Submissions Guidelines

Author Guidelines

Types of Publications

The journal welcomes submissions of full-length research articles, review articles, and short communications.

Cover Letter

A cover letter must accompany every manuscript submission. It should be succinct and clearly articulate the significance of the study, placing the findings within the context of existing literature. Additionally, the letter should explain how the manuscript aligns with the scope and aims of the journal.

The cover letter must also include the following declarations:

• We confirm that the manuscript, in whole or in part, is not under review or published elsewhere.
• All authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript and consent to its submission to ENT Updates.

Authorship

UK Scientific Publishing Limited follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines which state that, in order to qualify for authorship of a manuscript, the following criteria should be observed:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Those who contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgments. More detailed guidance on authorship is given by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Any change to the author list should be approved by all authors, including any who have been removed from the list. The corresponding author should act as a point of contact between the editor and the other authors and should keep co-authors informed and involve them in major decisions about the publication. We reserve the right to request confirmation that all authors meet the authorship conditions.

Author Identification

All authors are requested to provide their full name, institutional affiliation, email address, and, if available, their ORCID link.

If the manuscript is accepted for publication, an ORCID icon will be included in the final published version of the article, linking directly to your online ORCID profile.

Author Affiliation

All authors must provide both their current affiliation and the affiliation where the majority of the research was conducted during the preparation of the manuscript.

It is essential to ensure that author names and affiliations are accurate. Any inaccuracies may result in improper attribution, citation errors, or even complications related to career advancement or funding opportunities. Please note that after publication, changes or corrections to author affiliations or addresses may not be allowed.

Independent Researcher

If one or all the authors are not currently affiliated with a university, institution or company, or have not been during the development of the manuscript, they should list themselves as an “Independent Researcher”.

Manuscript Preparation

Graphical Abstract(optional):

A Graphical Abstract is an image displayed alongside the text abstract in the Table of Contents. It should visually summarize the article’s content in an engaging and original way. Please do not reuse figures from the manuscript or simply combine multiple subfigures. The GA must be original, unpublished artwork and should not include postage stamps, currency, or trademarked items.

Submit the GA as a high-quality illustration or diagram in PNG, JPEG, or TIFF format. Use clear, readable fonts such as Times, Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Ubuntu, or Calibri. The minimum dimensions are 560 × 1100 pixels (height × width).

Acronyms/Abbreviations: Define them the first time they appear in the abstract, main text, and the first figure or table. Place the abbreviation in parentheses after the full term.

Sections Required in All Submissions

Title
The manuscript title should be concise, specific, and clearly reflect the content of the study.

Author List and Affiliations
Provide each author’s full first and last name; middle initials may be included. Follow the PubMed/MEDLINE format for affiliations: full institutional address including city, zip/postal code, state/province, and country.
Designate at least one corresponding author, whose responsibility it is to confirm all authors consent to having their email addresses displayed in the published article. If any co-author prefers not to display their email, the corresponding author must inform us during the proofreading stage.
Once accepted, changes to author names or affiliations may not be permitted.

Equal Contributions
Authors who contributed equally should be marked with a superscript dagger (†). This symbol must appear below the affiliations, with the statement: “These authors contributed equally to this work.” Equal contributions should also be stated clearly in the author contributions section. Please review the authorship criteria before submission.

Abstract
The abstract should not exceed 280 words and must be written as a single paragraph. It should follow a structured style without section headings, including background, methods, results, findings, and conclusion. Ensure the abstract objectively reflects the article content, without overstating results or including unsubstantiated claims. References, figures, tables, and equations should not be cited or included in the abstract.

Keywords
Provide 3–10 relevant keywords after the abstract. Keywords should be specific to your article and commonly used within the field to improve discoverability.

Manuscript Sections – Research Articles
For Research Articles, the manuscript is generally expected to include the following main sections. While these sections are commonly used to ensure clarity and logical flow, they are not strictly mandatory and can be adjusted based on the nature of the research.

1. Introduction
Set the research in a broad context and explain its importance. Clearly define the objectives and the hypotheses being tested. Provide a concise review of the current state of the field and cite key literature. Where applicable, mention diverging views or ongoing debates. End with a summary of the study's aims and expected contributions. The introduction should be accessible to a broad academic audience.

2. Materials and Methods
Describe experimental procedures and data analysis methods in enough detail to allow replication. New methods should be described fully; well-established ones can be summarized and properly referenced. Mention the software (with version) used, and whether any code or data is available. Include any ethical approvals or preregistration information.

3. Results
Present your findings clearly and concisely. Include only relevant data and interpretations. Figures and tables should be used effectively to support the text.

4. Discussion
Interpret the results in the context of previous research and the hypotheses outlined in the Introduction. Discuss implications, limitations, and suggest future research directions. This section can be combined with the Results section if preferred.

5. Conclusions
 It should briefly summarize the key findings and their broader significance without repeating points from the Discussion in full.

6. Patents (if applicable)
Include any patent applications or granted patents resulting from the research.

Manuscript Structure – Review Articles
Review Articles must include an Introduction and a Conclusion section. The body of the review should be organized into coherent sections and subsections that guide the reader through the analysis of the literature. The structure is flexible and can be tailored to the specific themes and scope of the article.

Supplementary Materials: Describe any supplementary material published online alongside the manuscript (figure, tables, video, spreadsheets, etc.). Please indicate the name and title of each element as follows Figure S1: title, Table S1: title, etc.

Author Contributions: For articles with several authors, a short paragraph specifying their individual contributions must be provided. The following statements should be used "Conceptualization, X.X. and Y.Y.; Methodology, X.X.; Software, X.X.; Validation, X.X., Y.Y. and Z.Z.; Formal Analysis, X.X.; Investigation, X.X.; Resources, X.X.; Data Curation, X.X.; Writing – Original Draft Preparation, X.X.; Writing – Review & Editing, X.X.; Visualization, X.X.; Supervision, X.X.; Project Administration, X.X.; Funding Acquisition, Y.Y.”. Authorship must include and be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work.

Funding: All sources of funding of the study should be disclosed. Clearly indicate grants that you have received in support of your research work and if you received funds to cover publication costs. Please add: “This research received no external funding” or “This research was funded by [name of funder] grant number [xxx]” and “The APC was funded by [XXX]” in this section. Check carefully that the details given are accurate and use the standard spelling of funding agency names at https://search.crossref.org/funding, any errors may affect your future funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement: In this section, please add the Institutional Review Board Statement and approval number for studies involving humans or animals. Please note that the Editorial Office might ask you for further information. Please add “The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board (or Ethics Committee) of NAME OF INSTITUTE (protocol code XXX and date of approval).” OR “Ethical review and approval were waived for this study, due to REASON (please provide a detailed justification).” OR “Not applicable” for studies not involving humans or animals. You might also choose to exclude this statement if the study did not involve humans or animals.

Informed Consent Statement: Any research article describing a study involving humans should contain this statement. Please add “Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.” OR “Patient consent was waived due to REASON (please provide a detailed justification).” OR “Not applicable.” for studies not involving humans. You might also choose to exclude this statement if the study did not involve humans.
Written informed consent for publication must be obtained from participating patients who can be identified (including by the patients themselves). Please state “Written informed consent has been obtained from the patient(s) to publish this paper” if applicable.

Data Availability Statement: In this section, please provide details regarding where data supporting reported results can be found, including links to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study. You might choose to exclude this statement if the study did not report any data.

Acknowledgments: In this section you can acknowledge any support given which is not covered by the author contribution or funding sections. This may include administrative and technical support, or donations in kind (e.g., materials used for experiments).

Conflicts of Interest: Authors must identify and declare any personal circumstances or interest that may be perceived as influencing the representation or interpretation of reported research results. If there is no conflict of interest, please state "The authors declare no conflict of interest." 

References: References must be numbered in order of appearance in the text (including table captions and figure legends) and listed individually at the end of the manuscript. We recommend preparing the references with a bibliography software package, such as EndNote, ReferenceManager or Zotero to avoid typing mistakes and duplicated references. We encourage citations to data, computer code and other citable research material. If available online, you may use reference style 9. below.

Citations and References in Supplementary files are permitted provided that they also appear in the main text and in the reference list.

In the text, reference numbers should be placed in square brackets [ ], and placed before the punctuation; for example [1], [1–3] or [1,3]. For embedded citations in the text with pagination, use both parentheses and brackets to indicate the reference number and page numbers; for example [5] (p. 10). or [6] (pp. 101–105).

The reference list should include the full title, as recommended by the ACS style guide. 

References should be described as follows, depending on the type of work:

• Journal Articles:
  1. Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C.D. Title of the article. Abbreviated Journal Name Year, Volume, page range.
• Books and Book Chapters:
  2. Author 1, A.; Author 2, B. Book Title, 3rd ed.; Publisher: Publisher Location, Country, Year; pp. 154–196.
  3. Author 1, A.; Author 2, B. Title of the chapter. In Book Title, 2nd ed.; Editor 1, A., Editor 2, B., Eds.; Publisher: Publisher Location, Country, Year; Volume 3, pp. 154–196.
• Unpublished materials intended for publication:
  4. Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C. Title of Unpublished Work (optional). Correspondence Affiliation, City, State, Country. year, status (manuscript in preparation; to be submitted).
  5. Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C. Title of Unpublished Work. Abbreviated Journal Name year, phrase indicating stage of publication (submitted; accepted; in press).
• Unpublished materials not intended for publication:
  6. Author 1, A.B. (Affiliation, City, State, Country); Author 2, C. (Affiliation, City, State, Country). Phase describing the material, year. (phase: Personal communication; Private communication; Unpublished work; etc.)
• Conference Proceedings:
  7. Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C.D.; Author 3, E.F. Title of Presentation. In Title of the Collected Work (if available), Proceedings of the Name of the Conference, Location of Conference, Country, Date of Conference; Editor 1, Editor 2, Eds. (if available); Publisher: City, Country, Year (if available); Abstract Number (optional), Pagination (optional).
• Thesis:
  8. Author 1, A.B. Title of Thesis. Level of Thesis, Degree-Granting University, Location of University, Date of Completion.
• Websites:
  9. Title of Site. Available online: URL (accessed on Day Month Year).
  Unlike published works, websites may change over time or disappear, so we encourage you create an archive of the cited website using a service such as WebCite. Archived websites should be cited using the link provided as follows:
  10. Title of Site. URL (archived on Day Month Year).

Figures and Tables

Figures and tables should be placed in the main text close to their first citation and must be numbered in the order of appearance (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2, Table 1). Each figure and table must have a concise and descriptive title and caption. All table columns should be clearly labeled. Use the Table function in Microsoft Word to create tables. Smaller fonts may be used within tables (minimum 8 pt) to improve clarity, especially for large datasets.

Figures should be prepared in high-quality resolution (at least 1000 pixels in width/height or 300 dpi) using standard formats such as TIFF, PNG, GIF, or EPS. Full-color graphics (RGB, 8-bit per channel) are encouraged and are published at no additional cost.

Minimal digital processing is permitted. Adjustments to contrast, brightness, or color must be applied uniformly across the entire image and declared in the Methods section. Excessive enhancement or manipulation of only specific areas of an image is prohibited. Any cropping, grouping, or splicing of images must be clearly indicated in both the figure and the legend.

Microscopy images (e.g., TEM, SEM, Cryo-EM) must be submitted without cropping and with all critical details visible. If cropped versions are used in the main text, the original uncropped images must be submitted as supplementary materials. When reusing control images or combining images taken at different times or locations, authors must clearly state this in the figure legend and ensure borders are demarcated if necessary.

Authors should specify the imaging equipment, software, magnification, and scale bars in figure captions. We encourage depositing raw image data and metadata in public repositories, and including relevant acquisition settings (e.g., time/space resolution, bit depth, temperature, imaging medium, and filters) where applicable.

Do not use third-party images or data without proper permission. Figures and tables must be self-explanatory and contribute meaningfully to the understanding of the manuscript.

Supplementary Materials, Data Availability, and Code Sharing

UK Scientific Publishing Limited supports transparency and data sharing in research. Authors are encouraged to provide access to all relevant materials supporting their findings, including raw and processed data, software, algorithms, and protocols. Shared data should follow FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.

Data Availability
All submissions must include a Data Availability Statement. Authors should deposit data in a recognized repository where possible (e.g., see re3data.org or fairsharing.org). If data cannot be shared due to legal, ethical, or privacy constraints, authors must clearly state the reasons.

When sharing is restricted, authors should describe the conditions for access and confirm that data will be available upon request where appropriate. Data shared must comply with participant consent and relevant regulations.

Code and Software
Authors developing custom code or software should deposit it in a public repository (e.g., GitHub, Zenodo), or upload it as supplementary material. The name, version, source, and parameters used in analyses should be clearly stated.

Supplementary Files
Additional files may be submitted as Supplementary Material during the submission process. These will be made available to reviewers and, upon publication, to readers. Common, open file formats are preferred.

Data Citation
Authors should formally cite any external datasets used or generated, following journal citation standards. Previously published datasets must include proper references in both the manuscript and reference list.

Repository Recommendations
Repositories should:

• Ensure long-term data preservation;
• Provide stable identifiers (e.g., DOI);
• Allow unrestricted access;
• Support open licenses (e.g., CC0, CC-BY);
• Permit confidential peer review.

Large Datasets
Files exceeding 60 MB should be deposited in a suitable external repository. Provide repository name, dataset link, and identifier (e.g., DOI) in the manuscript.

Sequence and Expression Data
Genomic and proteomic data must be submitted to appropriate public databases (e.g., GenBank, GEO, PRIDE). Accession numbers must be included in the manuscript and referenced in the Materials and Methods section.

Research and Publication Ethics

Research Involving Human Subjects

When reporting on research that involves human subjects, human material, human tissues, or human data, authors must declare that the investigations were carried out following the rules of the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975 (https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/), revised in 2013. According to point 23 of this declaration, an approval from the local institutional review board (IRB) or other appropriate ethics committee must be obtained before undertaking the research to confirm the study meets national and international guidelines. As a minimum, a statement including the project identification code, date of approval, and name of the ethics committee or institutional review board must be stated in Section ‘Institutional Review Board Statement’ of the article.

Example of an ethical statement: "All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of XXX (Project identification code)."

For non-interventional studies (e.g. surveys, questionnaires, social media research), all participants must be fully informed if the anonymity is assured, why the research is being conducted, how their data will be used and if there are any risks associated. As with all research involving humans, ethical approval from an appropriate ethics committee must be obtained prior to conducting the study. If ethical approval is not required, authors must either provide an exemption from the ethics committee or are encouraged to cite the local or national legislation that indicates ethics approval is not required for this type of study. Where a study has been granted exemption, the name of the ethics committee which provided this should be stated in Section ‘Institutional Review Board Statement’ with a full explanation regarding why ethical approval was not required.

A written informed consent for publication must be obtained from participating patients. Data relating to individual participants must be described in detail, but private information identifying participants need not be included unless the identifiable materials are of relevance to the research (for example, photographs of participants’ faces that show a particular symptom). Patients’ initials or other personal identifiers must not appear in any images. For manuscripts that include any case details, personal information, and/or images of patients, authors must obtain signed informed consent for publication from patients (or their relatives/guardians) before submitting to an UK Scientific Publishing Limited journal. Patient details must be anonymized as far as possible, e.g., do not mention specific age, ethnicity, or occupation where they are not relevant to the conclusions. A blank version of the form used to obtain permission (without the patient names or signature) must be uploaded with your submission. Editors reserve the right to reject any submission that does not meet these requirements.

You may refer to our sample form and provide an appropriate form after consulting with your affiliated institution. For the purposes of publishing in UK Scientific Publishing Limited journals, a consent, permission, or release form should include unlimited permission for publication in all formats (including print, electronic, and online), in sublicensed and reprinted versions (including translations and derived works), and in other works and products under open access license. To respect patients’ and any other individual’s privacy, please do not send signed forms. The journal reserves the right to ask authors to provide signed forms if necessary.

If the study reports research involving vulnerable groups, an additional check may be performed. The submitted manuscript will be scrutinized by the editorial office and upon request, documentary evidence (blank consent forms and any related discussion documents from the ethics board) must be supplied. Additionally, when studies describe groups by race, ethnicity, gender, disability, disease, etc., explanation regarding why such categorization was needed must be clearly stated in the article.

Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research

The editors will require that the benefits potentially derived from any research causing harm to animals are significant in relation to any cost endured by animals, and that procedures followed are unlikely to cause offense to the majority of readers. Authors should particularly ensure that their research complies with the commonly-accepted '3Rs [1]':

• Replacement of animals by alternatives wherever possible,
• Reduction in number of animals used, and
• Refinement of experimental conditions and procedures to minimize the harm to animals.

Authors must include details on housing, husbandry and pain management in their manuscript.

For further guidance authors should refer to the Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Used in Scientific Procedures [2], American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [3] or European Animal Research Association [4].

If national legislation requires it, studies involving vertebrates or higher invertebrates must only be carried out after obtaining approval from the appropriate ethics committee. As a minimum, the project identification code, date of approval and name of the ethics committee or institutional review board should be stated in Section ‘Institutional Review Board Statement’. Research procedures must be carried out in accordance with national and institutional regulations. Statements on animal welfare should confirm that the study complied with all relevant legislation. Clinical studies involving animals and interventions outside of routine care require ethics committee oversight as per the American Veterinary Medical Association. If the study involved client-owned animals, informed client consent must be obtained and certified in the manuscript report of the research. Owners must be fully informed if there are any risks associated with the procedures and that the research will be published. If available, a high standard of veterinary care must be provided. Authors are responsible for correctness of the statements provided in the manuscript.

If ethical approval is not required by national laws, authors must provide an exemption from the ethics committee, if one is available. Where a study has been granted exemption, the name of the ethics committee that provided this should be stated in Section ‘Institutional Review Board Statement’ with a full explanation on why the ethical approval was not required.

If no animal ethics committee is available to review applications, authors should be aware that the ethics of their research will be evaluated by reviewers and editors. Authors should provide a statement justifying the work from an ethical perspective, using the same utilitarian framework that is used by ethics committees. Authors may be asked to provide this even if they have received ethical approval.

UK Scientific Publishing Limited endorses the ARRIVE guidelines (arriveguidelines.org/) for reporting experiments using live animals. Authors and reviewers must use the ARRIVE guidelines as a checklist, which can be found at https://arriveguidelines.org/sites/arrive/files/documents/ARRIVE%20Compliance%20Questionnaire.pdf. Editors reserve the right to ask for the checklist and to reject submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines, to reject submissions based on ethical or animal welfare concerns or if the procedure described does not appear to be justified by the value of the work presented.

1. NSW Department of Primary Industries and Animal Research Review Panel. Three Rs. Available online: https://www.animalethics.org.au/three-rs
2. Home Office. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Bred, Supplied or Used for Scientific Purposes. Available online: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/388535/CoPanimalsWeb.pdf
3. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science. The Scientific Basis for Regulation of Animal Care and Use. Available online: https://www.aalas.org/about-aalas/position-papers/scientific-basis-for-regulation-of-animal-care-and-use
4. European Animal Research Association. EU regulations on animal research. Available online: https://www.eara.eu/animal-research-law

Research Involving Cell Lines

Methods sections for submissions reporting on research with cell lines should state the origin of any cell lines. For established cell lines the provenance should be stated and references must also be given to either a published paper or to a commercial source. If previously unpublished de novo cell lines were used, including those gifted from another laboratory, details of institutional review board or ethics committee approval must be given, and confirmation of written informed consent must be provided if the line is of human origin.

An example of Ethical Statements:

The HCT116 cell line was obtained from XXXX. The MLH1⁺ cell line was provided by XXXXX, Ltd. The DLD-1 cell line was obtained from Dr. XXXX. The DR-GFP and SA-GFP reporter plasmids were obtained from Dr. XXX and the Rad51K133A expression vector was obtained from Dr. XXXX.

Research Involving Plants

Experimental research on plants (either cultivated or wild) including collection of plant material, must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines. We recommend that authors comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

For each submitted manuscript supporting genetic information and origin must be provided. For research manuscripts involving rare and non-model plants (other than, e.g., Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana benthamiana, Oryza sativa, or many other typical model plants), voucher specimens must be deposited in an accessible herbarium or museum. Vouchers may be requested for review by future investigators to verify the identity of the material used in the study (especially if taxonomic rearrangements occur in the future). They should include details of the populations sampled on the site of collection (GPS coordinates), date of collection, and document the part(s) used in the study where appropriate. For rare, threatened or endangered species this can be waived but it is necessary for the author to describe this in the cover letter.

Editors reserve the rights to reject any submission that does not meet these requirements.

An example of Ethical Statements:

Torenia fournieri plants were used in this study. White-flowered Crown White (CrW) and violet-flowered Crown Violet (CrV) cultivars selected from ‘Crown Mix’ (XXX Company, City, Country) were kindly provided by Dr. XXX (XXX Institute, City, Country).

Arabidopis mutant lines (SALKxxxx, SAILxxxx,…) were kindly provided by Dr. XXX, institute, city, country).

Clinical Trials Registration

Registration

UK Scientific Publishing Limited follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines which require and recommend registration of clinical trials in a public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication.

Purely observational studies do not require registration. A clinical trial not only refers to studies that take place in a hospital or involve pharmaceuticals, but also refer to all studies which involve participant randomization and group classification in the context of the intervention under assessment.

Authors are strongly encouraged to pre-register clinical trials with an international clinical trials register and cite a reference to the registration in the Methods section. Suitable databases include clinicaltrials.gov, the EU Clinical Trials Register and those listed by the World Health Organisation International Clinical Trials Registry Platform.

Approval to conduct a study from an independent local, regional, or national review body is not equivalent to prospective clinical trial registration. UK Scientific Publishing Limited reserves the right to decline any paper without trial registration for further peer review. However, if the study protocol has been published before the enrolment, the registration can be waived with correct citation of the published protocol.

CONSORT Statement

UK Scientific Publishing Limited requires a completed CONSORT 2010 checklist and flow diagram as a condition of submission when reporting the results of a randomized trial. Templates for these can be found here or on the CONSORT website (http://www.consort-statement.org) which also describes several CONSORT checklist extensions for different designs and types of data beyond two group parallel trials. At minimum, your article should report the content addressed by each item of the checklist.

Dual Use Research of Concern

UK Scientific Publishing Limited follows the practical framework defined in Guidance for Editors: Research, Audit and Service Evaluations and introduced by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Research that could pose a significant threat, with broad potential consequences to public health or national security, should be clearly indicated in the manuscript, and potential dual-use research of concern should be explained in the cover letter upon submission. Potential areas of concern include but are not limited to biosecurity, nuclear and chemical threats, and research with a military purpose or application, etc. For these manuscripts to be considered for peer review, the benefits to the general public or public health must outweigh the risks. The authors have a responsibility to comply with relevant national and international laws.

Sex and Gender in Research

We encourage our authors to follow the ‘Sex and Gender Equity in Research – SAGER – guidelines’ and to include sex and gender considerations where relevant. Authors should use the terms sex (biological attribute) and gender (shaped by social and cultural circumstances) carefully in order to avoid confusing both terms. Article titles and/or abstracts should indicate clearly what sex(es) the study applies to. Authors should also describe in the background, whether sex and/or gender differences may be expected; report how sex and/or gender were accounted for in the design of the study; provide disaggregated data by sex and/or gender, where appropriate; and discuss respective results. If a sex and/or gender analysis was not conducted, the rationale should be given in the Discussion. We suggest that our authors consult the full guidelines before submission.

Borders and Territories

Potential disputes over borders and territories may have particular relevance for authors in describing their research or in an author or editor correspondence address, and should be respected. Content decisions are an editorial matter and where there is a potential or perceived dispute or complaint, the editorial team will attempt to find a resolution that satisfies parties involved.

UK Scientific Publishing Limited stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Citation Policy 

• Authors should ensure that where material is taken from other sources (including their own published writing) the source is clearly cited and that where appropriate permission is obtained.
• Authors should not engage in excessive self-citation of their own work.
• Authors should not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work.
• Authors should not preferentially cite their own or their friends’, peers’, or institution’s publications.
• Authors should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.
• In accordance with COPE guidelines, we expect that “original wording taken directly from publications by other researchers should appear in quotation marks with the appropriate citations.” This condition also applies to an author’s own work. COPE have produced a discussion document on citation manipulation with recommendations for best practice.

English Language Editing  

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscript is written in clear and grammatically correct English prior to submission. The Article Processing Charge (APC) covers only minor English editing by native English-speaking editors. It does not include extensive language polishing. If a manuscript requires significant language revision, it may be returned to the authors during the editorial process, potentially delaying publication.

To avoid such delays, authors are encouraged to seek assistance from a proficient English-speaking colleague or use a professional language editing service before submission.

Preprints and Conference Papers

ENT Updates accepts manuscripts that have previously been posted as preprints, provided they have not undergone formal peer review. A preprint refers to a draft version of a manuscript made publicly available prior to journal submission.

We also welcome extended versions of high-quality conference papers, subject to the following conditions:

• The manuscript must be significantly expanded to meet the standards of a full research article.
• The original conference paper must be clearly cited and acknowledged on the first page of the manuscript.
• If the authors do not retain the copyright of the conference paper, they must obtain permission from the copyright holder before submission.
• The cover letter must disclose that the submission is based on a conference paper, and a summary of the changes and additions must be included.

Please note: ENT Updates does not accept pilot studies or studies with insufficient statistical power.

Editorial Independence  

ENT Updates upholds the principle of editorial independence with the highest integrity. UK Scientific Publishing Limited does not influence or interfere with editorial decisions. All editorial assessments and publication decisions are made independently by qualified academic editors, based solely on scientific merit.

Editorial decisions are based on the following criteria:

• Appropriateness and qualifications of the selected reviewers;
• Substance and quality of peer review comments, as well as the authors’ responses;
• Overall academic rigor and contribution of the manuscript.

Staff members at UK Scientific Publishing Limited are not involved in decisions related to the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts. We remain fully committed to the mission of advancing open, rapid, and accessible scientific communication.

Editors and Editorial Staff as Authors  

To maintain transparency and avoid conflicts of interest, editors and journal staff are not permitted to manage the peer review or editorial process for their own submissions. Manuscripts authored by editorial personnel will be handled by independent editors and reviewed by at least two external referees with no conflicting interests. The final decision will be made by a member of the Editorial Board who is unaffiliated with the authors.

Author Appeals

If a manuscript is rejected with no option for resubmission, the authors may lodge a formal appeal within three months of the decision. Appeals should be addressed to the Editorial Office and must include:

• A comprehensive cover letter with a detailed rebuttal;
• Point-by-point responses to reviewer and/or editorial comments.

The Managing Editor will forward the appeal materials to an independent Editorial Board Member for re-evaluation. The final recommendation, whether to uphold the rejection or proceed with further review, will be validated by the Editor-in-Chief. Decisions following an appeal are final and binding.