Information for current and prospective reviewers

What is the peer review model?

Acta Biochimica Polonica operates a single-blind peer review process, whereby authors are not aware of the identities or affiliations of the reviewers, but the reviewers are able to view the authors’ identities when they make the decision to proceed with reviewing the manuscript. Usually, an article is reviewed by two independent reviewers. For accepted manuscripts, the handling editor’s and reviewers’ names are published on the final formatted article as an extra mechanism of transparency.  

Guide to Peer Review

Before Accepting the Invitation

When you receive an invitation to review, it is important to consider the following points before accepting:

A) Is the manuscript within my expertise?

Think about whether the manuscript is suitably within your area of expertise. If not, please decline the invite, and consider helping us by suggesting alternative relevant experts.

B) Do I have the time?

We strive to keep our peer review process efficient and as such reviewers are requested to complete their reports within 10 days after they accept the invite. You should let the Editorial Office know if you aren’t able to provide a review but may be able to participate at another time.

C) Respond to the invite

We ask reviewers to respond to the review invitation as soon as they can. You are of course free to decline to review if you feel that you lack the time or expertise, and we always appreciate recommendations for alternative reviewers. 
If a reviewer realises that they have insufficient time to complete their review, or if there will be a delay to the deadline after the invitation has been accepted, they can contact the Editorial Office. We will be happy to assist. 

During Peer Review

Before a manuscript is sent for peer review, the Editorial Office team and the Editor-in-Chief will already have carried out initial quality checks.

The aims of our reviewers should always be to:

• focus on the quality of the science objectively
• collaborate towards improvement and think constructively
• help the author and editor understand what is needed with clear comments.
• Below are our tips for ensuring a quality report is produced. 

What to do:

1) Respect the scope 
Authors provide a ‘contribution to the field’ statement with their manuscript to explain the article’s intended scope and relevance. Keep the focus on what the manuscript is aiming to do, even if your expertise extends in a related direction. You should avoid recommending authors vastly expand the scope of the manuscript (e.g. “you only dealt with x, you need to deal with y”), or take them outside their manuscript’s intended scope.

2) Focus on science 
Be objective. Also, it is not necessary to flag small copy-editing errors: the Production team will ensure those are fixed during typesetting.

3) Provide constructive feedback 
Comments should seek to recommend reasonable improvements, in a polite and impersonal tone. Show professional courtesy by thinking about what you would want to receive on a paper of your own. And if it is good, say so, and also say why!

4) Consider field specifics 
Are there elements of the research specific to the field you work in? If so, apply your expertise to give feedback on these. It will be helpful to all involved in the manuscript’s review process. 

What NOT to do:

1) Don’t be vague or too brief 
Authors find precise and detailed feedback extremely helpful, and this tends to result in a timely and smoother review process. Whereas a brief report will often lead to additional questions from authors. Make sure recommendations and decisions are explained clearly.

2) Don’t leave out key points in your initial report 
The initial report should be thorough and provide all the necessary feedback upfront. While it is possible that further revisions to the paper will bring up new questions, be sure to include your key points in your initial report. Ensure you conclude your report with a clear recommendation for the editor. You are the expert and your guidance is highly valued.

3) Don’t drop out of the peer review 
To ensure an efficient process for all involved, please try to submit your responses on time. If you need to request an extension or to withdraw from the review process you can do this directly in the review forum at any time, or contact the Editorial Office for support. Try to place yourself in the authors’ shoes, as they anxiously await feedback on their submission.

Keep in touch!
Encountering any issues during review or have any concerns with the manuscript? Need assistance using our review platform? Need to request an extension to submit your review? For these or any other inquiries or updates, do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office.

Why Publish With Us?

Thorough, Unbiased, Fast and Transparent Review

Acta Biochimica Polonica’s review process is unbiased and efficient: 

• Our review process is comprehensive and objective.
• The real-time interaction between the author and the reviewers speeds up the review process enabling research findings to be published timely.

Copyright Retention

As an author you retain the copyright of your articles (except for any third-party images etc). You may in general reproduce copies of your articles in any way you choose and freely disseminate these as reprints or electronically, as long as the original publication is fully cited. For instance, your published article can (with the full citation) be posted on your personal or institutional homepage, emailed to friends and colleagues, printed, archived in a collection, distributed on CD-ROM, quoted in the press, translated or distributed in any other way to as many people and as often as you wish. All published articles are Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits the use, distribution, and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited. 

Article Promotion

Articles are widely promoted through email alerts and, when appropriate, press releases, further increasing the accessibility and spreading of every research work.

Scope and Mission

Acta Biochimica Polonica (ABP) aims to be the leading journal in the field by publishing open access premier research on enzymology and metabolism, membranes and bioenergetics, gene structure and expression, protein, nucleic acid and carbohydrate structure and metabolism. ABP is the official journal of Polskie Towarzystwo Biochemiczne (Polish Biochemical Society).

Advisory Board and Editorial Team

ABP's Editorial Board and Advisory Board provides strategic and professional advice to the Editor-in-Chief. The journal recognises the following Editorial Board members for their continuous guidance and support of the journal.

Editor-in-Chief:

Grzegorz Węgrzyn (University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland)

Editors

Bożena Bruhn-Olszewska                                                                Mikołaj Olejniczak
Uppsala University, Sweden                                                            Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland

Advisory Board

Muthu Arumugam                                                                        Grzegorz Bartosz (chairman)
CSIR-NIIST, Trivandrum Kerala, India                                               University of Rzeszów, Poland

Join the Editorial Board

Call for Editorial Board Members

Acta Biochimica Polonica is looking for new Editorial Board members, if you are interested in joining the Editorial Board as a Reviewer please complete this form.

Selection criteria

• An active researcher with a PhD
• Evidence of an active and relevant publication record for current career stage
• Expertise in relevant subject areas within the scope of the journal
• Experience of reviewing (desirable)

Although previous reviewing experience is desirable, we encourage applications from researchers at any stage of their career.

Key responsibilities

• Reviewing manuscripts for the journal
• Helping develop the journal including:
• Suggesting Special Issues for the journal
• Where relevant acting as a Guest Editor on a Special Issue
• Acting as an ambassador for the journal at conferences and engaging with the journal through social media, as appropriate.

The journal is supported by a professional editorial office team which works to support all Editorial Board members in these activities.

Application assessment

Applications are assessed on submission and we aim to reply to all applicants within 4 weeks.

Journal Information

Standard Journal Abbreviation (ISO 4): Acta Biochim. Pol. 
Abbreviation: ABP 
Electronic ISSN: 1734-154X

Copyright Statement

Under the Conditions for Website Use and the General Conditions for Authors, authors of articles published in ABP retain copyright on their articles, except for any third-party images and other materials added by ABP, which are subject to copyright of their respective owners. Authors are therefore free to disseminate and re-publish their articles, subject to any requirements of third-party copyright owners and subject to the original publication being fully cited. Visitors may also download and forward articles subject to the citation requirements and subject to any fees ABP’s publisher, Frontiers, may charge for downloading licenses. The ability to copy, download, forward or otherwise distribute any materials is always subject to any copyright notices displayed. Copyright notices must be displayed prominently and may not be obliterated, deleted or hidden, totally or partially.

Quality

Each ABP article strives for the highest quality, thanks to genuinely collaborative interactions between authors, editors and reviewers. ABP encourages authors to consult the instructions for authors guidelines prior to submission. Please observe that all submissions are screened for evidence of mass production of manuscripts, including ghostwritten, fabricated, or plagiarized text, generic titles, hypotheses, or experiments, and digital images that have been manipulated, manufactured, or re-used. These submissions will not be considered for peer review in ABP. ABP operates in line with the research integrity principles supported by COPE.

Contact

Editorial Office 

Avenue du Tribunal Fédéral 34 
CH – 1005 Lausanne 
Switzerland 
Tel +41 (0)21 510 17 40 
Fax +41 (0)21 510 17 01 
For queries regarding special issues,
editorial board applications and any other questions,
please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

IT HelpDesk

Tel +41 (0)21 510 17 10 
Fax +41 (0)21 510 17 01 
For technical issues, please visit our 
HelpDesk, or contact our IT HelpDesk team                                                                                                                                                                      at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For all queries regarding manuscripts in review or
potential conflicts of interest,
please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

About this Special Issue