Editorial Policies

I. Author Responsibilities

Authorship

Criteria for Authorship

Authorship provides credit for a researcher's contributions to a study but also comes with responsibilities and accountability. Authors in CSHL Press journals are expected to fulfill the criteria below.

McNutt et al., (2018, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1715374115) have provided guidance and standards for authorship. Per their statement, each individual listed as author is expected:

1. To have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work; or have drafted the work or substantively revised it; AND
2. To have approved the submitted version (and any substantially modified version that involves the author's contribution to the study); AND
3. To have agreed both to be personally accountable for the author's own contributions and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work, even ones in which the author was not personally involved, are appropriately investigated, resolved, and the resolution documented in the literature

This statement is adapted from a similar one developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) that is widely used within the medical publishing community.

When following the abovementioned guidelines, all those designated as authors should meet all three criteria for authorship, and all who meet the three criteria should be identified as authors. These authorship criteria are intended to reserve the status of authorship for those who deserve credit and can take responsibility for the work. The criteria are not intended for use as a means to disqualify colleagues from authorship who otherwise meet authorship criteria (i) by denying them the opportunity to meet criteria (ii). Therefore, all individuals who meet the first criterion should have the opportunity to participate in the final approval of the manuscript.

We encourage authors to outline their specific contributions in the article (see Author Contributions).

Prior to submitting the article, all authors should agree on the format and the order in which their names will be listed in the article, and on their listed contributions, if applicable. It is the responsibility of the submitting author/agent to obtain such information and approval by all authors before submission.

Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in the Acknowledgments section (see Acknowledgments).

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author should be identified as such in the submission system and in the submitted manuscript. As stated in guidelines of the ICMJE, the corresponding author is the one individual who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process, and ensures that all of the journal's administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and gathering conflict of interest forms and statements (and confirming that they are accurate and up-to-date), are properly completed (when applicable), although these duties may be delegated to one or more coauthors.

The corresponding author must be available throughout the submission and peer review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely manner, and should be available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication.

As stated by McNutt et al. (2018), and endorsed by CSHL Press in these policies, further roles for the corresponding author are as follows: ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript before submission and that all authors receive the submission and all substantive correspondence with editors (as well as the full reviews), and verifying that all data, materials (including reagents), and code, even those developed or provided by other authors, comply with the transparency and reproducibility standards of both the field and journal. This responsibility includes but is not limited to: (i) ensuring that original data/materials/code upon which the submission is based are preserved following best practices in the field so that they are retrievable for reanalysis; (ii) confirming that data/materials/code presentation accurately reflects the original; and (iii) foreseeing and minimizing obstacles to the sharing of data/materials/code described in the work. The corresponding author should be responsible for managing these requirements across the author group and ensuring that the entire author group is fully aware of and in compliance with best practices in the discipline of publication.

Submitting Author/Agent

The submitting author or agent is the individual who manages the manuscript submission on behalf of the author group. This role may be fulfilled by the corresponding author, another co-author, or an administrative assistant acting on the authors' behalf.

It is the submitting author/agent's responsibility to ensure the following:

1. That all named authors have consented to submission to the journal, and have approved the submitted version of the article and all further revisions
2. That the paper is not under consideration by any other journal at the time of submission
3. That the contact details for all co-authors are correctly entered into the submission system and are correct at the time of submission

Consortia Authorship

A collective of authors can be listed as a consortium in papers published by CSHL Press journals. Please review the requirements of the specific journal or contact the relevant editorial office.

Author Identification

Authors are encouraged to provide their Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID iD) when submitting articles to CSHL Press journals. ORCID is a free, unique, persistent identifier for individuals to use as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities. Authors can register for an account through the ORCID website.

Author Contributions

Authors are encouraged to include a statement describing the individual contributions of every author. The corresponding author (see Corresponding Author) is responsible for ensuring that the descriptions are accurate and agreed upon by all authors.

For author contribution statements, CSHL Press encourages the use of the CRedIT structure. Authors may be listed with multiple roles, if needed. For example:

If using CRedIT, all those who qualify as authors must be assigned at least one of the categories in red in the table below, in addition to any others deemed relevant. See Criteria for Authorship for additional information on authorship.

Reproduced from Brand et al. (2015), Learned Publishing 28(2).

Acknowledgments

Authors may acknowledge the contributions of individuals. Note, however, that because acknowledgment may imply endorsement by the acknowledged individuals, authors should obtain permission from all of them to be included in the Acknowledgments, as recommended by the ICMJE. As such, submission to the journal implies that the corresponding author has obtained such permissions, and these may be requested by the editorial office during review or, in case of investigations, after publication. In exceptional cases where permission cannot be obtained or it is impractical to do so, authors should contact the journal editor to discuss the acknowledgment.

Authors must acknowledge any relevant funding sources. For example:

When acknowledging funding, authors should acknowledge funders and grants on publications only when the results included in the publication are original and the direct result of experimentation, materials, or analysis supported by the grant, or when the grant financially supported publication of the manuscript (e.g., through payment of article processing charges).

Changes in Authorship

Any change in authorship following the original submission must be justified and agreed to in writing by all authors, and is subject to editorial approval.

Changes of authorship during the review process by adding or deleting authors and/or changes in the sequence of authors, require full justification based on CSHL Press authorship guidelines. If new authors are being added following the original submission, CSHL Press may require supporting evidence of their contributions to the work. Further, all original and extra authors must sign a letter stating the cause for the change and certifying that all authors consent to the addition, removal, or reordering of authors.

Changes in authorship after acceptance are possible only under truly exceptional circumstances and require full justification and written approval by all authors. Such changes are further subject to editorial approval and, thus, CSHL Press reserves the right to refuse the request.

Changes to the corresponding author after initial submission are allowed only under exceptional circumstances in which the original corresponding author is no longer able to fulfill their responsibilities (see Corresponding Author). Any such change must be supported by written confirmation from the relevant institutions for both the outgoing and incoming corresponding authors.

CSHL Press cannot investigate or adjudicate authorship disputes before or after publication. Such disagreements should be resolved among the authors or directed to the relevant institutional authority.

Author Name Changes

CSHL Press has implemented a policy to enable post-publication author name changes without an accompanying correction notice (so-called "silent" changes) if an author requests this. The corrected article will replace the previous version of the article online with the same manuscript DOI, and new metadata will be delivered to the DOI registration agency and relevant indexing services.

A request for such post-publication name change without an accompanying correction notice should be made by email to the journal editorial office. No explanation is required. Note that post-publication name changes where an author does not wish for a silent change to be made are still possible and will be processed following our usual procedures, i.e., with a published correction notice (an Erratum or Corrigendum). Authors may prefer this latter option, as it maximizes the likelihood that the change is transmitted to third-party indexing services.

In each case, the corresponding author(s) of the corrected article will be informed of the change. The change does not require their approval; they are simply notified, so that they are aware that the change is not an error and to ensure they correctly cite the work in the future. If a request to change the name of a co-author is made by the corresponding author, the co-author concerned will be informed and their approval will be required.

II. Competing Interests

Authors

Authors are responsible for disclosing all financial, non-financial, and personal or professional relationships between themselves and others that might bias or appear to bias their work, or undermine or be perceived to undermine the objectivity, integrity, and value of a publication. All manuscripts must contain a conflict of interest statement, even if this simply states that no conflicts of interest exist for any of the article's authors. Examples of such conflicts include funding for a research program from, employment by, consulting for, and/or owning stocks/shares in an organization that could be financially affected by the publication of the article, as well as patents or patent applications whose value may be affected by the current publication. Authors are required to provide a statement listing any competing interests, and this will be published within or alongside their article.

Reviewers

If a reviewer has any significant interest, financial or otherwise, that might interfere with an objective review, they should either decline the role of reviewer or disclose their conflict of interest to the editor and ask how best to address it.

External Editors, Guest Editors, and Editorial Board Members

Editorial Board Members and External/Guest Editors are required to declare any competing interests and may be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.

In addition, they should exclude themselves from handling manuscripts in cases where there is a competing interest. This may include – but is not limited to – having recently published with one or more of the authors, having a close personal or familial relationship with one or more of the authors, and/or sharing the same institution as one or more of the authors.

If an Editor, Guest Editor, or Editorial Board Member is on the author list of a submitted manuscript or has any other competing interest regarding a specific manuscript, another Editor, Guest Editor, or member of the Editorial Board will be assigned to assume responsibility for overseeing peer review. These submissions will be subject to the exact same review process and held to the same standards as any other manuscript.

III. Research and Reporting Integrity

Research Ethics

Animal Research

Where data from experiments involving animals are shown, authors must confirm that these were in accordance with the ethical standards of the relevant institutional and national committees for such matters, and should follow community guidelines. The manuscript must include a statement identifying the institutional and/or licensing committee approving the experiments, including any relevant details. Authors may wish to review the ARRIVE 2.0 reporting guidelines for documenting animal studies, and should follow the relevant local institutional guidelines for reporting ethical details in manuscripts submitted for publication.

Research with Human Participants, Their Data or Biological Material

For manuscripts reporting studies that involve human participants (including investigations that use only human blood, tissue, or medical records), authors must include a statement identifying the ethics committee that approved the study (including the name and reference number of the committee) and confirming that the study was conducted in accordance with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines. Such standards include, for example, Declaration of Helsinki; US Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects; or European Medicines Agency Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice.

If no formal ethical approval was required, authors must provide evidence of this (i.e., confirmation from their ethics committee that ethical approval was not required). If the requirement for ethical approval and informed consent were waived under local regulations or institutional guidelines, authors must explicitly declare this and provide supporting evidence, such as an IRB waiver or verifiable documentation demonstrating the waiver's legitimacy. The editors reserve the right to request further information from the authors about ethical approval of their research, and, importantly, may decline to pursue publication of a study on ethical grounds even if an institution has provided approval.

Authors will additionally need to state that participants gave informed consent for participation in the study. This requirement to obtain informed consent applies irrespective of whether patients are identifiable from the information presented in the submission. Images and other identifiable information from individual participants, including participants from patient registries and databases, will only be published where the authors have obtained the individual's free prior informed consent.

Lastly, research involving health databases and biobanks must comply with all applicable ethical standards, which may include institutional review board approvals, national data protection laws, and international guidelines such as the World Health Medical Association Declaration of Taipei on Ethical Considerations Regarding Health Databases and Biobanks.

Research involving Vulnerable Groups

Authors should consider whether their research may involve potentially vulnerable groups or individual(s), and follow relevant international ethical standards for research involving vulnerable groups. Key frameworks include the Declaration of Helsinki, The Belmont Report from the US Department of Health and Human Services, and guidelines from the Economic and Social Research Council in the UK.

In cases where research does include potentially vulnerable groups/individual(s), authors should follow all relevant institutional and regional guidelines for obtaining fully informed consent in this context, and outline the process followed in their consent statement within their manuscript.

The CSHL Press editorial team reserves the right to request copies of the signed patient consent forms if there is uncertainty whether fully informed consent for any submissions have been obtained (whether they involve vulnerable groups or not).

Clinical Trials

We require registration of clinical trials in a publicly accessible database (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov or in any other publicly accessible database that meets the minimum 24-item trial registration dataset), at or before the time of first patient enrollment, and clinical trial registration numbers should be included in all articles that report their results. Further, the clinical trial number must be clearly indicated in the abstract and methods section of the manuscript.

Clinical trials should follow the CONSORT guidelines, and authors will be asked to provide the completed associated checklist upon submission. The report must include a figure detailing information about the progress through the phases of the trial, including enrollment, patient allocation, follow-up, and analysis.

Biosecurity

As some manuscripts may provide information that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat to public health, safety or security, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, or the environment, planned research and results from experiments should be evaluated at an early stage for such possible dual-use concerns. In these cases, authors should first consult with an appropriate local body concerning the implications for biosecurity and public health. For further information, see, for instance, the recommendations by the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity and the US National Select Agent Registry. Authors should consult relevant national and institutional guidelines in their region.

Authors should explicitly describe any potential biosecurity implications and the local body's assessment in their cover letter at submission. The threat posed by the potential abuse of certain experimental data or material for bioweapons, terrorist, or other criminal activities may require that editors balance the risks and benefits of publication. The ultimate decision whether to publish the paper as submitted or with suggested changes is the prerogative of the editors, after consultation with board members or external experts in biosafety, biosecurity, or public and environmental health.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

CSHL Press adheres to the ICMJE guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence in publishing, and authors, reviewers, and editors should follow them, along with the policies below, when using artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies and submitting or reviewing articles for CSHL Press journals. The use of AI tools in scholarly publishing, however, is rapidly expanding, and guidance is constantly evolving. We will review and update these policies as appropriate.

Authors

Authorship

Articles submitted to CSHL Press journals must be the authors' own work. Authors are ultimately accountable and responsible for the accuracy, integrity, comprehensiveness, impartiality, and originality of their work, including content generated by AI tools, including large language models (LLMs) and similar AI-assisted technologies. Authors should ensure that the submitted manuscript represents their original contribution, and reflects their own analyses, interpretation, judgment, insights, and ideas. Authors should be able to assert that there is no plagiarism in their manuscript, including in the text and any assets produced by any employed AI tools.

Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT and others, do not meet our authorship requirements, as they cannot be responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work, and thus do not meet the requirement for accountability. As such, they may not be listed as authors on any article published by CSHL Press journals.

Disclosure and Documentation

Authors should declare the use of AI for generating article content, when appropriate. Indeed, the use of AI tools, including LLMs, to generate article content, or for data collection, analysis, or figure preparation (see below), and/or for anything that can impact methodological soundness, data integrity, or reproducibility of the submitted work, should be fully documented in the Methods section of the manuscript. This includes reporting the generative AI tool or LLM and version used, with a complete description of how it was used. Nondisclosure of AI use may require corrective action and may be construed as misconduct in some circumstances, per ICMJE guidelines. Please note, however, that declaring the use of AI-assisted technologies for refining, correcting, editing, or formatting a manuscript to improve clarity of language, is not required. Please consult the STM's "Ethical and Practical Guidelines for the Use of Generative AI in the Publication Process" for appropriate use and disclosure of use of AI in the preparation of academic manuscripts.

Authors are fully responsible for following the terms and conditions of any AI tool they use, and should ensure that any AI tool used does not impose any limitation on the use of its outputs in a way that could restrict the subsequent publication of the relevant article.

Graphical Assets and Figures

The use of AI-generated or AI-edited graphical assets is strongly discouraged. If such assets are deemed necessary, however, the authors must declare the use of AI for the generation/editing of any images, videos, illustrations, and/or schematics in their manuscript. The authors are ultimately responsible for the scientific accuracy of AI-generated assets. All submitted assets, regardless of origin, are subject to editorial approval.

Compliance with Existing Policies

Any use of generative AI tools must not breach CSHL Press' plagiarism, image manipulation, or confidentiality policies. Ideas, data, words, or other material originated by investigators other than the authors must be presented with adequate citation and permissions, and transparent referencing.

Peer Reviewers

The content of manuscripts submitted to CSHL Press is to be held in strict confidence, and manuscripts should be handled according to our peer review policy (see Peer Review). As such, reviewers are not allowed to enter any part of a manuscript or upload complete manuscripts into chatbots, generative AI tools (particularly public models), or similar tools that would violate our confidentiality policies.

If any part of the evaluation of the claims made in the manuscript was in any way supported and/or generated by an AI tool, we ask peer reviewers to declare the use of such tools transparently in the peer review report. Such use, however, must not breach CSHL Press' peer review policies. While reviewers are allowed to use an LLM/AI tool to help with their review's language (for example, to improve clarity, tone, or other aspects), they are ultimately and solely responsible for the accuracy, tone, and professionalism of their review.

Data, Code, and Reagent Availability

Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication in CSHL Press journals are required to make data, code, and unique materials promptly available to others without undue requirements. Please review the specific data, code, and reagent availability guidelines of your journal of interest.

Data and materials that have not been deposited in public databases should be available for at least a period that matches the requirements set forward by the authors' institution or funding agency.

Image Integrity

Image processing should be minimal and must ensure that the final figure accurately reflects the original data. At CSHL Press journals, we may apply data and image integrity checks at any stage in the publication process (submission, before publication, or after publication). Editors may use software to screen images for manipulation.

It is recommended that all authors of a manuscript review images intended to support their manuscript against the original image data prior to submission of their manuscript for peer review.

The following guidelines, adapted from those prepared by an STM Working Group on Image Alteration and Duplication Detection, are expected for all images prepared for submission to CSHL Press journals:

• Researchers are responsible for proper data acquisition, accurate data labeling, retention of raw data, clear research records, and adherence to FAIR data management
• Researchers are responsible for ensuring that the results displayed in images accurately and objectively represent the data acquired, and are not displayed in a misleading manner
• Researchers are responsible for properly describing the underlying methods used to generate the data, to render the experiment reproducible by others
• Researchers are responsible for proper alignment and provenance between raw data and the text and images provided in the article to support the claims made
• Images should accurately reflect the circumstances and conditions of data collection
• Images should be minimally processed, as nonessential modification could have unintended side effects. For example, modifying the brightness or contrast is acceptable only when applied equally across the whole image and applied equally to controls, but must not obfuscate any original data. Processing should not be used to emphasize one region in the image at the expense of others or to emphasize experimental data relative to the control. Cropping of patient photographs to remove non-clinically essential features that make the patient recognizable is appropriate, but should not obfuscate (clinically) relevant information
• Images should not be altered to idealize or caricaturize results (aka 'beautification')
• Any image alteration or processing should not be misleading or change the interpretation of the original data
• Any substantive image alteration or processing should be described in the caption, legend, or associated article text in a way that allows accurate, unbiased interpretation of the experimental data. For example, vertically sliced images from within the same gel must have a clear separation/line delineating the boundary and must be described in the figure legend. If one experiment using the same samples was run across multiple gels, this must be made clear in the legend and figure panel; two different gels should not be spliced together to look like one
• For image duplication or image re-use, including with adaptation or modification, from other publications, the original source and context, as well as the reason for the re-use should be provided. Any license or permissions needed for re-use must be obtained

For additional guidance on acceptable handling of image data, please see Rossner and Yamada and guidance from the Office of Research Integrity.

Editors may request the source/unprocessed data files to help in manuscript evaluation during the peer review process. Failure to locate original data upon request may result in a) the halting of the process until the issues are satisfactorily resolved or b) rejection of the manuscript. Editors reserve the right to forego publication of a manuscript if key data do not meet CSHL Press data integrity, ethical, or reproducibility standards. Editors may also request unprocessed, original data when responding to post-publication issues that may arise with published papers.

Plagiarism and Dual Publication

Submission to CSHL Press journals implies that the article, or parts thereof, has not been previously published, and the article is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Preprints made publicly available on recognized preprint servers, extended abstracts in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium, and dissertations/theses, are not considered prior publications. Distribution of the work, or parts thereof, in other ways, however, may be considered prior publication and could compromise consideration by CSHL Press journals. Authors should consult with the editors if they are uncertain about what constitutes prior publication.

Manuscripts submitted to CSHL Press journals are screened for plagiarism. Plagiarism generally involves the use of materials from others, but can apply to researchers' duplication of their own previously published reports without acknowledgment. The ORI module "Avoiding Plagiarism, Self-Plagiarism, and Other Questionable Writing Practices: a Guide to Ethical Writing" can help authors identify questionable writing practices.

CSHL Press journals reserve the right not to publish material that has already been published, completely or substantially, in peer-reviewed journals, persistent news media, or online information platforms and blogs.

Manuscripts submitted for publication elsewhere that are conceptually related to a submission to CSHL Press journals, and that feature one of more of the same authors, must be declared in the cover letter and included in full with the submission. It is at the discretion of the editors whether publication of such related material prevents publication in CSHL Press journals.

Authors are asked to ensure that previously published work is appropriately acknowledged and cited correctly. Where statements made in previously published work are reproduced verbatim, this must be indicated by the use of quotation marks (""), and an accompanying reference must be provided. CSHL Press reserves the right to employ automated tools to identify any instances of plagiarism and withdraw the contribution if this is detected.

Reuse of Previously Published Material

Authors are responsible for obtaining the relevant permissions to reuse any previously published material—including figures, images, tables, or substantial text—from the copyright holder. The corresponding author must clearly identify at submission or upon request any material within the manuscript that has been published previously elsewhere and provide written permission from the copyright holder for the re-use of such material.

By submitting a manuscript, the corresponding author affirms that all necessary permissions have been obtained, and that reused material is properly credited in accordance with the relevant copyright requirements.

Discussion of Unpublished or Published Work by Others

If there is a citation or mention of any unpublished material in the manuscript (for example, others' data, in press manuscripts, personal communications, or work in preparation), the corresponding author must include written permission at submission.

IV. Editorial and Review Process

Peer Review

Please refer to each journal's website for the criteria used for publication.

Peer Review Process

At CSHL Press journals, all submitted manuscripts are first read by the editorial staff. Only those papers that are considered to meet our editorial criteria are sent for formal review. Those papers judged to not be a good fit or otherwise inappropriate for the journal are rejected promptly without external review (although these decisions may be based on informal advice from board members and/or specialists in the field).

Manuscripts judged to be of potential interest to our readership are sent for external review. The decision to accept, reject, or request revisions is made by the handling editor, and is informed by the reviewers' advice, along with the editor's own assessment. The ultimate decision whether to publish a manuscript is the responsibility of the editor of the journal concerned, and may be guided by all the information concerning a manuscript and not just the reviewers' reports; this assessment may incorporate additional relevant information, such as screening for ethical or policy compliance, consultation with editorial colleagues or academic advisors, and/or considerations of the journal's scope, priorities, and standards of scholarship.

CSHL Press journals operate single-blind peer review, and referees' identities are not released to authors or to other reviewers unless a referee voluntarily signs their comments to the authors. We will neither confirm nor deny any speculation about reviewers' identities.

Editorial Consultation Across Journals and Manuscript Transfer

Authors of manuscripts that are not considered for publication, either before or after peer review, may be offered the option to transfer their submission to another journal within the CSHL Press portfolio or a partner journal network. Such offers are made at the discretion of the editor and are intended to help authors find a suitable publication home for their work without restarting the submission process. The decision to accept or decline a transfer offer remains entirely at the authors' discretion. If a transfer is accepted, the manuscript and any associated peer review reports will be passed to the receiving journal.

Confidentiality and Peer Review Policies

All contributions submitted to CSHL Press journals that are selected for peer review are sent to at least one, but usually two or more, independent reviewers, selected by the editors. Additional reviewers may be invited if special advice is needed or to help resolve disputes. Reviewer selection is based on multiple factors, including expertise, reputation, specific recommendations, and our own previous experiences. Authors are welcome to suggest suitable independent reviewers and may also request that the journal excludes one or two individuals or laboratories. Ultimately, however, the decision on the choice of reviewers belongs to the editor.

The peer review process at CSHL Press journals is expected to be confidential, and editors, authors, and reviewers are required to keep the confidentiality of the editorial and peer review process of submitted manuscripts and not reveal any details of a manuscript or communications related to it, during or after the peer review process, beyond those that are released by the journal, regardless of whether the manuscript is ultimately published. This confidentiality obligation extends to the review and all communications regarding the review. This includes not uploading manuscripts (or any parts of manuscripts including figures and tables) into Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and others based on large language models (LLMs) because this could infringe upon rights of confidentiality, privacy, and copyright (see STM guidance).

If a reviewer wishes to seek advice from colleagues while assessing a manuscript, the reviewer must first consult with the editor, and should ensure that confidentiality is maintained and that the names of any such colleagues are provided to the journal with the final report. Co-reviewing, on the other hand, where an invited reviewer involves a trainee or junior colleague in their group for the purposes of mentorship, is allowed and encouraged, without necessarily first consulting with the editor. We ask, instead, that co-reviewing be disclosed at the time the review is submitted, so that the journal may appropriately acknowledge the contribution and, when appropriate, add the co-reviewer to their reviewer database. The invited reviewer remains fully responsible for the content, accuracy, and integrity of the submitted report.

As part of our manuscript transfer program, manuscripts submitted to CSHL Press journals and any associated peer review reports may be shared confidentially with editors of other journals within the CSHL Press portfolio when a transfer is being considered, including before any transfer is formally offered or accepted by the authors. The confidentiality obligations described above extend to any materials shared in connection with a potential manuscript transfer.

Editing Reviewers' Reports

We normally transmit any and all comments from the reviewers that were intended for the authors. On rare occasions, however, we may edit a report for clarity, or to remove offensive language or comments that reveal confidential information. We ask reviewers to avoid inflammatory language. Conversely, authors should also recognize that criticisms are not necessarily unfair simply because they are expressed in robust language. We also ask reviewers to refrain from including their recommendations for acceptance or rejection in their reports for authors.

Preprint Policy

CSHL Press journals will consider for publication articles that have previously been made available as preprints on community, non-commercial servers. Similarly, CSHL Press journals accept the citation of preprints in journal submissions.

Preprints can be posted prior to or in parallel with submission. Authors are expected to declare any relevant preprint copies of the work during submission.

Upon publication, authors must ensure that any pre-publication version links to the final published article. This may include updating the preprint so that it includes a link to the published version, or using a preprint server like bioRxiv, that automatically links to the published article.

Publication Fees

Some CSHL Press journals may charge publication fees, including article processing charges (APCs) or other fees. Authors should consult the website of the specific journal to which they are submitting for information on applicable fees, payment policies, and any available fee waivers or discounts.

Publishing Ethics

By submitting to a CSHL Press journal, the authors confirm that the work has been performed in an ethical and responsible manner, with no research misconduct, which includes, but is not limited to, data fabrication and falsification, plagiarism, image manipulation, inappropriate data processing, unethical research, biased reporting, authorship abuse, redundant or duplicate publication, and undeclared conflicts of interest.

We investigate all instances of alleged scientific misconduct identified in submitted and/or published papers, and we may thus also request unprocessed data when investigating such issues. We follow guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in managing investigations of possible misconduct, and we reserve the right to contact research institutions, employers, funders, or the relevant national statutory body to fulfill these investigations. While CSHL Press generally follows the guidance provided by COPE, the Press reserves the right to make independent decisions based on its existing policies and principles.

Integrity and ethics concerns and questions about specific published articles can be submitted directly to the editorial office of the relevant journal. Queries received will be handled by the editors together with the CSHL Press Integrity in Publishing Group.

The editorial team will investigate all concerns that are directly raised with us by authors, reviewers, and readers. Note, however, as outlined by van Rossum et al, that the scope of a journal integrity assessment (whether led by journal editors or a publisher's research integrity group) is limited to the implications for the evidence and claims presented in the published research article and the need for any corrections to the record. Indeed, if at any point, either before or after publication, integrity issues are identified, and based on the strength of the evidence and outcome of their assessment, editors will take appropriate action to protect the integrity of the scholarly record in a timely manner, which may be independent of institutional investigations. Actions may include rejecting a manuscript, posting an Expression of Concern (or similar), or correcting or retracting a study. Other considerations, including the assessment of research misconduct by individual researchers and disciplinary actions, are instead referred to the authors' institutions and potentially to their funding organizations, as recommended by CLUE and COPE guidance.

V. Post-Publication

Corrections and Retractions

CSHL Press is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly literature, and will issue corrections, retraction statements, and other post-publication updates, including Editor's Notes and Editorial Expressions of Concern, on published content as needed. Such updates are published at the sole discretion of the editors.

In exceptional circumstances, CSHL Press further reserves the right to remove (withdraw) an article from its online platforms. Such action may be taken in circumstances, such as, but not limited to, the following: (i) CSHL Press has been advised that content is defamatory, or it infringes a third party's intellectual property right, right to privacy, or other legal right, or is otherwise unlawful; (ii) a court or government order has been issued, or is likely to be issued, requiring removal of such content; or (iii) content, if acted upon, would pose an immediate and serious risk to health. Removal may be temporary or permanent. Bibliographic metadata (e.g., title and authors) will be retained, and will be accompanied by a statement explaining why the content has been removed.

Integrity and ethics concerns and questions about specific articles can be submitted directly to the editorial office of the relevant journal. Queries received will be handled by the editors together with the CSHL Press Integrity in Publishing Group.

The editorial team will investigate concerns that are directly brought to our attention by readers or other stakeholders, following industry standards. In line with COPE guidance, authors are always given an opportunity to respond to the concerns raised. During an investigation, we may request original unprocessed data, consult with external experts, refer concerns to the authors' institutions or other appropriate bodies, and take other steps as needed.

VI. Professional Conduct

Respectful Communication

CSHL Press editors and journal staff are expected to behave professionally and respectfully at all times when engaging with authors, reviewers, and readers. Concerns about CSHL Press staff conduct and/or integrity may be reported to cshpress@cshl.edu.

We expect the same standards of behavior from the academic community and the public in their interactions with our staff. CSHL Press does not tolerate aggressive behavior, or any form of harassment, bullying, or discrimination directed against its staff. CSHL Press reserves the right to bring serious cases to the attention of employers or local authorities, if needed, and may refuse to interact, or do business, with individuals who repeatedly or seriously violate this policy.