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Portable reviews

Transfers and Portable Reviews Policy

Submitting Manuscripts with Reviews from Other Journals

As part of our goal to improve the efficiency of peer review we are open to considering manuscripts on the basis of reviews received at other journals, including those outside of BMC and Springer Nature. Authors wishing to transfer papers with reviews to BMC Biology should email us at bmcbiologyeditorial@biomedcentral.com to enquire about the suitability of the manuscript, and provide the previous journal’s identity and all reviews, alongside a point-by-point response to the reviewers’ comments. Our Editors will assess the manuscript and reports, typically in consultation with our Editorial Board, and let authors know whether we’d be happy to proceed with the manuscript. In those cases, we will be able to let authors know whether we can make a decision on publication without further review or need reviewers to comment on the manuscript. We typically ask the previous journal to share with us the reviews and reviewers’ identities, and - subject to agreement from all parties - original reviewers may be consulted if deemed appropriate. Find out more on our portable review policy in our Editorial “Tackling waste in publishing through portable peer review”. For any questions please contact us at bmcbiologyeditorial@biomedcentral.com.

Transferring Your Manuscript to Another Journal

For papers that are editorially rejected or rejected after peer review at BMC Biology, we offer easy transfer to other journals within the BMC group. BMC Biology editors will suggest one or more specific BMC journals for which the paper seems in scope, providing a transfer link in the editorial decision letter. During the transfer process, the authors will also have the opportunity to update their submission. For papers that have been reviewed, we also offer the possibility to pass on reviews and reviewer identities – subject to their permission – to editors of the receiving journals. Find more information about transfers within BMC at our dedicated Manuscript Transfers page.

We are also happy to facilitate transfers to journals outside BMC and Springer Nature by sharing reviews and reviewer identities at the authors’ request. Authors can request that reviews are passed on, and inform the receiving journal’s editors that they can contact us for further information. Please note that sharing of reviews and reviewers’ identities is subject to reviewers’ approval.

​​​​​​​Transfers within the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium

We are part of the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium, an alliance of journals that aims to reduce the time and effort involved in the peer review by facilitating the sharing of manuscript reviews with other NPRC member journals. Find out more at the NPRC website.