How to Submit
The Red Journal accepts submissions and correspondence electronically, and this Web-based system enables authors to track their submissions online.

Authors must register with the Red Journal’s electronic manuscript system. Those who have previously reviewed or submitted a manuscript for the IJROBP may already be registered. Once the submission files are uploaded, the system automatically generates an electronic PDF proof used for reviewing. All correspondence, including editor decisions and requests for revisions, is conducted by e-mail through EES or redjournal@astro.org

How to Pay and Why
The Red Journal requires a $75 fee for all clinical and critical review submissions. Biology and physics contributors are exempt, as are all submissions from countries considered by the World Bank to have developing economies. These submission fees are used to offset a small portion of the peer review costs. During the submission process, authors will be directed to the Submission Start site to complete payment by a credit card.

Article Types and Guidelines

1. Scientific ArticlesOriginal laboratory and clinical investigations related to radiation oncology, radiation biology, and medical physics. Submissions are thoroughly reviewed for scientific originality, significance, relevance, and priority, and the topics must be of broad interest to the journal's readers. Only high-priority manuscripts that report cutting-edge science and that promise to have a strong impact on clinical practice are accepted.
2. Editorials
   Brief commentary, analysis, or opinion pieces about a published article or other topic of special interest.
3. Critical Reviews
   Invited contributions from experts in the field exploring interesting topics.
4. Correspondence

   Brief Reports and Opinion
   Opinion on scientific, educational, or policy issues
   Comments
   Remark on work published in the Red Journal and participate in discussion with the authors. Authors of the original work will usually be invited to respond to these comments before publication.

5. Obituaries
   A biographical and research contribution retrospective may be solicited by the Editor-in-Chief; however, outside submissions are welcome, preferably with photographs. The Editor-in-Chief, as well as the IJROBP Senior Editors, will determine acceptability of these submissions, as they will not be sent out for review.
6. Errata
   Authors are encouraged to report errors in their work to be corrected in the literature. Errata are published in the printed journal and linked back to the original manuscript electronically. The Editor-in-Chief makes all decisions on whether errata are published. The journal may choose not to publish errata from authors regarding omissions in authorship and funding sources.
7. Cover Images
   The Red Journal welcomes interesting images and original artwork by people within the radiation oncology community.

Manuscript Requirements and Review Policies

1. Human and Animal Experimentation
   When reporting on human subjects, please indicate in the text whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Patient anonymity must be ensured at all times; do not use patient names, initials, hospital numbers, or other identification in the manuscript, tables, or figures. In clinical photographs, identities of patients should be masked or otherwise cropped. Written consent forms from patients must accompany all photographs in which there is any possibility of identifying the patient.

   When reporting experiments on animals, please indicate in the text that you followed your institution's or a national research council's guide for, or a national law on, the care and use of laboratory animals. For blinding purposes, you may wish to say that your study was conducted by “XXX” institutional review board. This can be filled in during the proof stage if your manuscript is accepted.
   
   

2. Conditions of Publication
   It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to IJROBP have not already been published and will not be submitted simultaneously or published elsewhere. Abstracts submitted for meetings are exempt; however, we ask that you state when and where an abstract was presented. All accepted manuscripts will undergo additional review to look for duplicate publication.
   
   
3. Copyright Transfer
   Authors are required to sign a copyright transfer form, which will accompany page proofs of the article. For details on copyright policy, please refer to Copyright Information at http://www.elsevier.com/authors.
   
   
4. Conflicts of Interest and Disclosure
   IJROBP adheres to the policy on conflict of interest promulgated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE ), which states, in part, that "to prevent ambiguity, authors must state explicitly whether potential conflicts do or do not exist." (See Conflict of Interest Notification.) All authors are required to include an ICMJE form with submission, available for free download at http://www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf. Authors also must state their disclosures on the title page of the manuscript. If there are not disclosures, authors must say, “Conflict of interest: none.”
   
   
5. Permissions
   Written permission must be obtained by authors and submitted with the manuscript for the following:

   a. Permission of the publisher and/or copyright holder to reprint in IJROBP any material that has been previously published, including figures, tables, and quotations; quotations must be accurate and fully credited.
   b. Permission for the use of personal communication and/or unpublished data, and the month and year in which the information was obtained.
   c. Written consent forms from patients for all photographs in which there is any possibility of identifying the patient.
   

   
   
   
6. Authorship Criteria
   Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to

   - conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of data, and to
   - drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and to
   - final approval of the version to be published.

   All three criteria must be met. Any part of an article critical to its main conclusions must be the responsibility of at least one author.

   In the case of corporate authorship, all members of the group must meet all criteria to justify authorship and inclusion in the byline. Those who do not meet these criteria should be listed (with their permission) in an Acknowledgments section.
   
   

7. Publication Ethics and Misconduct
   IJROBP maintains a zero-tolerance policy when addressing allegations of plagiarism, duplicate publication (self-publication), data falsification, and scientific misconduct. Articles will be retracted if ethics violations are substantiated. Plagiarism is defined by the World Association for Medical Editors (WAME) as the "use of others' published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source." IJROBP participates in the CrossCheck/iThenticate program to investigate incidents of possible plagiarism.

   Manipulating data through fabrication, omission, or intentional distortion is unacceptable. Authors should be prepared to provide original data to editors if there is a question of authenticity. Claims of scientific misconduct are investigated and addressed, guided by the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct.
   
   

8. Peer Review: Double-Blind
   Double-Blind: IJROBP uses a double-blind review process in which authors do not know the identity of their reviewers, nor do the reviewers know the identities of the authors. Research has shown this avoids some potential bias and leads to better reviews. This means authors must remove information that can be used by the reviewers to identify the authors or the institution.
   Decision: After the external review is complete, reviews are considered and discussed by members of the editorial board. The editors’ decision, with comments from the reviewers, is emailed to the corresponding author. The author will receive one of the following decisions:

   Decline: The editors did not select your manuscript for peer review. It was deemed inappropriate for the journal’s readership and/or to have little likelihood of acceptance. The primary reasons for the manuscript being declined will be given to the authors.
   Reject: The editors and reviewers did not select your manuscript for publication. Many factors contribute to acceptance, including but not limited to: importance of the research to the field of oncology; the originality of the work; the quality of the study; or the priority of the work to IJROBP and its readership.
   Unacceptable/Major Revision: The editors and reviewers felt that your article contained information of potential importance but a number of major issues were raised. If you believe that you can address the issues raised, the editors would be willing to reconsider your manuscript, but cannot guarantee acceptance. Such manuscripts must be revised and resubmitted within two months after the decision.
   Acceptable/Minor Revisions: The editors and reviewers found your manuscript potentially acceptable for publication provided you make some minor adjustments. Such manuscripts must be revised and resubmitted within one month after the decision.
   Accepted: The editors and reviewers selected your manuscript for publication. Additional information will be provided regarding the production process.

   
   
   
9. Manuscript editing
   Manuscript authors are responsible for editing their manuscripts for editorial flow, AMA style and grammar. There are many resources available if you are looking for a writer/editor to provide this service; a few resources are provided below as a service to authors. The Red Journal is not responsible for your individual experience nor does it guarantee that using an editorial service will guarantee publication in the journal.

   Elsevier, publisher of the Red Journal, offers a language editing service to authors. Several organizations maintain lists of medical editors that can help you to improve your paper. The range of services and fees depends on the editor.

   - The Board of Editors in the Life Sciences
   - The Council of Science Editors
   - The Editorial Freelancers Association
   - The American Medical Writers’ Association

Updated March 2013

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