Editorial Process

All contributions are evaluated according to the criteria of originality and/or quality of their scientific content, in accordance with current recommendations of relevant legal and scientific institutions and organizations. The manuscript needs to be prepared according to the Journal’s instructions and proofed by a native English speaker or someone proficient in English. Manuscripts which do not conform to these standards will be returned immediately. All papers should be submitted via Comet-FTB online submission system (at www.ftb.com.hr). Manuscripts sent by e-mail will not be considered for publication. If the upload is successful, the corresponding author will receive a confirmation e-mail with a reference number assigned to the paper, which he/she is asked to quote in all subsequent correspondence. All other authors will receive a copy of that email.

All manuscripts are first evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief and can be rejected without reviewing if considered not of sufficient interest or novelty, too preliminary or out of scope of the Journal. If the manuscript is considered suitable for further evaluation, it is first sent to the Field editor. Based on his/her opinion the paper is either rejected or evaluated further. Before reviewing, each manuscript is run through iThenticate similarity check software to verify the originality and ensure the quality of the written work. Authors should take care not to exceed the limit of 20 % of overlapping (no more than 3 % with the individual source, which must be cited), and that should be even less in the Results and Discussion section. Papers with high degree of overlapping with previously published data (even in the case of authors recycling their own work) will be rejected without reviewing. Papers which are suitable for reviewing process are sent to at least two impartial reviewers. The journal applies single-blind peer review, in which reviewers know the identity of authors, but authors do not know the identity of reviewers. The duration of the reviewing process mostly depends on the availability and speed of the Field editor and the reviewers. Although they are each expected to complete their tasks within three weeks, due to their numerous duties and obligations, this deadline may be prolonged. In case the assigned Field Editors or reviewers are unable to accept the task at that moment, new ones are assigned, which may affect the length of the process. As soon as the reviews are uploaded to the system, the Editor brings a decision about the possible acceptance of the manuscript. The reviews are then sent to the authors via online submission system and if the reviews are positive, the authors are expected to submit the revised version within the time frame given by the system. If authors cannot resubmit the revised manuscript within this period, they should contact the Editor at ftb@pbf.hr to discuss the possibility of extending the deadline for resubmission, or otherwise uploading it as a new manuscript after all the changes requested by reviewers have been made. Authors are obliged to submit a new cover letter with each revised version together with the reply to the reviewers. If during the revision a change in authorship (addition or removal of author) has occurred, authors are requested to clarify the reason for change, and all authors (including the removed/added ones) need to submit a written consent for the change. Authors added during the process of evaluation must also submit filled in and signed Declaration of Authorship, and Statement of Conflict of Interest before the final version of the manuscript is accepted.

The revised version is evaluated by the Editor and/or reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief brings a decision as soon as possible about final acceptance based on their suggestions. If necessary, further revision can be asked for to fulfil all the requirements of the reviewers. Before final acceptance of a manuscript, each co-author is requested to fill in and sign Declaration of Authorship and Statement of Conflict of Interest forms, which the corresponding author needs to collect from all authors and upload to the Comet online submission system or send to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. When a manuscript is accepted for publication, an official letter of acceptance is sent to the corresponding author (with a copy to all other authors), the manuscript is assigned a doi number, posted online in an unedited version (in the category Articles in press) and deposited in CrossRef with the assigned doi number. After that, changes of authors of the manuscript are not possible.

Before printing, in the production stage a linguistic, metrological and technical revision is made, when the authors are asked to make the final corrections in no more than 3-4 days. All the corrections suggested by the editors should be made. The final version is then sent to the printer’s office and the authors receive the galley proof for final check before printing. The authors are expected to correct only typographical errors on the proofs. Any changes in the text (additions etc.) at that stage will be made at author’s expense. The proofs have to be returned to the Editorial Office within 24 hours. With the upload of the proofed manuscript to the Comet online submission system, the authors are requested to check carefully all the details (names, affiliations, contact details, title, etc.) and will receive an email with a link to connect the accepted manuscript with their ORCID profile. After printing, all manuscripts are posted online as pdf files in the final form and indexed in databases.

For details about peer review, ethical considerations, authorship, use of AI, copyright and archiving, and correction or retraction of articles see Editorial policy.