Frequently Asked Questions
Submission
Q1: How do I find out if my paper is in scope for a KIHSS journal?
A1: To establish whether your paper is suitable for the KIHSS journal, go to the website of the journal concerned, and then click on the
"About the Journal" "Aims and Scope" button to display the scope of the journal.
Q2: How do I submit my paper to a KIHSS journal?
A2: All papers must be submitted through email or our online Paper Submission System, in which the paper status can easily be tracked. All figures and tables should be combined with the text as a single MS Word or PDF for submission. A new user should apply for a new group of Username & Password to submit.
Q3: Should I use the template for submission?
A3: You are suggested to format your manuscript according to our standard template. However, if you do not know how to do it, please just prepare your manuscript as required by the Guideline. Papers should be submitted to us through our Paper Submission System in MS Word or PDF version.
Q4: What type of file format do you accept?
A4: Papers in MS Word or PDF is the format for submitting your paper to our Paper Submission System.
Q5: Is there a word or page limit for papers published in a KIHSS journal?
A5: No, Quality is the most important criteria for the acceptance of a paper. However, for the benefit of peer-reviewers and readers papers should be as concise as possible.
Q6: Is it essential to recommend guest reviewers for my paper?
A6: Authors can recommend potential reviewers. This will improve the review process and publication efficiency of your paper. Journal editors will check to make sure there are no conflicts of interest before contacting those reviewers, and will not consider those with competing interests. Reviewers are asked to declare any conflicts of interest. Authors can also enter the names of potential peer reviewers they wish to exclude from consideration in the peer review of their manuscript, during the initial submission progress. The editorial team will respect these requests so long as this does not interfere with the objective and thorough assessment of the submission. If you don’t have any candidate, we will help you to find good reviewers.
Q7: How do I know if my paper submitted to KIHSS worked well?
A7: You will receive an automatic confirmation e-mail as soon as you have uploaded the paper successfully. Your paper will then be checked and forwarded to the editors who will start the preliminary review. If there are any problems with your uploaded manuscript you will be contacted by the editors.
Q8: Do I need to submit a Cover Letter with my manuscript?
A8: Authors are welcome to submit a covering letter with the manuscript, for the Editors’ reference. Should you wish to provide one, please briefly summarise your manuscript, its findings, major themes, relevant discussion points and any disclosures including conflicts of interest the Editor(s) should be aware of.
Peer-review process
Q1: How long will it take to peer review my paper?
A1: It usually takes about 4~8 weeks. Please contact the Editorial Assistant if you want to know the status of your paper.
Q2: How to suggest reviewers for your article?
A2: Articles in KIHSS are thoroughly peer reviewed. If your study includes complex statistical analysis or new statistical methods, please ensure that at least one of your initial reviewer suggestions has a proven track record as a statistics expert, and be aware that we may ask you to suggest additional statistics experts as the peer review process progresses. We ask that authors do not approach reviewers about the peer review process independently, as this has the potential to influence and invalidate their review.
Reviewer Criteria
Qualified: Reviewers should typically hold a doctorate (PhD or equivalent). Exceptions will be made for scholarly disciplines where doctorates are not necessary (e.g. Arts), or when an individual has a demonstrable public record of expertise. If possible, when a reviewer suggestion is rejected due to lack of qualifications, the editorial team will suggest that their Principal Investigator/Supervisor is invited instead, and the original person could then take the role of co-reviewer.
Impartial: Reviewers should not have any competing interests that can bias their assessment of the article – they should not be close collaborators of authors or be personally, associated with them. For example, a reviewer should not:
*have co-authored with any of the lead authors in the three years preceding publication of Version 1;
*have co-authored with any of the lead authors since the publication of Version 1;
*currently work at the same institution as the authors;
*be a close collaborator with an author.
Global: For any given article, we require that reviewers are from different institutions. We also strongly encourage authors to suggest geographically-diverse reviewers to gain an international perspective on the article. If all suggested reviewers are from the same institution or country, the Editorial Team may request that additional names of potential reviewers from different locations are provided.
If you feel that our standard reviewer criteria are not appropriate for your area of research please do not hesitate to get in touch, and we’ll be happy to discuss this with you.
Hints and Tips for Finding Reviewers
*The authors of the references cited in your article can be a good starting point for finding reviewers working in your specific field.
*Searching abstracting and indexing databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science* and Scopus* (or other subject-specific literature databases) for recent articles with specific keywords can help you to identify authors currently working in the same field as yourself, and who may be suitable to review your article.
As an expert in your area of research, you will likely be aware of prominent laboratories whose staff may be suitable to review your articles - try searching their website for potential reviewers. You can also search for specific experts with whom you have no recent collaborations, as they or their postdocs may be suitable to review.
Publication
Q1: How long will it take for my paper to be available online after the acceptance?
A1: We will try to publish your paper as early as possible, but the time between acceptance and the creation of the full text version depends on how quickly you provide your final version. Normally, it will appear online around 2 weeks after all the publication procedures are completed.
Article Processing Charges
Q1: Is there any publication fee charged for papers published in a KIHSS journal?
A1: Yes. All KIHSS journals are made freely available online, we guarantee that no university library or individual reader will ever have to buy a subscription or buy access through pay-per-view fees to access the papers published in KIHSS journals. In order to cover the costs of providing and maintaining a publication infrastructure, managing the journals, and processing the papers through peer-review and the editorial procedure, the journal charges a publication fee which is normally covered by the author's institution or research funds. The publication fee is required to be paid upon acceptance of an article for publication. KIHSS grants discounts on publication fees for authors of Lower- or Middle-Income Countries.
Discounts and Waivers Policy
KIHSS Advisory Board members: Our advisory board receive a 50% discount.
KIHSS reviewers: All reviewers receive a 50% discount on one article submitted within the ensuing 12 months.
Discounts cannot be combined to cover the fee for a single article. If authors on an article are eligible for various individual discounts, the largest discount is applied.
To help support researchers in low-to-middle income countries, all KIHSS journals automatically provide full and partial waivers of article processing charges for manuscripts based on the corresponding author's listed affiliation. Authors do not need to request these waivers, they will be applied at submission.
1)corresponding authors with primary affiliations based in countries defined by the World Bank as Low-Income Economies, who can apply for a 100% APC waiver.
2)corresponding authors with primary affiliations based in countries defined by the World Bank as Lower-Middle-Income Economies, who can apply for a 50% discount on the normal APC.
KIHSS is committed to providing transparency where possible to demonstrate the services and value we provide for authors.
Q2: When the APC is payable?
A2: Charges are payable once the article has been accepted for publishing (i.e. following successful completion of our pre-publication checks). An invoice will be sent upon acceptance and must be paid within 15 days of the final invoice date.
Q3: How do I pay the article processing charges to a KIHSS journal?
A3: You can make an APC payment via Paypal, Alipay, Bank Transfer, credit card. You can also ask the editorial assistant for any problems.
Q4: How do I find out if my article processing charges have been safely received by the KIHSS journal?
A4: Please notify and send your payment voucher via e-mail to the Editorial Assistant after your payment. The Editorial Assistant shall email you a confirmation letter after receiving the payment.
Indexing
Q1: Do KIHSS journals have Impact Factors?
A1: The journal impact factor (JIF) normally referred to is the proprietary journal impact factor from Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters) calculated based on the Web of Science (WOS) and published in the Journal Citation Reports® (JCR). We call this the JCR®JIF. No, currently none of KIHSS's journals have a JCR®JIF.
Q2: Do KIHSS journals have their citations tracked?
A2: Yes, KIHSS journals have their citations tracked with RISS, Google Scholar, NAVER Academic, AccessON.
Q3: Are KIHSS journals indexed?
A3: Yes, our journals are indexed by many databases. "Indexed" means here simply "included in the database". The index contains the metadata of KIHSS's articles. Most important metadata are authors, title, abstract, year of publication, and the link to the full paper at KIHSS.
ORCID
Q1: What is ORCID?
A1: ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is an identifier for individuals to use with their name as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities. It provides a persistent identifier for humans, similar to that created for content-related entities on digital networks by digital object identifiers (DOIs). The process of getting an ORCID iD is quick, easy and incurs no cost.
Q2: Why is ORCID good for you?
A2: ORCID allows identification beyond names. Globally, names can be very common, they can change, they can be transliterated into other alphabets and so reliably linking researchers with their research and organizations can be difficult - this is solved through a unique ORCID iD.
An ORCID iD also allows you to keep a constantly updated digital curriculum vitae. Individuals decide to register, which research activities to connect to their ID, which organizations to allow access, what information to make publicly available, what to share with trusted parties, and what to keep private. Individuals can control their profiles and can change these settings and permissions at any time.
*We are dedicated to fair treatment, diversity, and inclusion. The KIHSS not discriminate on the basis of race, language, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national or ethnic origin, handicap, sexual orientation, or age.
