PRN Guide for Authors
[Ver: 20140908]
List of Content
· Aims and scope
· How to submit
· Format of manuscripts
· Corresponding author
· Format of reference
· Publication timeline
· Submission screening
· Revisions
· Costs
· Submission declaration
· “Peer viewed”
· Copyright
· Language
· Contact information
Aim and scope
Preprints of the R-fMRI Network (PRN) is a preprint, open-access, free-submission, “peer viewed”, community funded "Journal-like" Preprints of R-fMRI related studies. The goal of PRN is to supplement the current slow and inefficient “peer reviewed” journal publication system.
The PRN includes an online repository of R-fMRI related studies, with perpetual access to maintain the scholarly record. PRN provides open-access of both original scientific articles and the "peer viewed / author revised" versions of the articles.
PRN accepts Research Articles, "Posters", Literature Review Articles, Commentaries, Opinion Pieces, Case Studies, Case Reports, etc.
How to submit
All submissions should be online through the PRN Portal. PRN only accepts manuscript PDF uploads. Please prepare your manuscript as a single file in PDF. All tables, figures and figure captions should be embedded in text.
For the online page, the authors should also put the following information in:
Title field: Title of the manuscript
Body field: authors, affiliations, corresponding author and contact, abstract and keywords.
Format of manuscripts
PRN posts no strict formatting requirements for all the submissions. The manuscripts, however, should include essential elements such as: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusions, Figures, Tables with Captions. Please write your article using clearly defined sections.
We recommend (but not require) that manuscripts include sequential line numbers and page numbers. The first page of the manuscript file should be a title page on which the title, authors, and affiliations should all be clearly indicated.
We recommend the manuscript in PLoS ONE format, but every style for the Top 100 journals (defined as http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en) is accepted.
Corresponding author
At least one author must be designated as the corresponding author, and his or her contact information (must include a valid email address and current affiliation) must be included on the manuscript title page. The corresponding author will be contacted to confirm his/her approval of submission.
Format of reference
At submission, references can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. PRN recommends following one of the Top 100 journals (defined as http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en). The use of DOI is highly recommended when it is applicable.
Publication timeline
Submissions to PRN will be available immediately online for public access. Submission will be permanently kept online unless it could not pass PRN's submission screening (see below).
Submission screening
Submissions to PRN are screened to ensure that they 1) are appropriately formatted; 2) have the approval for publication by the corresponding author*; 3) and abide all of PRN policies. PRN reserves the right to reject submission for posing if it is found to be unsuitable in any of these respects. All decisions by the PRN team are final.
*If PRN does not receive corresponding author's approval 7 calendar days upon request, the submission will be rejected and removed from PRN.
Revisions
Submissions to PRN cannot be removed once posted. Authors are allowed to iteratively improve their drafts and versioning of the draft is available. Major revision of a submission, however, should not be submitted as new submission. Authors much notify PRN editor (editor#rfmri.org) for revision submission so that the original drafts could be properly archived.
Costs
The PRN is a community funded effort. Submission to the PRN is free of any charge. However, we encourage all the authors make a small amount of contribution at http://rfmri.org/HelpUs to keep the PRN effort rising and shining.
Submission declaration
Authors should not submit any article that has been published or accepted for publication in any traditional peer-reviewed journal. It's the corresponding author's responsibility to ensure that all authors and the responsible authorities where the work was carried out have approved the publication of the article.
“Peer viewed”
The articles at the PRN will be open for peer view. The PRN has a panel of consultants – each of them is obligated to comment on one article each month. In addition, readers of PRN are going to comment. For each month, the PRN will rate monthly “consultants’ choice” and “readers’ choice” articles. Furthermore, the PRN is going to rate the top active articles, which demonstrated the most active comments and revisions – a model to spur the feedback and revision of the articles.
Copyright
Authors will be asked to choose to grant PRN sufficient rights to allow us to distribute submitted articles in perpetuity. Permitted reuse of open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.
PRN ENCOURAGES the PRN preprints to be submitted to evaluation, or publication by other publishers, once the authors think their articles reaching a stage ready for traditional peer reviewed journals. However, other publishers may have different policies in this respect, so if authors intend to submit, or have submitted, your article to a traditional journal, you should verify that the license you intend to select does not conflict with the license or copyright transfer agreement. (see PRN License Information for details).
Language
Articles submitted to PRN should be written in clear and concise English. It is the authors' responsibility to copyedit their manuscripts before submission. Submission will NOT be copyedited by PRN before publication.
Contact information
For any questions relating to PRN, please contact editor#rfmri.org.
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The PRN Team
Editor in Chief (design the architect, fund raising, communicate with consultants, oversee the Content Editor and Art Editor, and make the PRN effort happen): Chao-Gan Yan, Ph.D.
Content Editor: Qingyang Li, M.S.
Art Editor: Open for application at http://rfmri.org/LookForTalent.