Science and research are important to confirm, change or advance knowledge. If you are publishing with Springer Nature you are responsible for the way your research is organized and conducted. It is therefore important that the work you submit has been carried out in line with international standards for responsible research publication.

Springer Nature is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record, and as a member follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct and correcting the literature.

Authors, editors and series editors should adhere to the minimum standards as set out in our individual Codes of Conduct, in addition to the policies below, before submitting your manuscript.

• Code of Conduct for Book Authors
• Code of Conduct for Book Volume Editors
• Code of Conduct for Book Series Editors

Please note that, throughout this document, author and editor are defined as follows:

Author: Creator/writer of the content.

Editor: After inviting authors to contribute, the editor coordinates and determines the final content.

Note: Please see our Open Access Policies for Books page for information on our open access policies for books and book chapters, including licensing, copyright, use of third-party material, self-archiving, compliance with open access funder mandates and retrospective open access.

Policies

Authorship

These guidelines describe authorship principles and good authorship practices to which prospective authors should adhere. 

Authorship should be limited to those who contributed substantially to the scholarly work such as drafting and/or revising critically the intellectual content of the work or significant parts of it.

“Honorary authorship” is not permitted. Third parties who added something substantial to the work but do not qualify as authors should be mentioned in the acknowledgment section.

Author Identification

Authors are strongly recommended to use their ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript for consideration, or to acquire an ORCID iD via the submission process.

Corresponding Authors

The corresponding author listed on the manuscript ensures that all appropriate co-authors are included on the manuscript, and that all co-authors have approved the final version of the chapter, section or entry or full manuscript (where appropriate) and have agreed to its submission for publication. All co-authors therefore share collective responsibility and accountability for the results. Please note that the naming of authors is not merely a question of research ethics; it is also a copyright issue.

Please include all author names (in case of contributions to an edited work, also the names of the book editors) and the addresses of the authors' institutes, and please ensure that the sequence of the author names is correct when the manuscript is submitted. Once the manuscript has been delivered to production, changes to authorship are no longer possible.

Any potential authorship disputes brought to the editors’ attention will be handled in line with COPE guidelines.

Affiliation

The primary affiliation for each author should be the institution where the majority of their work was done. Addresses will not be updated or changed after publication of the work.

Confidentiality

Authors should treat all communication with Springer Nature as confidential, which includes correspondence with direct representatives assigned to the work such as series editors and/or handling editors and reviewers’ reports, unless explicit consent has been received to share information.

Changes to Authorship

Authors are strongly advised to ensure that the authorship, the corresponding author and the order of authors is correct at submission. Changes of authorship by adding or deleting authors, and/or changes in corresponding author, and/or changes in the sequence of authors are not accepted after acceptance of a manuscript.

Please note that author names will be published as they appear on the accepted submission.

Please make sure that the names of all authors are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are current.

Adding and/or deleting authors at revision stage are generally not permitted, but in some cases it may be warranted. Reasons for these changes in authorship should be explained. Approval of the change during revision is at the discretion of Springer Nature.

Author Name Change

An author who has changed their name for reasons such as gender transition or religious conversion may request for their name, pronouns and other relevant biographical information to be corrected on content published prior to the change. The author can choose for this correction to happen silently, in which case there will be no note flagging the change on either the pdf or the html of the paper, or alternatively they may do so by a formal public author correction.

Deceased or Incapacitated Authors

For cases in which a co-author dies or is incapacitated during the writing, submission, or peer-review process, and the co-authors feel it is appropriate to include the author, co-authors should obtain approval from a (legal) representative which could be a direct relative.

Authorship Issues or Disputes

In the case of an authorship dispute during peer review or after acceptance and publication, Springer Nature may not be in a position to investigate or adjudicate. Authors will be asked to resolve the dispute themselves. If they are unable, Springer Nature reserves the right to withdraw the manuscript from the editorial process or, in case of published content, raise the issue with the authors’ institution(s) and abide by its guidelines.

Competing Interest Policy

A competing interest or conflict of interest is a situation in which the author’s interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by their personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations.

Springer Nature requires corresponding authors and their co-authors to disclose all relationships or interests that could potentially have direct or indirect influence or may lead to bias within the work. Disclosure of interests is not only a requirement from Abstracting and Indexing Services, but also provides a more complete and transparent process and helps readers form their own judgments of potential bias. This does not necessarily mean a financial relationship with an organization that sponsored the research or compensation received for consultancy work is inappropriate.

Please refer to Compliance with Ethical Standards in the Author Instructions for further information on how to disclose competing interest in the manuscript.

Ethical Approval and Informed Consent for Studies Involving Animals and/or Humans Policy

Springer Nature requires authors to be transparent throughout the ethical approval process and research process. When including primary studies in a book/ chapter manuscript with human participants, authors must adhere to the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Authors should report that the study was reviewed and approved by an appropriate ethics review committee and must include the name of the ethics committee and the reference number where appropriate. This information is also a requirement for Abstracting and Indexing Services in certain disciplines.

In addition, for human participants, authors are required to include a statement that informed consent (to participate and / or to publish) was obtained from individual participants or parents/ guardians if the participant is minor or incapable. An example of a Human Research Participant Publication Approval Template is provided here.

If animals are studied, authors should make sure that the legal requirements or guidelines in the country and/or state or province for the care and use of animals have been followed or specify that no ethics approval was required. Please refer to Compliance with Ethical Standards in Author Instructions on how to disclose ethical standards in the manuscript.

Springer Nature reserves the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with these requirements. Authors will be held responsible for false statements or failure to fulfill these requirements.

Citations

Research content and non-research content (e.g. Opinions, Reviews, and Commentaries) must cite appropriate and relevant literature in support of the claims made. Excessive self-citation, coordinated efforts among several authors to collectively self-cite, gratuitous and unnecessary citation of publications in the work to which the manuscript has been submitted, and any other form of citation manipulation are inappropriate. 

Citation manipulation will result in the chapter or book being rejected, and may be reported to the authors’ institutions. Similarly, any attempts by peer-reviewers or editors to encourage such practices should be reported by authors to the publisher. 

Authors should consider the following best practice guidelines when preparing their manuscript:

• Any statement in the manuscript that relies on external sources of information (i.e. not the authors' own ideas or findings or general knowledge) should use a citation.
• Authors should avoid citing derivations of original work. For example, they should cite the original work rather than a review article that cites an original work.
• Authors should ensure that their citations are accurate (i.e. they should ensure the citation supports the statement made in their manuscript and should not misrepresent another work by citing it if it does not support the point the authors wish to make).
• Authors should not cite sources that they have not read.
• Authors should not preferentially cite their own or their friends’, peers’, or institution’s publications.
• Authors should avoid citing work solely from one country, unless there is a special need.
• Authors should not use an excessive number of citations to support one point, unless there is a special need.
• Ideally, authors should cite sources that have undergone peer review where possible.
• Authors should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.

Third Party Material 

Please visit the Third Party Permissions page for information on how to clear permissions from rights holders when using third party content.

Peer Review

Peer Review/Review Policy

Springer Nature endorses (peer) review as a key factor in developing and validating high quality scholarly publications. It is understood that readership differs per book type (edited volumes, reference works, textbooks, professional books, and conference proceedings (amongst others) and that the approach to assess the merit of the work should be aligned with both the expectations of the intended audience and norms within a specific discipline. 

All books published by Springer Nature undergo review. This usually involves a review by experts; this can be either independent external reviewers or inhouse subject specialists. Proposals and manuscript submissions to Springer Nature are assessed and reviewed by an inhouse editor who decides whether the submission is suitable to send out for further review to appropriate book series editors, editorial board and/or external peer reviewers, after which a decision is made whether the content is suitable for publication.

The reviewers’ reports will be taken into account in the decision making in manuscript acceptance.

Authored Books

On submission, the manuscript is assessed by Springer Nature editorial staff and may be sent again for external peer-review.

Edited Books

Further to our Peer Review/Review Policy, the volume editors are responsible for reviewing and approving all contributions. On submission, the manuscript is assessed by Springer Nature editorial staff and may be sent again for external peer-review.

Conference Proceedings

All papers published in Springer Nature proceedings undergo peer review. This usually involves review by independent, expert peer reviewers. Responsibility for reviewing all papers lies with the program chairs/volume editors, and they engage the program committee members and any external reviewers in the reviewing process as appropriate. Upon submitting a completed proposal to Springer Nature, the volume editors/program committee chairs are requested to provide a description of the review process employed and the number of reviews per paper. The evaluation of all contributions should be documented by the volume editors/program committee chairs and should be made available to Springer Nature if requested. We expect that the accepted papers were/will be presented at the conference.

Book Series

The review of a proposal or manuscript submitted to a book series is among the ways in which Springer Nature decides to publish a book. This helps us to establish if the proposed book fits within the aims and scope of the series, and satisfies other criteria such as quality and relevance for the intended community. Each manuscript is fully reviewed prior to its acceptance for publication in the book series by the book series editors, in-house editors, series editorial board members or external experts in the field appointed by the series editor and/or Springer Nature.

Peer Reviewer Recommendation

Springer Nature is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and we need your support to implement these principles. Editors/series editors/program committee chairs and members are strongly encouraged to consider, when applicable, geographical regions, gender identities, racial/ethnic groups, and other groups when inviting peer reviewers.

Authors or volume editors may be requested to provide names of potential reviewers; however, whether or not to consider these reviewers is at Springer Nature's discretion. We ask that the proposed individuals be unbiased and do not include scholars in your department, from your thesis committee, or who have served in an advisory capacity to you or the project in the past.

Authors are welcome to suggest suitable independent reviewers whose expertise they respect and whose feedback they would value. They may also request that up to two individuals not be considered as reviewers. These suggestions and requests will be seriously considered, but, while considerable weight will be given to the author’s input, the final decision will remain with the in-house book publishing editor.

Confidentially

Depending on the type of peer review, peer reviewers should adhere to the principles of COPE's Ethical Guidelines for Peer-reviewers and therefore are required to respect the confidentiality of the peer review process and not reveal any details of a manuscript or its review, during or after the peer-review process, beyond the information released by Springer Nature. If reviewers wish to involve a colleague in the review process they should first obtain permission from Springer Nature or the series editor.
Springer Nature will not share manuscripts with third parties outside of Springer Nature with the exception of peer review or cases of suspected misconduct.

Reviewers should be made aware of the expectations as set out in the Guidelines for Book Reviewers and our How to Peer Review: Springer Nature Tutorial.

Reuse of Content in a Thesis

See Rights, Permissions, Third Party Distribution for information on how Springer Nature authors may reuse their published work (book or journal) in their theses.

Springer Nature Author’s Retained Rights

See Rights, Permissions, Third Party Distribution for information on how Springer Nature authors may reuse their work in third party publications please visit the.

Self-Archiving

See Open Access Policies for Books for our policies on self-archiving of both non-open access and open access books and book chapters.

Harmful Research Content

Springer Nature believes that publishers, authors, editors, and reviewers should consider how research and its dissemination may potentially harm population groups, as a result of discrimination in the assumptions or framing, methodology, interpretation or presentation of the research.

We have prepared principles and guidelines intended to assist those considering the interests of population groups and also ethical aspects of various forms of discrimination. A full presentation of these principles and guidelines can be found HERE.

Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER)

Researchers are encouraged to follow the Sex and Gender Equity in Research guidelines and to include sex and gender considerations where relevant. 

Working definitions (adopted/adapted from the SAGER guidelines)

Sex - refers to currently understood biological differences between females and males, including chromosomes, sex organs, and endogenous hormonal profiles. Sex is usually categorized as female or male, although there is variation in the biological attributes that constitute sex.

Gender - refers to socially constructed and enacted roles and behaviours which occur in a historical and cultural context and vary across societies and over time. Gender is usually incorrectly conceptualized as a binary (man/woman or feminine/masculine) factor. In reality, there is a spectrum of gender identities and expressions defining how individuals identify themselves and express their gender 

Gender identity and/or expression - A person’s concept of self as being male and masculine or female and feminine, or non-binary or ambivalent, based in part on physical characteristics, parental responses, and psychological and social pressures. It is the internal experience of a gender role. This includes Transgender Persons, as having a sense of persistent identification with, and expression of, gender-coded behaviours not typically associated with one’s anatomical sex at birth and with or without a desire to undergo sex reassignment procedures. 

“Gender” refers to a set of cultural norms and expectations and not a “biologically defined variable”. Such norms are not fixed but evolve across time and space. As such, definitions will require frequent revisiting, as the exercise of defining gender (and sexuality) is under constant flux and evolution, as is the area of study in itself.

Authors should use the terms sex (biological attribute) and gender (shaped by social and cultural circumstances) carefully in order to avoid confusing both terms. Article titles and/or abstracts should indicate clearly what sex(es) the study applies to. Authors should also describe in the background, whether sex and/or gender differences may be expected; report how sex and/or gender were accounted for in the design of the study; provide disaggregated data by sex and/or gender, where appropriate; and discuss respective results. If a sex and/or gender analysis was not conducted, the rationale should be given in the Discussion. These guidelines apply to studies involving humans, vertebrate animals and cell lines.

Researchers are encouraged to promote equality between men and women in their academic research which by nature should be grounded on the recognition of merit, competences and creativity, regardless of any other personal attributes or orientation.

Sexist, misogynistic and/or anti-LGBTQ+ content is ethically objectionable. Regardless of content type (research, review or opinion) and, for research, regardless of whether a research project was reviewed and approved by appropriate ethics specialists, editors may raise with the authors concerns regarding potentially sexist, misogynistic, and/or anti-LGBTQ+ assumptions, implications or speech in their submission; engage external ethics experts to provide input on such issues as part of the peer review process; or request modifications to (or correct or otherwise amend post-publication), and in severe cases refuse publication of (or retract post-publication) sexist, misogynistic, and/or anti-LGBTQ+ content, using the guiding criteria I-IV in our guidance on Research on human populations.

Springer Nature Territorial Neutrality Policy

Political Neutrality

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. We do not take political positions and should not support political parties or endorse political candidates.

We achieve this by being politically neutral (which includes not donating to political parties or endorsing politically-driven boycotts) while respecting the editorial independence of the media in respect of our content. This means that, while editorial content in Springer Nature publications might sometimes take a political position, it should not be seen as a reflection or otherwise of the company’s position. Editorial content is not influenced by the company and vice versa.

Research involving Palaeontological, Archaeological or Geological Materials

Details of palaeontological specimens and geological samples should include clear provenance information to ensure full transparency of the research.

It is recognized that precise provenance information may not be available for older museum collections. In circumstances where providing specific provenance information may compromise the security of palaeontological or geological sites it may be appropriate to exclude detailed locality information.

Samples must always be collected and exported in a responsible manner and in accordance with applicable local and national laws. Any submission detailing new material should include information regarding the requisite permissions obtained and the issuing authority. Authors may be required to provide specific supporting documentation upon request.

Type, figured and cited palaeontological specimens should be deposited in a recognised museum or collection to permit free access by other researchers in perpetuity. Sufficient information on the repository, including the assigned unique catalogue numbers (where applicable), should be provided to allow the specimens to be traced.

We encourage deposition of 3D scans of fossil specimens (where appropriate) within a permanent, accessible repository to facilitate study by the scientific community.

Springer Nature requires that submitted content adheres to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) national cultural heritage laws and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Resolutions, Recommendations and other Decisions.

Datasets

Making scientific datasets publicly available before associated manuscripts are submitted will not preclude consideration of the related publications by Springer Nature. Because an increasing number of research funding agencies require that their grant holders share the 'raw data' research outputs, such data sharing is encouraged by Springer Nature, provided appropriate safeguards are in place to protect personal or sensitive information.

All authors are requested to make sure that all data and materials, as well as software or code, support their published claims and comply with field standards.

Springer Nature reserves the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with these editorial policies. The author or editor will be held responsible for false statements or failure to fulfil the criteria.