How to submit

Online Submission
Public Health and Toxicology uses the online Editorial System for manuscript submission, peer review and editorial handling. Submissions received by email will not be considered.
Within the submission system, the corresponding author will have the ability to upload a cover letter and will also be able to select pre-identified statements related to the originality of the work, the potential conflicts of interest, authorship and the role of funding sources in the preparation of the manuscript. Additional information may be requested by the Editorial Board so as to ensure the integrity and ethics of the manuscript.

Correspondence
Receipt of a manuscript is acknowledged via automated email from the online submission system. This includes a manuscript tracking number, which should be provided in all correspondence with the editorial office with regard to that manuscript. We kindly request that only the corresponding author is in contact with the editorial office, on behalf of all of the manuscript's authors.

Author Statements
During submission, the authors will need to accept and confirm the following conditions:

1) All authors have participated in the preparation of the manuscript and meet the ICMJE criteria for authorship (all authors must have read and agreed to its content and are accountable for all aspects of the manuscript).
2) The manuscript has not been published previously in part or in whole, and is not currently submitted for publication in another journal (prior publication as a conference abstract or in an abstract book is allowed)
3) Data availability and sharing options (More information about data policies can be found here)
4) Funding Statement (YES/NO)
5) Special Issue (included or not)

ICMJE recommendations
The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work.
a. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
b. Final approval of the version to be published.
c. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
d. In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he or she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.

Licensing
The authors must agree to the provision of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), unless another license is mandated by employers (for instance where Crown Copyright applies or researchers are US government employees).

Suggested Reviewers
Authors may suggest reviewers that are qualified to peer review their manuscript, provided that they have not collaborated closely in the near past and that they are not from the same institution. Suggested reviewers invited will not be notified of the author/s that suggested them.

Non-Preferred Suggested Reviewers
Authors may also suggest reviewers who are not preferred to review their manuscript. While the author's suggestions are taken into account, the Editorial Office reserves the right to handle peer review at its discretion.

Letters to the Editor and Editorials
Letters to the Editor and Editorials are peer-reviewed internally. All articles have a specific provenance and peer review tab (commissioned vs. non commissioned; internally vs. externally peer-reviewed).

Article Processing Charges
Public Health and Toxicology does not have any Article Processing Charges (APC).

Peer Review and Manuscript Handling Process
Peer review is the critical assessment of manuscripts. All articles submitted to Public Health and Toxicology undergo double-blind peer review. Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents.
Reviewers are requested to report on the ethical aspects of the manuscript they are allocated to review and are requested to report also on the novelty, the impact, the statistical analysis, references and potential conflicts of interest.
The Editorial Office reserves the right to handle the peer review process.

1. Initial Internal Review
Assigned editorial board members and handling editors make an initial decision on the manuscript, based on the manuscript's content, novelty, sample size, manuscript preparation and quality in light of the other manuscripts currently under peer review. At this stage, the journal may either send the manuscript out for double-blind peer review, may reject the manuscript without peer review or may send the manuscript back to authors for adjustment before it is evaluated again.

2. Plagiarism
Upon receipt of the submission, the manuscript is checked using the plagiarism identification software iTHENTICATE
and the report is provided to the handling editor to assess within the internal review process .

3. Double-Blind Peer Review
Should the manuscript pass this initial phase of the internal review, external double-blind peer reviewing is then performed. Two external peer reviewers are invited to provide their opinion on the manuscript. These two external peer review reports are then evaluated by a member of the editorial board or the Editor in Chief (EIC) who then makes a decision on the manuscript. In all cases, the manuscript is reviewed by at least one member of the editorial board members and the EIC.