Submissions Guidelines

Author Guidelines

Types of Publications

The journal welcomes submission 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 Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters.

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 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.

Ethics Ethical Statement

When submitting a manuscript, authors must ensure that their research complies with relevant ethical standards. The following guidelines apply:

1. Human Subjects Research
Studies involving human participants (including biological materials, personal data, surveys, or social media research) must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki (1975, revised 2013), and receive prior approval from an institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee. The manuscript must clearly state the name of the ethics committee, approval number, and approval date under the “Institutional Review Board Statement” section.

For example:
“All participants provided written informed consent. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of [Institution Name] (Approval No.: XXX, Date: XXX).”

For non-interventional studies, authors must explain the anonymization of data, research purpose, data usage, and potential risks. If ethical approval is not required, authors should state the reason and provide relevant documentation or official exemption letters if available.

If the study includes patient images, case details, or other personally identifiable information, authors must obtain and retain written informed consent, and upload a blank copy of the consent form. The editorial office reserves the right to request signed documents when necessary.

2. Animal Studies
Animal experiments must follow the 3Rs principles (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement), be approved by an appropriate institutional ethics committee prior to the study, and include the committee name, approval number, and date in the manuscript. Animal housing, care, and pain management protocols must be clearly described.

If ethics approval is not required under national regulations, the authors must explain the exemption and provide supporting documentation or a self-evaluation statement. Authors are encouraged to follow the ARRIVE guidelines (https://arriveguidelines.org) and submit a completed ARRIVE checklist.

3. Cell Line Research
Authors must specify the source of all cell lines used. If the study involves newly established or non-commercial human cell lines, authors must provide ethical approval and written informed consent from the donors. Supporting references or commercial source details should be included for established lines.

4. Plant Studies
Research involving plant materials must comply with institutional, national, or international regulations on the collection and use of plant resources. Authors should specify the plant origin and genetic information. For rare or non-model species, voucher specimens should be deposited in accessible herbaria whenever possible (include GPS location, date of collection, etc.). If specimen collection is not possible, authors should explain the reason.

5. Clinical Trial Registration
All clinical trials must be registered in a public trial registry (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov, EU Clinical Trials Register) before the recruitment of the first participant. The registration number must be included in the Methods section. Observational studies may be exempt. Randomized controlled trials should also include a CONSORT checklist and flow diagram.

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
Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters 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: Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters does not accept pilot studies or studies with insufficient statistical power.

Editorial Independence
Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters 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.

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