Aim and Scope

Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters (PTND) is an international journal that aims to reflect the mechanisms of natural disasters, disaster prediction and prevention, disaster risk assessment, the relationship between disasters and human society and their impacts, as well as other research results on disaster prevention and mitigation system engineering, and to promote international academic exchanges. The journal mainly publishes original research results, including issues on hazard assessment, disaster reduction policy and management system, social factors of natural disasters, earthquake disaster loss prediction at home and abroad, enhancing disaster reduction awareness, and disaster prevention and reduction system engineering.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Disaster defence research
• Disaster management
• Agricultural disasters
• Meteorological hazards
• Urban hazards
• Earthquake hazards
• Marine hazards

 Publication Frequency

The Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters is published two issues per year.

 Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate Gold Open Access to its content as it believes that making research freely available to the public helps promote the research results benefiting the scholarly community.

• Higher Visibility, Availability, and Citations – free and unlimited accessibility of the publication over the internet without any restrictions, increases citation of the article;
• Ease of Search – publications are easily searchable in search engines and indexing databases;
• Rapid Publication – accepted papers are immediately published online.

Types of Publications

Manuscripts submitted to Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters should neither be published previously nor be under consideration for publication in another journal. The main types of publications are listed below.

_Article

These are original research manuscripts. The work should report scientifically sound experiments and provide a substantial amount of new information. The article should include the most recent and relevant references in the field. The structure should include an Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions (optional) sections, with a suggested minimum word count of 4000 words.

_Review

Reviews offer a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature within a field of study, identifying current gaps or problems. They should be critical and constructive and provide recommendations for future research. No new, unpublished data should be presented. The structure can include an Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Relevant Sections, Discussion, Conclusions, and Future Directions, with a suggested minimum word count of 4000 words.

_{Communication}

Communications are short articles that present groundbreaking preliminary results or significant findings that are part of a larger study over multiple years. They can also include cutting-edge methods or experiments, and the development of new technology or materials. The structure is similar to an article and there is a suggested minimum word count of 2000 words.

_Editorial

These are non-peer-reviewed texts used to announce the launch of a new journal, a new section, a new Editor-in-Chief, a Special Issue, or an invited editorial. The main text should provide a brief introduction of the purpose and aim of the Editorial—to present the new journal, close the Special Issue, report on a pressing topic, etc. Editorials should not include unpublished or original data, although must provide a Conflict of Interest statement. Editorials prepared for the launch of new journals may also include a short biography of the Editor-in-Chief.

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters must follow the scope and author guidelines of this journal. The submitted manuscripts must address scientific merit or novelty appropriate to the scope. The Editor has the right to reject articles that do not meet the scope or the Guidance for Authors' requirements. Editors check the plagiarism detection of articles in this journal by using iThenticate.

The research article submitted to this journal will be peer-reviewed with a double–blind review. Peer Review Statement Quality is ensured by rigorous and integrity, anonymous peer evaluation of each main paper by at least two independent referees. The reviewers give valuable scientific comments improving the contents of the manuscript. The final decision on article acceptance will be made by the Editor, on behalf of the Editorial Board according to the reviewer's comments.

Utilizing feedback from the peer review process, the Editor will make a final publication decision. The review process will take approximately 2 to 4 weeks. Decision categories include：

Accept: Accepted manuscripts will be published in the current form with no further modifications required.

Accept with Revisions: Manuscripts receiving a revisions decision will be published in Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters under the condition that minor/major modifications are made. Revisions will be reviewed by an editor to ensure necessary updates are made prior to publication.

Resubmit for Review: The submission needs to be re–worked, but with significant changes, may be accepted. However, It will require a second round of review.

Reject: Rejected manuscripts will not be published and authors will not have the opportunity to resubmit a revised version of the manuscript to Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters.

In one or two weeks, the author sends the revised version of it to the editors’ office. If after this period the article is not returned (or the editorial board is not informed about any delay) – the article is refused.

Publishing Ethics

Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters requests all members involved in the journal publishing process to adhere to the Code of Conduct and to its Best Practice Guidelines by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The editors of this journal enforce a rigorous peer-review process together with strict ethical policies and standards to ensure to add high quality scientific works to the field of scholarly publication. Unfortunately, cases of plagiarism, data falsification, image manipulation, inappropriate authorship credit, and the like, do arise. The editors of Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters take such publishing ethics issues very seriously and are trained to proceed in such cases with a zero tolerance policy.

The in-house editors will investigate any allegations of publication misconduct and may contact the authors' institutions or funders if necessary. If evidence of misconduct is found, appropriate action will be taken to correct or retract the publication. Authors are expected to comply with the best ethical publication practices when publishing with Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters.

Human and Animal Rights Policy

_{Human Research}

If human subjects were used in the experiments, authors must identify the committee or organization (e.g., author’s Institutional Ethics Review Board) approving the experiments in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript, which should also detail ethics approval information such as the name of the granting committee or organization and the approval identifiers, i.e., reference numbers. Our journal requires that authors provide proof of research ethics or ethics statement along with the submission. In the case that ethics approval identifiers are not available, written approval from the granting committee or organization must be provided as a confidential supplementary file.

In the manuscript, include a statement in the Materials and Methods section confirming that the experiments were carried out in adherence to the ethical principles set out in the WMA Declaration of Helsinki or other relevant institutional and national guidelines and regulations and that informed consent was obtained from all human subjects. For investigations undertaken on human subjects, the manner in which the informed consent was obtained from the study participants (i.e., oral or written) should be stated clearly as well.

The authors should inform the study participants of the purpose(s) of publication, the possible risks and benefits as a result of the experiment, and the patient's right to withhold or withdraw consent. Consent should be obtained from the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) if the study participant is a minor.

Authors are obliged to declare and clearly specify any restrictions on the availability or the use of human data in the manuscript.

_{Patient Anonymity and Privacy}

Human subjects have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information or patient identifiers, including patient names, initials, date of birth, contacts, medical record numbers, hospital numbers, and geographical location, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Efforts must be made by the authors to at least mask or conceal any identifying information of the patients that appear in writing or within photographs.

Authors are obliged to explain to the patient if revealing the patient’s identity cannot be fully avoided, e.g., an image of an identifiable body part like the face has to be published in the report. The relevant identifying information to be published, e.g., the image, must be shown to the patient, and consent for publication taken for the use of that information in the publication. If the patient dies, then consent must be obtained from the next of kin or legal representative. We shall consider the author's version of the consent form for publication if all the essential items as shown in our sample consent form were included.

All submissions will be checked for documentation of patient consent for publication and for any potentially identifying information. Submissions that include identifying patients.

_{Animal Research}

For studies describing testing on regulated animals (i.e., all live vertebrates and/or higher invertebrates), authors must identify the committee or organization (e.g., author’s Institutional Ethics Review Board) approving the experiments in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript, which should also detail ethics approval information such as the name of the granting committee or organization and the approval identifiers, i.e., reference numbers. For research conducted on non-regulated animals, a statement should be made as to why ethical approval was not required. Our journal requires that authors provide proof of research ethics or ethics statement along with the submission. In the case that ethics approval identifiers are not available, written approval from the granting committee or organization must be provided as a confidential supplemental file.

Authors are encouraged to follow the ARRIVE guidelines while reporting animal research. In the manuscripts, any additional guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals that were used in the experiment should be indicated. Briefly, the authors should also include animal details (e.g., species, gender, age, weight), animal housing conditions and husbandry information, and relevant steps taken to ameliorate the pain and suffering of the animals in the Materials and Methods section.

Specifically, experiments on non-human primates must be performed in accordance with the recommendations set out in the Weatherall report (The Use of Non-Human Primates in Research).

_{Application of Cell Lines}

To ensure research reproducibility, authors must declare what cell lines were used in their experiment and the source or origin of all cell lines utilized. It is advisable to provide information regarding the authentication of cell lines and testing for mycoplasma contamination.

The generation of de novo cell lines derived from human tissue must be approved by the relevant ethics committee (or the author’s Institutional Ethics Review Board). Authors must identify the committee or organization (e.g. author’s Institutional Ethics Review Board) approving the experiments in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript, which should also detail ethics approval information such as the name of the granting committee or organization and the approval identifiers, i.e., reference numbers. Our journal requires that authors provide proof of research ethics or ethics statement along with the submission. In the case that ethics approval identifiers are not available, written approval from the granting committee or organization must be provided as a confidential supplementary file. Authors must confirm that they obtained consent from the donor or next of kin for deriving a cell line from the donor.

Authorship

The consent of all authors, as well as related authorities/institutions has been received prior to the submission of the manuscript.

The order of the authors (as to be reflected in the published article) has been established. The adding or deleting of authors once the manuscript has been accepted for publication would have to be accompanied by a signed statement of consent from all authors.

All authors have contributed significantly to the research. Authors are obligated to participate in the peer review process, providing retractions/corrections/amendments when necessary.

Conflict of Interest

Conflicts of interest may exist when professional judgments concerning a primary interest have the possibility of being influenced by a secondary interest (e.g.: financial gains). It is to be noted that even perceptions of conflicts of interest are as important as actual conflicts of interest.

Any agreements with study sponsors (for-profit or non-profit), which interfere with the authors’ access to the study data, ability to analyze or interpret the data and publish manuscripts independently according to their own decision, should be avoided by authors at all costs.

A declaration of interest for all authors must be received before an article can be reviewed and accepted for publication.

Copyright and Licensing

_Copyright

The authors shall retain the copyright of their work but allow the Publisher to publish, copy, distribute, and convey the work.

_License

Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters publishes accepted manuscripts under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Authors who submit their papers for publication by Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters agree to have the CC BY 4.0 license applied to their work, and that anyone is allowed to reuse the article or part of it free of charge for any purpose, including commercial use. As long as the author and original source are properly cited, anyone may copy, redistribute, reuse, and transform the content.

Indexing & Archiving

As a new journal, the Editorial Team behind Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters is currently doing its best to have the journal indexed in databases all around the world.

Article Processing Charges (APC)

This journal is Gold open access, and the Article Processing Charge (APC) is 600 USD, which is applicable only to authors whose manuscripts have been successfully accepted after peer-review.

At UK Scientific Publishing Limited, we strongly believe that the APC should not become a barrier in the publication process. A range of discounts or waivers are offered to authors who are not able to cover the APC.

Withdrawal Policy

In Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters of a submission refers to the removal of a new submission, a paper currently under peer-review, an accepted paper, or an Article in Press from the online submission system. Removal of a formally published article is known as retraction.

_{-Author-initiated submission withdrawal}

If authors change their mind and decide not to pursue publication of papers with the journal, they must write a letter addressed to our editors at ptnd@ukscip.org, explaining the reason(s) of submission withdrawal. Consents of all co-authors must be obtained for author-initiated submission withdrawal. The decision to withdraw a submission would eventually rest with the editors, including the Editor-in-Chief.

It is relatively more difficult in withdrawing a new submission paper that has been processed for peer-review or is under peer-review compared to withdrawing a new submission because the editors and reviewers have expended much time and energy in editorial process and manuscript evaluation, respectively.To withdraw a paper that has been processed for peer-review, authors should clearly argue their case on scientific reasons; only valid and sound reasons will be accepted. Once the approval of submission withdrawal is granted, the submission will be removed from the journal’s online submission system, and a confirmation email of submission withdrawal will be sent to the authors.

In general, the editors of Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters consider the following as *unethical and unreasonable reasons* of withdrawing a submission:

*Unaware of the Article Processing Charge payable after paper acceptance (or reluctant to pay Article Processing Charge). Authors are advised to find out the publication fees associated with the journal before making a decision to submit. It is unethical to submit and proceed with the editorial process for a submission under consideration for publication if authors do not have plans of paying the Article Processing Charge upon acceptance.

*Do not want to make all research data or findings available to the journal. Before a submission is made, authors are responsible to check whether the research data or findings presented in manuscript are compatible with their desired journal and/or type of submission they intend to make. There are no defined criteria as to how much data or findings should be published in a paper, but we believe that it is necessary to obtain enough data from experiments to make precise and accurate interpretation.Thus, it is in authors’ best interest to provide, present and publish all relevant data and findings.

*Wanting to submit to a higher- or lower-impact journal. It’s the authors’ responsibility to vet the journal background before making a decision to submit. Making a submission to the journal is comparable to admitting that the quality and standard of the submission match with that of the journal.

In the event that authors insist to withdraw submission on unethical and unreasonable grounds (see the above-mentioned *unethical and unreasonable reasons*), they will be demanded to pay submission withdrawal fee that is charged at 30% of the Article Processing Charge. Once the payment of submission withdrawal fee is made, the submission will be removed from the journal’s online submission system, and a confirmation email of submission withdrawal will be sent to the authors.

_{-Withdrawal of accepted paper and Article in Press}

Authors should note that any amounts of paid Article Processing Charge will not be refunded if their accepted papers or Articles in Press are withdrawn on the grounds of academic misconducts and ethical violations in research and publication.

2022                         The inaugural issue was released. PTND was published as a quarterly journal.

2022-present           Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Reza Delavar

Advertising Policy

All advertisements are subject to approval by the Publisher. Advertisements must comply with the relevant regulations in the country where the advertisements appear. For more inquiries, please send an email to ptnd@ukscip.org.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.