Submissions

Author Guidelines

Please send your articles to info@ssp.ee.

Main publication language is English. Articles in Estonian, Ukrainian and Russian are also accepted with English abstract and references.

We sure that authors names on an article is important to give credit to those who have significantly contributed to the work. It also ensures transparency for those who are responsible for the integrity of the content.

Authors listed on an article must meet all of the following criteria:

1. Made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas.
2. Have drafted or written, or substantially revised or critically reviewed the article.
3. Have agreed on the journal to which the article will be submitted.
4. Reviewed and agreed on all versions of the article before submission, during revision, the final version accepted for publication, and any significant changes introduced at the proofing stage.
5. Agree to take responsibility and be accountable for the contents of the article.

 Authors declaration and warranties

By submitting any research article for the purposes of publication by Shapovalov Scientific Publishing OÜ the authors must certify and warrant that:

The submitting author has been authorized by all co-authors to submit the research article; and

1. They are the sole author(s) of the article and are legally able and entitled to submit the article and authorize Shapovalov Scientific Publishing OÜ to publish the research article.

2. The research article is original, has not already been published in any other journal (medical, or otherwise) or is not currently under consideration for publication by another journal, and does not infringe any existing copyright or any other rights prescribed by law.
3. The article contains nothing that is unlawful, defamatory, or which would, if published, constitute a breach of contract or of confidentiality.
4. Due care, diligence and all other requisite investigations were carried out in the preparation of the research article(s) to ensure its accuracy. To the best of their knowledge all statements contained in it purporting to be factual are true and correct.

 Corresponding or contact author

Prior to submission, the authorship list and order must be agreed between all listed authors, and they must also agree on who will take on the role of corresponding or contact author. It is the responsibility of the corresponding or contact author to reach consensus with all co-authors regarding all aspects of the article including the authorship order and to ensure all correct affiliations have been listed. The corresponding or contact author is also responsible for liaising with co-authors regarding any editorial queries, and to act on behalf of all co-authors in any communication about the article through submission, peer review, production, and after publication. The corresponding or contact author is also responsible for signing the publishing agreement on behalf of all the listed authors.

Changes in authorship

Any changes in authorship prior to or after publication must be agreed upon by all authors, including those being added or removed. It is the responsibility of the corresponding or contact author to obtain confirmation from all co-authors and to provide evidence of this to the editorial office with a full explanation about why the change was necessary. If a change in authorship is necessary after publication of the article, this will be amended via a post-publication notice. Any changes in authorship must comply with our criteria for authorship.

Acknowledgments

Any individuals who have contributed to the article (e.g. general supervision, acquisition of funding, study design, data collection, data analysis, technical assistance, formatting-related writing assistance, scholarly discussions which significantly contributed to developing the article, etc.), but who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed by name and affiliation in an “Acknowledgments” section. It is the responsibility of the authors to notify and obtain permission from those they wish to identify in this section. The process of obtaining permission should include sharing the article, so that those being identified can verify the context in which their contribution is being acknowledged.

Affiliations

Authors must list all relevant affiliations to attribute where the research was approved and/or supported and/or conducted. For non-research articles, authors must list their current institutional affiliation. In cases where an author has moved to a different institution before the article has been published, they should list the affiliation where the work was conducted, and the current affiliation and contact details should be listed in the acknowledgment section. Change of affiliation alone is not a valid reason to remove an author from a publication if he or she meets the authorship criteria.

Peer review

Peer review provides an important role in the publication of scientific works through assessment of validity, quality and originality of submitted papers.
Shapovalov Scientific Publishing OÜ uses double-blind peer review model, which means that the identity of both the author and reviewer are kept hidden.

Peer review procedure

A corresponding author submits an article using our site's submission system. At this stage, authors can suggest appropriate reviewers for their article and include their names and email addresses to the comments section.

After being submitted, an article is being checked by Managing Editor for its structure, spelling and compliance with submission guidelines. If an article doesn't meet above criteria, it's rejected.

On the next stage, an article is passed to Editor-in-Chief, who examines an article to be in accordance with the scope of the Journal, potential interest for readers, importance and relevance for scientists. After this, Editor-in-Chief sends article either to appropriate Section Editor, or passes an article directly to two, at least, peer reviewers with specialty closest to the scope of an article. If needed, external reviewers are invited. Specialists from the same institution where study was performed are not accepted. The invited reviewers should accept terms and conditions in order to exclude conflict of interests, confirm their competence, concerning the scope of the manuscript and specify definite terms of reviewing. Then they decide to accept or decline the invitation. In case of declining, they can recommend alternative reviewers.

In accordance with COPE recommendations on ethical editing for Editors, Editors will assign any submissions they cannot handle (e.g. if they are the author of an article submitted to their own journal) to a member of the Editorial Board or a guest editor.

After reviewing, the Editor-in-Chief (or Section Editor) examines reviewers reports and, if needed, can invite an additional reviewer to get an additional opinion. At this stages, corresponding author can be asked to make revisions to an article using online submission system. Articles can be re-sent to reviewers after revision.

At the final stage, Editor-in-Chief takes the final decision concerning the publication of an article. The authors are informed about the results of reviewing.

In case of manuscript acceptance, the publication process starts. If rejected, the manuscript is sent to corresponding author.

This whole process usually takes 2 to 3 weeks.

Confidentiality of peer review

It is a requirement to maintain confidentiality and integrity of the peer review and editorial decision-making process at all stages, while complying with data protection regulations (including GDPR). The invited reviewer must declare any competing interest before submitting their report to the journal. If they wish to involve a colleague as a co-reviewer for an article, they should ask the journal’s editorial office before sharing the manuscript and include their names, affiliation and any relevant competing interests in the comments for Editors when they return their report.

All peer reviewers should consider the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers before accepting to review a manuscript and throughout the peer review process.

In the process of investigating an ethical query, the submitted manuscript, author, reviewer and any other person (including whistleblowers) involved will be treated in confidence. During an investigation it may be necessary for the Editor to share information with third parties, such as the ethics committee and/or the authors’ institution.

Plagiarism

All journals, published my Shapovalov Scientific Publishing OÜ use a service provided by Crossref and powered by iThenticate — Similarity Check, provides editors with a user-friendly tool to help detect plagiarism. All sumbitted articles checked for plagiarism using this tools. We kindly ask authors to follow COPE's Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

Structure

Title page

• First name/given name(s) and last name/family name of authors.
• Author affiliations: department, institution, city, state, country.
• ORCID number(s) for all authors whenever available.

 Abstract
The abstract should be no more than 300 words. Do not use abbreviations in the title or the abstract. 
Keywords
3–6 keywords
Corresponding author
Name, address, phone, email
Introduction
Material and methods
Results and discussion
Conclusions
Abbreviations (if any)

Tables

Tables should present new information rather than duplicating what is in the text. Readers should be able to interpret the table even if presented separately from the text. Ensure that each table is cited within the text of the manuscript.

Consent for publication
Consent to publish statements must confirm that the details of any images, videos, recordings, etc. can be published, and that the person(s) providing consent have been shown the article contents to be published. Authors must be prepared to provide copies of signed consent forms to the journal editorial office if requested.

Data availability (where applicable)
Please include a statement about where data supporting the results reported in the manuscript can be found and about data sharing including, where applicable, links to the publicly archived datasets. The statement of data availability should explain which additional unpublished data from the study, if any, are available, to whom, and how these can be obtained. In cases where authors do not wish to share their data or are unable to do so, they should state that data will not be shared and the reasons why. Please refer to our editorial policies for further information.

Funding
Please declare all the sources of funding including financial support. Please describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in any of the stages from study design to submission of the paper for publication. Please state if the sponsor(s) had no such involvement.

Competing interests
Your relationship with other people or organizations may influence the way you interpret data or present the information in your study. This is known as a competing interest and all authors of a paper submitted to any Shapovalov Scientific Publishing OÜ journal are required to complete a declaration of competing interests. This includes all financial or non-financial competing interests which can include employment with the study sponsor, stock holdings or options, patents, royalties, personal fees, holding a board position, or any political, religious, or academic interest relevant to the published content. All competing interests will be listed in the declarations at the end of the article.

Please consider the following when completing your competing interest declaration:

• Financial competing interests

In the past three years have you received any funding from an organization that may have a financial interest in the manuscript? If so, please specify.

Do you hold any stock holdings or options in an organization that may have financial interest in the publication of this manuscript? If so, please specify.

Does the content of the manuscript relate to any patents you hold or are you currently applying for? If so, please specify.

Have you received any funding or salary from an organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript? If so, please specify.

Do you have any other financial competing interests? If so, please specify.

• Non-financial competing interests

Have you received any drugs or equipment from an entity that might benefit or be at an advantage financially or reputationally from the published findings? If so, please specify.

Have you held a position on an industry board or private company that might benefit or be at an advantage financially or reputationally from the published findings? If so, please specify.

Do you have any personal, political, religious, ideological, academic and intellectual competing interests which are perceived to be relevant to the published content? If so, please specify.

If you are unsure whether you, or one your co-authors, has a competing interest please discuss this with the editor.

Shapovalov Scientific Publishing OÜ subscribes to the general intent of the principles adopted by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) on the control of data in publications arising from sponsored research. The author submitting a manuscript for a paper for any study funded by an organization with a proprietary or financial interest in the outcome shall have access to all the data in that study, and to have complete responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the data, and the decision to publish.

Article Processing Charges

All manuscripts submitted to Shapovalov Scientific Publishing OÜ are assumed to be submitted under the Open Access publishing model. In this publishing model, papers are peer-reviewed in the normal way under editorial control. When a paper is accepted for publication the author is issued with an invoice for payment of an article publishing charge. There is no submission charge as such, only the article publishing charge after the paper is accepted for publication. Payment of this charge allows us to recover our editorial and production costs and create a pool of funds that can be used to provide fee waivers for authors from lesser developed countries.

Published papers appear electronically and are freely available from our website. Authors may also use their published .pdf's for any non-commercial use on their personal or non-commercial institution's website.

Upon acceptance for publication a publishing charge will be payable. Owing to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates fees may occasionally be subject to change without notice.

Article processing charge is 100€ for domestic authors and 200€ for foreign authors. Special issues and dedicated releases are subject to individual offers. Contact editorial team.

Please note: Parts of this section are reprinted or adapted from the ICMJE Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors. Shapovalov Scientific Publishing OÜ prepared this reprint. The ICMJE has not endorsed nor approved the contents of this reprint. The official version of the Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors is located at the ICMJE website. Users should cite this official version when citing the document.