Publisher policies

Eurohealth conforms to the editorial policies of the World Health Organization (WHO) and adheres to WHO guidelines on branding and the editorial policies set out in the WHO style guide. These have established rules on spelling, country names, pharmaceutical products and the handling of sensitive, contentious or controversial subjects (from state boundaries to the nomenclature of global ethnicities). Editing, typesetting and proofreading are handled by external providers that have been vetted and approved, on merit, by publication staff.

Online and print versions of Eurohealth are produced in colour. The print edition is limited run and the online version is optimised for download speeds and viewing.

Open access policy

Online material is produced as Open Access normally under the Open Access license CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0. WHO supports open access to the published output of its activities as a fundamental part of its mission and a prerequisite for addressing the public health challenges of the twenty-first century. The WHO open-access policy is an expression of this position. It is also in keeping with the spirit and goals outlined in the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Scientific Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. It is designed to enable free public access to the information contained in WHO publications.

Peer review policy

All submissions to the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies are assessed by a Lead Editor who will decide whether they are suitable for peer review. Where a member of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies is on the author list or has any other competing interest regarding a specific manuscript, another Lead Editor will be assigned to oversee peer review. Lead Editors will consider the peer-reviewed reports when making a decision, but are not bound by the opinions or recommendations therein. A concern raised by a single peer reviewer or the Editor themself may result in the manuscript being rejected. Authors receive peer review reports with the editorial decision on their manuscript.

Advertising policy

No paid advertisements are permitted. Small fillers can be included to fill empty spaces to promote related publications (i.e. open access books, policy briefs, country reports), conferences, or training courses.

Research ethics policy

Authors should refrain from misrepresenting research results which could damage the trust in the organization, the professionalism of scientific authorship, and ultimately the entire scientific endeavour. Maintaining integrity of the research and its presentation is helped by following the rules of good scientific practice, which include: 1) A single study should not be split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various publications or to one publication over time; 2) Results should be presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation; 3) Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given in the form of clear referencing (this includes material that summarized and/or paraphrased), quotation marks (to indicate words taken from another source) are used for copying of material, and permissions secured for material that is copyrighted.

Manuscripts must cite the appropriate and relevant literature in support of the claims made. Excessive and inappropriate self-citation or coordinated efforts among several authors to collectively self-cite is strongly discouraged. Authors should avoid untrue statements about an entity (who can be an individual person, institution, or a company) or descriptions of their behaviour or actions that could potentially be seen as personal attacks or allegations about that person. Research that may be misapplied to pose a threat to public health should be clearly identified in the manuscript (e.g. dual use of research). Authors are strongly advised to ensure the author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors are all correct at submission. Adding and/or deleting authors during the revision stages is generally not permitted, but in some cases may be warranted. Reasons for changes in authorship should be explained in detail. Please note that changes to authorship cannot be made after acceptance of a manuscript.

Informed consent policy

All individuals have individual rights that are not to be infringed. Individual participants in studies have, for example, the right to decide what happens to the (identifiable) personal data gathered, to what they have said during a study or an interview, as well as to any photograph that was taken.

Identifying details (names, dates of birth, identity numbers, biometrical characteristics, and other information) of the participants that were studied should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and genetic profiles unless the information is essential for scholarly purposes and the participant (or parent/guardian if the participant is a minor or incapable or legal representative) gave written informed consent for publication. Under certain circumstances consent is not required as long as information is anonymized and the submission does not include images that may identify the person. Informed consent for publication should be obtained if there is any doubt.

Since the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies serves as a knowledge broker bridging the gap between academia and practice on health systems and policies, the inclusion of patient details should not be necessary.

The process for handling cases requiring corrections, retractions, and editorial expressions of concern

Should factual amendments be made post-production, these are first assessed whether they are simple errors and, if so, approved by the editorial team. Should, in their view, an adjustment be made, it is then sent on to production for amendment. Revisions to errors are then checked for accuracy by the editorial team and with those raising the issue. The amended version of the issue is then re uploaded and will carry an erratum signifying to the reader the change and the date of the change.

In all other cases Eurohealth abides by WHO’s policies on retraction. Retraction is a mechanism for correcting the literature and alerting readers to publications that contain flawed or erroneous data such that their findings cannot be relied upon. Unreliable data may result from honest error (such as miscalculation or experimental error) or from scientific misconduct (such as data fabrication, data falsification, failure to disclose conflicts of interest and plagiarism). Retractions are also used to alert readers to cases of unethical research. Here WHO seeks to align with international approaches on retraction in scientific publishing, such as those produced by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Each situation requires individual assessment by the editorial team and appropriate management so that the relevant facts and circumstances are established. Then an expression of concern relating to the work, pending the outcome of the investigation, may be published.  If the investigation establishes, or if the editorial team has reasonable grounds to consider, that the content of the publication is seriously flawed or misleading, or otherwise compromised by scientific misconduct, then the publication would be retracted and a statement of retraction published. If the concerns are unproven or unfounded, a statement to this effect would be published. Expressions of concern and statements of retraction should be prominently labelled and include the title of the original publication. The retraction statement should explain why the publication is being retracted and include a complete reference to that publication. Ideally, the retraction statement should be linked to the original publication and the retracted publication should be labelled as retracted in all its forms and in all languages in which it has been published.