It is available at https://aps-journal.org/policy/ethics.php
Copyright for all published material is owned by the Korean Association of Pediatric Surgeons. Authors must declare that their work is original and that no copyright has been violated. The corresponding author must submit a signed Copyright Transfer Agreement Form (https://aps-journal.org/index.php?body=instructions) upon submission. Authors must obtain written permission for any previously published material and provide appropriate acknowledgments.
APS is an open access journal. All articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Users may read, download, copy, distribute, or display the open access version of the content for non-commercial purposes. Any such use must include a full bibliographic citation, including the author(s), publisher attribution, date, article title, journal title (APS), and the URL of the original article. Any commercial use of the material (in whole or in part) from the open access version of the journal requires prior written permission from the Korean Association of Pediatric Surgeons (e-mail: journal@kaps1985.org).
Advances in Pediatric Surgery (Adv Pediatr Surg, APS) adheres to the following guidelines specified by the ICMJE regarding the use of AI tools. These measures are essential to ensuring academic integrity and ethical standards.
All papers, including those invited by the Editor, are subject to peer review. APS has adopted a double-blind peer review policy, where the author identities remain anonymous to the reviewers, and vice versa, and the identities of the reviewers and authors are visible to the (decision-making) editor throughout the peer review process. The Editorial Board selects reviewers based on expertise, publication history, and past reviews. During the peer review process, reviewers can interact directly or exchange information (e.g., via submission systems or email) with only an editor, which is known as “independent review.” No information about the review process or editorial decision process is published on the article page. All submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential documents. Reviewers are prohibited from sharing, discussing, or using the unpublished data contained in the manuscripts for any purpose other than the review process itself.
If the manuscript does not fit the aims and scope of the APS or does not adhere to the Instructions for Authors, it may be returned to the author immediately after submission without review. All submitted manuscripts are screened for plagiarism or duplicate publication via Similarity Check upon arrival.
Following initial screening, manuscripts are sent to three of the most relevant reviewers in the field. In addition, if deemed necessary, a review of statistics may be requested. Acceptance of the manuscript is decided based on the critiques and recommended decision of the reviewers. An initial decision will normally be made within 6 weeks of receipt of a manuscript, and reviewers’ comments are sent to the first or corresponding authors by e-mail.
Revised manuscripts must be submitted online by the first or corresponding author, including a point-by-point response to the reviewers’ comments. Failure to resubmit within 4 weeks is considered a withdrawal, unless an extension has been pre-arranged.
Corresponding authors who wish to withdraw a manuscript after submission must provide a signed letter indicating that they represent the wishes of all authors. Manuscripts will remain under consideration until the journal office receives this written request. Manuscripts cannot be withdrawn after final acceptance, except in cases involving research ethics violations or proven errors that fundamentally invalidate the findings.
Appeals against editorial decisions must be made within 2 weeks of the decision letter. Authors should contact the editor-in-chief with detailed reasons for the appeal. Appeals are discussed with at least one associate editor and, if needed, at a full editorial meeting. The process follows the COPE guidance (https://publicationethics.org/guidance). APS does not consider second appeals.
A final decision on acceptance for publication or rejection for publication is forwarded to the first or corresponding author from the Editorial Office.
A preprint can be defined as a version of a scholarly paper that precedes formal peer review and publication in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal.
APS allows authors to submit the preprint to the journal. It is not treated as duplicate submission or duplicate publication. APS recommend authors to disclose it with DOI in the letter to the editor during the submission process. Failure to do so may result in the manuscript being flagged by Similarity Check, our plagiarism detection software. Preprint submission will be processed through the same peer-review process with a regular submission. If the preprint is accepted for publication, authors are recommended to update the info of the preprint with a link to the published article in APS, including DOI at APS. Furthermore, authors are strongly recommended to cite the final published APS article rather than the preprint in future research.
APS is an open access journal. Authors publishing with us can freely share their research through various platforms—including preprint servers, social media, conferences, and educational materials—consistent with our open access policy.
• Accepted version: The accepted version, which incorporates all peer review amendments prior to final publication, may be shared on non-commercial websites and repositories. Authors who previously uploaded their article to a preprint server should update the preprint with the accepted manuscript following peer review.
• Published version: The final, published version can be shared immediately upon publication. Under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, this version permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
APS encourages data sharing wherever possible to promote openness, transparency, and reproducibility of research. Subject to ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
• Upload research data during the submission process; otherwise, share research data in a relevant public data repository with DOI for the data location.
• Include a data availability statement linking to the data. If it is not possible to share the data, use the statement to confirm why it cannot be shared.
• Clinical Trials: APS accepts the ICMJE Recommendations for data sharing statement policies. Authors may refer to the editorial, “Data Sharing Statements for Clinical Trials: A Requirement of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors,” in the Journal of Korean Medical Science (https://dx.doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2017.32.7.1051).
APS ensures the long-term preservation and availability of its contents, even if the journal is no longer in publication, through official archiving in the National Library of Korea (https://www.nl.go.kr/) and KoreaMed Synapse (https://synapse.koreamed.org/journals/2053/).
In addition to these formal archives, APS supports self-archiving by authors. Authors are permitted to deposit all versions of their articles (preprint, accepted manuscript, and published version) in their institutional or other designated repositories, ensuring permanent open access to their research findings.
APS accepts advertisements. Individuals or organizations interested in advertising their products or services are encouraged to contact the editorial office. All advertisements are reviewed by the editorial board and are subject to final approval by the publisher. No advertising fees are charged.
