Editorial Policies

Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal. Decisions are made by the editors and are independent of the article processing charge, of any fee-relief inquiry, and of any commercial or institutional relationship.

Editors, reviewers and authors follow the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

All submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal's scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review.

Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request. Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts.

Reviewers are asked to treat manuscripts as confidential, to declare competing interests, and to give a constructive, evidence-based assessment. Reviewers must obtain journal permission before using AI to assist with a review; see the Reviewer Guidelines. Editors with a conflict of interest are recused from handling a manuscript, and editors do not handle their own submissions.

Authorship is limited to those who made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution or interpretation of the work, who took part in drafting or revising it, and who approved the submitted version and accept responsibility for it. Contributions of others are acknowledged. Changes to the author list after submission require the written agreement of all authors.

Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authors disclose any use of such tools in preparing the manuscript, in the methods or acknowledgments, and remain responsible for the accuracy and originality of the content.

Authors declare financial and non-financial relationships that could be seen to influence the work, and name all sources of funding. Editors and reviewers declare competing interests that bear on a manuscript and withdraw from handling it where appropriate.

Research must comply with the laws, regulations and ethical standards that apply where it was carried out. Where applicable, manuscripts report:

• Human participants: ethics committee or institutional review board approval and informed consent, and adherence to the Declaration of Helsinki.
• Human embryos, gametes and embryo models: approval by the responsible ethics body, the donors’ consent for the use of the material, and compliance with national regulation and with recognized international guidance on embryo research and stem-cell research, including the limits on how long human embryos may be cultured.
• Animals: approval by an institutional animal care committee and adherence to recognized guidelines such as ARRIVE. Field studies report the permits obtained, especially for protected species.
• Case reports: written consent for publication from the person concerned or a legal guardian.

Interventional clinical trials must be registered in an accepted public trial registry at or before the first participant provides consent for enrollment. The registry name, registration number, and registration date must be reported in the manuscript.

Every empirical research manuscript must include a data-availability statement. Authors are encouraged to deposit data and code in a recognized repository. Details are given on the Data Archiving and Permissions page.

Submitted manuscripts are screened with Crossref Similarity Check, powered by iThenticate. A similarity report is interpreted by an editor in context and is never an automatic basis for acceptance or rejection. The journal expects original work that is not under consideration elsewhere, and images and data that have not been manipulated in a way that misrepresents the results. Editors may ask for original images or data.

Errors that affect the published record are corrected by a correction notice linked to the article. Where findings are unreliable because of misconduct or serious error, the article may be retracted, following COPE guidance. Concerns about a published or submitted article may be sent to the editorial office, and are handled by the editors as a confidential matter.

Authors who disagree with a decision may write to the editorial office, stating the grounds on which they ask for reconsideration. Appeals are considered by an editor who was not involved in the original decision. Complaints about the conduct of the journal are sent to info@openaccesspub.org.

Articles are published open access under CC BY 4.0, and authors retain copyright; see Copyright and License. The article processing charge is USD 1,200, payable only after acceptance. Withdrawal after submission is subject to the journal’s withdrawal policy, set out on the Article Processing Charges page.

Journal of Embryology articles will be deposited in Portico, a not-for-profit digital-preservation archive run by ITHAKA (the organization behind JSTOR). Once deposited, articles enter Portico’s permanent archive, so the scholarly record stays available for the long term — even if a title one day ceases to publish.

Read our preservation policy.