuous tone photograph containing no text. It should have the preferred file format, TIFF, with color mode being RGB or grayscale, in a resolution of 300 dpi.

Combination image type is an image containing halftone, text, or line art elements. It should have the preferred file format TIFF, with color mode being RGB or grayscale, in a resolution of 500-900 dpi.

Formats

Illustrations may be submitted in the following file formats:

  • Illustrator
  • EPS (preferred format for diagrams)
  • PDF (also suitable for diagrams)
  • PNG (preferred format for photos or images)
  • Microsoft Word (version 5 and above; figures must be positioned on a single page)
  • PowerPoint (figures must be positioned on a single page)
  • TIFF
  • JPEG (conversion should be done using the original file)
  • BMP
  • CDX (ChemDraw)
  • TGF (ISISDraw)

Bentham Open does not process figures submitted in GIF format.

For TIFF or EPS figures with considerably large file sizes, restricting the file size in online submissions is advisable. Authors may, therefore, convert their files to the JPEG format before submission as this results in significantly reduced file size and uploading time while retaining the acceptable quality. JPEG is a lossy format. However, in order to maintain acceptable image quality, it is recommended that JPEG files be saved at high or maximum quality.

Zipit or Stuffit tools should not be used to compress files prior to submission, as the resulting compression through these tools is always negligible.

The authors must refrain from supplying:

  1. Graphics are embedded in a Word processor document (spreadsheet, presentation).
  2. Files optimized for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, and WPG) because of the low resolution.
  3. Files with too low resolution.
  4. Graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Technical requirements for graphics/figure submissions
The requirements for figures to be submitted are as follows:
Width = 8.5 inches (in-between the required size)
Height = 11 inches (in-between the required size)
Pixels/inches = 300 (minimum dpi)
All figures should be on vector scale (except for half tone and photograph).

Image Conversion Tools

There are many software packages, most of them being either freeware or shareware, capable of converting to and from different graphics formats, including PNG.

General tools for image conversion include Graphic Converter on the Macintosh, Paint Shop Pro for Windows, and ImageMagick, which are available on Macintosh, Windows and UNIX platforms.

Bitmap images (e.g. screenshots) should not be converted into EPS as they result in a much larger file size than the equivalent JPEG, TIFF, PNG, or BMP, and poor quality. EPS should only be used for images produced by vector-drawing applications such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw. Most vector-drawing applications can be saved in or exported in, EPS format. If the images have been originally prepared in an MS Office application, such as Word or PowerPoint, original files should be directly uploaded to the site, instead of being converted to JPEG or another low quality format.

Chemical Structures

Chemical structures must be prepared in ChemDraw/CDX and provided as separate files.

Structure Drawing Preferences

The structure drawing preferences must be according to the ACS style sheet, as follows:

Drawing Settings
Chain angle 120°
Bond spacing 18% of the width
Fixed length 14.4 pt (0.500cm, 0.2in)
Bold width 2.0 pt (0.071cm, 0.0278in)
Line width 0.6 pt (0.021cm, 0.0084in)
Margin width 1.6 pt (0.096cm)
Hash spacing 2.5 pt (0.088cm, 0.0347in)
Text settings
Font Times New Roman
Size 10 pt
Under the Preference
Units points
Tolerances 3 pixels
Under Page Setup Use
Paper US letter
Scale 100%

Tables

  • Data tables should be submitted in Microsoft Word table format.
  • Each table should include a title/caption that is explanatory in itself with respect to the details discussed in the table. Detailed legends may then follow.
  • Table number in bold font, i.e., Table 1, should follow a title. The title should be in small case with the first letter in caps. A full stop should be placed at the end of the title.
  • Tables should be embedded in the text exactly according to their appropriate placement in the submitted manuscript.
  • Columns and rows of data should be made visibly distinct by ensuring that the borders of each cell are displayed as black lines.
  • Tables should be numbered in Arabic numerals sequentially in order of their citation in the body of the text.
  • If a reference is cited in both the table and text, a lettered footnote should be inserted in the table to refer to the numbered reference in the text.
  • Tabular data provided as additional files can be submitted as an Excel spreadsheet.
    • It is adequate to present data in tables to avoid unnecessary repetition and reduce the length of the text.
    • The citation of each table in the text must be ensured.
    • Symbols and non-standard abbreviations should be explained at the end of the text.
    • All references should be numbered sequentially (in square brackets) in the table and listed in the same numerical order in the reference section.

AUTHORSHIP

Authorship Criteria

Bentham Open requires that all individuals listed as authors must have made a substantial contribution to the design, performance, analysis, or reporting of the work. The role of authors is judged according to ICMJE and COPE guidelines.

Authorship Declaration

All contributing authors are required to sign a copyright letter mentioning complete details, including full name, affiliation, email address, ORCID ID, and their role in the article. After the successful electronic submission of a manuscript, a system-generated acknowledgement letter will be sent to all authors at their provided email addresses.

Authors and Institutional Affiliations

Authors must provide a final list of authors at the time of submission, ensuring the correct sequence of authors' names, which will not be added, deleted, or rearranged after the final submission of the manuscript. An asterisk should be provided for the email address of the principal author. However, the complete address, business telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address of the corresponding author must be stated to for the correspondence and galley proofs. Bentham Open recommends that all contributors regularly update their profiles on SCOPUS/ORCID and other databases.

Authors' Identification

Authors are strongly recommended to use their ORCID ID when submitting an article for consideration. Alternatively, they can acquire an ORCID ID via the submission process. For more information about ORCID IDs, visit here.

Authorship and AI Tools

Bentham Open acknowledges that authors use a variety of tools for preparing articles related to their scientific works, ranging from simple ones to very significant ones.

According to the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines, "AI tools cannot meet the requirements for authorship as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work. As non-legal entities, they cannot assert the presence or absence of conflicts of interest nor manage copyright and license agreements".

The pertinence of such tools may vary and evolve with public opinion, which has led to significant debate about the use of AI-powered language tools. These tools may generate useful results, but they can also lead to errors or misleading results; therefore, it is important to know which tools were used for evaluating and interpreting a particular scientific work.

Considering the above, we require that:

  1. The authors should report any significant use of such tools in their works, such as instruments and software, along with text-to-text generative AI consistent with subject standards for methodology.
  2. All co-authors should sign a declaration that they take full responsibility for all of its content, regardless of how the contents were generated. Inappropriate language, plagiarized and biased content, errors, mistakes, incorrect references, or misleading content generated by AI language tools and the relevant results reported in scientific works are a full and shared responsibility of all the authors, including co-authors.
  3. AI language tools should not be listed as an author; instead, authors should follow clause (1) above.

Changes to Authorship

At the time of initial submission, the finalized list of authors in the correct sequence should be provided, which will not be changed once the publication process starts.

In exceptional cases, requests for the addition/deletion of an author may be considered by the publisher subject to a) written approval from all co-authors and b) a strong justification (which may or may not be accepted by the Publisher).

Here is some advice from COPE on authorship issues. Bentham strives to follow these guidelines.

General Advice

Advice on how to spot authorship problems

Before Publication

Corresponding author requests addition of extra author before publication

Corresponding author requests removal of the author before publication

After Publication

Request for addition of extra author after publication

Request for removal of author after publication

Non-Author Contributors

Activities such as the acquisition of funding, general supervision of a research group or general administrative support, writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading alone do not qualify any contributor for authorship. Such contributors may be acknowledged individually or together as a group in the acknowledgement section. For more information, please refer to the acknowledgement section of the guide to authors. Persons not meeting authorship criteria can be acknowledged in the acknowledgement section of the article rather than being enlisted as authors.

Guest or Honorary Authorship

All contributing authors should contribute substantially to the article and sign the copyright letter. Bentham Open discourages authorship based solely on position (e.g., a research supervisor or a departmental head). We use COPE guidelines for identifying any suspected ghost, guest, or gift authorship.

COPYEDITING SERVICES

Authors should seek professional assistance for the correction of grammatical, scientific, and typographical errors before submission of the revised version of the article for publication.

You may use the professional editing services of our nominated English Language editing organizations, TopEdit or Eureka Science.

Please note that we accept a language certificate only from one of the above two language editing organizations.

PROOF CORRECTIONS

Authors will receive page proofs of their accepted papers before publication. To avoid delays in publication, proofs should be checked immediately for typographical errors and returned within 48 hours. Major changes are not acceptable at the proof stage.

The corresponding author will be solely responsible for ensuring that the revised version of the manuscript incorporating all the submitted corrections receives the approval of all the co-authors of the manuscript.

REVIEWING AND PROMPTNESS OF PUBLICATION

All papers submitted to Bentham Open for publication are immediately subjected to preliminary editorial scrutiny by the Editorial Staff and Editor-in-Chief in connection with their suitability. The Editor-in-Chief determines if the manuscript:

(a) falls within the scope of the journal and

(b) meets the editorial criteria of Bentham Open Publishers in terms of originality and quality.

Manuscripts that appear to be suitable are then subjected to double-blind peer review by, usually two, neutral eminent experts. The services of eminent international experts are sought through invitations to conduct the peer review of a submitted manuscript, keeping in view the scope of the manuscript and the expertise of the reviewers. The identities of both the reviewer and author are kept undisclosed to each other, ensuring anonymity and maintaining confidentiality throughout the entire review procedure. The anonymity of reviewers ensures an objective and unbiased assessment of the manuscript by the reviewers.

Before sending the manuscripts to reviewers, Bentham Open seeks consent from potential reviewers about their availability and willingness to review. Correspondence between the editorial office of the journal and the reviewers is kept confidential. The reviewers are expected to provide their reports in a timely fashion since a prompt review leads to the timely publication of a manuscript which is beneficial not only to the authors but to the scientific community as well.

The editorial process and peer-review workflow for each journal are taken care of by a team of Senior Editors, Editorial Board Members (EBMs) and dedicated Journal managers who have the required expertise in their specific fields.

Bentham Open Publishers carries out independent reviews of all articles. The reviewers are selected according to their expertise from our regularly updated referee database.

On the basis of reviewer comments, the Editors may recommend acceptance, revision or rejection of a manuscript.

After a review of the manuscript by at least two independent experts, in addition to the views of the Editor, the decision is relayed to the authors, which may be categorized as:

● Requires minor changes

● Requires major changes

● Rejected with no resubmission

If an article receives two contradictory reports, the Editor-in-Chief retains the right to request additional comments and the discretion to make the final decision without waiting for additional reports, taking into consideration the content and conclusions presented in all reports. This proactive approach ensures promptness in conveying the Editor's decision, thereby facilitating swift communication with the author.

Bentham Open requests not to have the manuscripts peer-reviewed by those experts who may have competing interest with the author(s) of a submitted manuscript. It is not possible for Editors to be aware of all competing interests; it is therefore expected that the reviewers would inform the Editor-in-Chief/Handling Editor if they notice any potential competing interest during the course of review of a manuscript. Moreover, the reviewers are expected to inform the Editors or editorial office of the journal if they have a conflict of interest in carrying out the review of a manuscript submitted by any author/contributor of the manuscript.

The authors are usually requested to resubmit the revised paper within 15 days, and it is then-returned to the reviewers for further evaluation. The publishers normally allow one round of revision and, in exceptional cases, a second round of revision may be allowed. If further revision is needed, then the manuscript will be rejected, and the author will be requested to resubmit the manuscript for fresh processing.

The final decision regarding acceptance or rejection is that of the Editor-in-Chief, depending on the quality of the revision and his assessment of the quality of the manuscript. In rare cases, manuscripts recommended for publication by the referees may be rejected in the final assessment by the Editor-in-Chief.

The time frame for revision of any article may vary from one to four weeks, depending on the nature of the revision required (minor or major). However, authors who need extra time for revision should consult the Editor-in-Chief/Handling Editor for valid reasons, and the submission date of the revised manuscript may be extended if the request is genuine.

After the successful completion of the review and acceptance of the article, the articles are typeset and proofs are dispatched to authors for any corrections prior to final publication.

PLAGIARISM PREVENTION

Plagiarism means copying or paraphrasing another writer’s content, be it a text, a result, or an observation, and stating it as one’s own without citing a reference to the original source. Therefore, authors should acknowledge and cite references to the work of other scientists in their manuscripts. The author should ensure that all the sources are authentic and that there is no discrepancy in the content of the manuscript.

Bentham Open is vigilant in checking and identifying the primary sources of the data within the content by using the iThenticate software to detect instances of overlapping and similarity of text in submitted manuscripts. iThenticate software verifies the content against a database of periodicals, materials on the Internet, and a comprehensive article database. The software generates a similarity report in percentage that matches the article in process and the published material. This similarity is further scrutinized for suspected plagiarism according to the publisher’s Editorial Policies. The generated report comprises the overall percentage of the content reused.

Credibility of Sources and Acknowledgements

The study of an author has to be original. If there are credible sources of the content referred to in the manuscript, the author needs to cite all of them. Authors are advised to use iThenticate before submitting a manuscript to ensure that there are no instances of plagiarism. Authors are required to provide proper consent from the individuals, and contributions of other authors should be acknowledged.

Bentham Open has different editorial policies for authors who have more than one publication. Following those policies, the authors need to specify the sources of the submission in their recent work. For further details, please visit the following link of Editorial Policies for Concurrent Publication/Simultaneous Submission at https://benthamopenscience.com/editorial-policies.php

Bentham Open strictly follows COPE guidelines to detect plagiarism. For clearer insight, authors may refer to the flowcharts provided by COPE by clicking here or visiting the COPE website.

APPEALS AND COMPLAINTS

Generally, the editorial decisions are not reverted. However, authors who think that their manuscript was rejected due to a misunderstanding or mistake may seek an explanation for the decision. Appeals must give sound reasoning and compelling evidence against the criticism raised in the rejection letter. A difference of opinion as to the interest, novelty, or suitability of the manuscript for the journal will not be considered an appeal. The EIC and other relevant editors will consider the appeal and the decision made by the journal manager will be deemed final thereafter. Acceptance of the manuscript is not guaranteed even if the journal manager agrees to reconsider the manuscript, and the reconsideration process may involve previous or new reviewers or editors and substantive revision.

Authors who wish to make a complaint should refer them to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal concerned. Complaints to the publisher may be emailed to info@benthamopen.net

How can the complaint be filed to Bentham open?

Bentham Open is constantly striving to improve its publication practices. If you are not satisfied with any procedure of the processing of your manuscript, then please let us know at the following email address with full details:

For assistance, please contact: info@benthamopen.net

For complaints, please contact: complaint@benthamopen.net

COPY EDITING CHARGES

The article processing charges include professional copy editing charges. Once the paper is accepted for publication, the author will receive an electronic invoice via email.

ANIMATED ABSTRACT

Extend the scope and visibility of your research by creating an animated abstract. Bentham Open has collaborated with Focus Medica, one of the world’s largest publishers of expert animated atlases and videos in medicine and science.

An animated abstract will help summarise the essential discoveries/ key findings of your published research or review article. Each professionally produced full-colored animated abstract in video format (length 3 – 5 minutes) is accompanied by an English-spoken or foreign-language commentary. The animated abstract and the published article will be published online.

The payment for an animated abstract will be US $1320. Initially, an advance amount of US $800 will be payable to the Publisher to start work on the Animated Abstract, while the balance of US $520 will be payable upon completion of the Animated Abstract.

Authors will be asked whether they wish to opt-in for this paid animated abstract service, and if not, the article will be published as normal. Animated abstracts are available for open access (free viewing) for maximum visibility and awareness to readers at any time, anywhere. The animated abstracts are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Sample Animated Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance represents a significant challenge to future healthcare provision. An acronym ESKAPEE has been derived from the names of the organisms recognised as the major threats, although there are a number of other organisms, notably Neisseria gonorrhoeae, that have become equally challenging to treat in the clinic. These pathogens are characterised by the ability to rapidly develop and/or acquire resistance mechanisms in response to exposure to different antimicrobial agents. A key part of the armoury of these pathogens is a series of efflux pumps, which effectively exclude or reduce the intracellular concentration of a large number of antibiotics, making the pathogens significantly more resistant. These efflux pumps are the topic of considerable interest, both from the perspective of a basic understanding of efflux pump function and its role in drug resistance, as well as the target for the development of novel adjunct therapies. The necessity to overcome antimicrobial resistance has encouraged investigations into the characterisation of resistance-modifying efflux pump inhibitors to block the mechanisms of drug extrusion, thereby restoring antibacterial susceptibility and returning existing antibiotics to the clinic. A greater understanding of drug recognition and transport by multidrug efflux pumps is needed to develop clinically useful inhibitors, given the breadth of molecules that can be effluxed by these systems. This review discusses different bacterial EPIs originating from both natural sources and chemical synthesis and examines the challenges in designing successful EPIs that can be useful against multidrug-resistant bacteria.
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