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Information for Authors—Unsolicited Articles

Alcohol Research: Current Reviews (ARCR) accepts both unsolicited review articles and invited articles. If you would like to submit an unsolicited (i.e., independently developed and submitted by authors) review article, you can learn more about submission guidelines and the peer review process on this page. Authors who have been invited to submit a review article or Perspective article can learn more about the submission process on the Information for Authors—Invited Articles page. There are no fees to publish in ARCR.

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Types of ARCR Articles Accepted without Invitation

Reviews

ARCR currently publishes narrative and scoping reviews as well as Perspective articles. While narrative and scoping reviews can be submitted by invitation or by unsolicited submission, Perspectives are published by invitation only. Before submitting an unsolicited review, authors should download and carefully review all submission requirements in the Narrative and Scoping Reviews Instructions for Authors to ensure they follow ARCR guidelines.

Narrative Reviews

Narrative reviews, ARCR's standard article type, provide a non-exhaustive synthesis of primary research done in a field, identify any gaps, and suggest areas for future research. ARCR narrative reviews use a systematic approach to search the literature but are not systematic reviews, as narrative reviews provide an unbiased overview of a topic instead of answering a specific clinical question. The main body of a narrative review typically consists of 6,000 words or less. This does not include the abstract, which is typically 200 to 400 words. There is a recommended limit of 200 citations.

Scoping Reviews

Scoping reviews are exhaustive reviews that map evidence to identify main concepts, theories, sources, and knowledge gaps in a field. Scoping reviews often set the stage for systematic reviews by confirming the relevance of potential questions and criteria for inclusion or exclusion. Scoping reviews must follow both ARCR guidelines and the guidelines outlined by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) for Scoping Reviews. There is no word or citation limit for scoping reviews.

Other Types of Articles

ARCR does not accept original research articles or other types of reviews, such as systematic reviews or meta-analyses.

Note: ARCR only accepts Perspective articles by invitation. Unsolicited Perspective articles will not be considered.

Target Audience and Topics

As feasible, reviews should be written in a style that is accessible and understandable to a broad audience of scientists and clinicians, including trainees, with varying specialties and degrees of expertise in alcohol research.

Topics for unsolicited reviews may cover a wide range of areas relating to the effects of alcohol use and misuse on health, function, and well-being across the life span, in addition to basic science, genetics, epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of alcohol-related conditions.

Authorship

Coauthors: Authors may ask others to collaborate on the manuscript if their expertise will yield better breadth and balance to the article, or the collaboration provides coauthor opportunities for early career investigators. The corresponding author is ultimately responsible for the quality of the manuscript.

Authors are encouraged to review International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors for more information on authorship criteria.

Authorship Changes: After article submission, any changes in authorship—such as adding, removing, or reordering authors—must be agreed upon by all authors. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to obtain confirmation from all coauthors and to provide a completed Authorship Change Request Form to the ARCR editorial office.

Generative Artificial Intelligence in Scientific Writing: Artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT or large language models cannot be listed as authors in research publications, in accordance with Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. Any use of AI tools must be disclosed in the Search Methods of the paper (i.e., how and which AI tool was used). Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool. The final decision about whether use of an AI tool is appropriate or permissible in a submitted manuscript lies with the journal's editor.

Manuscript Preparation

ARCR Instructions for Authors provide general requirements that apply to each respective manuscript type.

Download Instructions for Authors:

Narrative and Scoping Reviews Instructions for Authors [PDF – 965 KB]

Below are templates available for download to help prepare manuscripts:

Narrative Review Template [Word – 347 KB]
Scoping Review Template [Word – 346 KB]

Submission

ARCR welcomes submission of unsolicited narrative and scoping review articles through Editorial Manager, a manuscript submission and peer-review tracking system. The Submit Manuscript button will direct you to the ARCR Editorial Manager site for manuscript submission, where you can create an account and submit your review article.

To submit an unsolicited manuscript, authors must use the Editorial Manager platform; manuscripts submitted by other methods (e.g., email) will not be processed. When submitting unsolicited manuscripts in Editorial Manager, authors also must include the following items:

  • Completed checklists to ensure submissions comply with ARCR guidelines. (Note: Scoping review submissions require both checklists listed below.) The required checklists are available for download below.

    Narrative Reviews:

    Scoping Reviews:

  • Completed copy of the ARCR Justification for Unsolicited Manuscript Form that includes justification why this topic is of interest to the alcohol research community (e.g., is it timely, how does it advance the field forward?).
  • Disclosure of Interest forms for each author. The form can be downloaded from the manuscript submission page in Editorial Manager or at http://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to obtain the Disclosure of Interest forms from all coauthors and to upload them when submitting the manuscript.

Preliminary Evaluation of the Manuscripts

All unsolicited submissions will undergo a preliminary evaluation by an ARCR editor to determine if they are suitable for peer review, based on the following:

  • Whether the topic is within the scope of the journal
  • Extent to which the review is timely and makes a substantial contribution to the field
  • Transparency of methods and results reporting
  • Clarity of presentation
  • Adherence to the narrative or scoping review requirements specified in the Author Instructions

Authors will be notified by ARCR whether their manuscript is selected for full external peer review. A manuscript will be rejected without review if it does not meet the considerations above. ARCR may not consider manuscripts for other reasons such as publication capacity and/or other factors.

Review Process

Manuscripts that have passed the preliminary evaluation are subjected to independent peer review by experts in the field. A team of reviewers (including ARCR editors and external researchers) review each submission in single-blind fashion (i.e., editors and reviewers know the identity of the author, but authors do not know the identity of the reviewers). Based on the provided recommendations, authors may be asked to revise their manuscript.

Manuscript Revision

Authors should address all comments, revise their manuscript accordingly, and resubmit by the deadline provided to them in Editorial Manager. ARCR editorial staff will verify that the revisions adequately address all editors’ and reviewers’ comments and will notify the author if the manuscript has been provisionally accepted, rejected, or requires additional revision. Multiple rounds of revision may be required before a decision can be made. Manuscripts that have adequately addressed all editors’ and reviewers’ comments will be granted provisional acceptance for publication.

Scientific Editing and Copyediting

ARCR provides scientific editing and copyediting services for our authors. However, the final responsibility for the quality and accuracy of the manuscript rests with the author. Authors are expected to thoroughly edit and proofread their work prior to submission. If a manuscript contains numerous grammatical, spelling, formatting, or citation errors, it may be returned to the author for revision before being considered further by ARCR.

Provisionally accepted manuscripts are assigned to a scientific editor to conduct a high-level review and ensure that the content is clear and accessible to a broad audience of scientists and clinicians. ARCR editorial staff will also copyedit manuscripts for adherence to journal style and format. Articles that require further correction will be returned for revision.

Article Acceptance

Manuscripts that have successfully completed the scientific editing and copyediting production stages are reviewed by ARCR editorial staff to determine if they are ready for publication. Articles that require further correction will be returned to the authors before acceptance. Manuscripts accepted for publication will enter the layout production stage. ARCR may reject a manuscript at any stage of review.

Final Proofreading

A PDF of the manuscript, including tables and figures, will be emailed to the corresponding author for final review. Authors are urged to review this draft for any errors; however, only the most critical changes to the accuracy of the content may be made at this point in the production process. Rewriting sections of text, revising tables and figures, adding or subtracting references, and making stylistic changes are not permitted unless requested or approved by ARCR editors. Final edits will be incorporated by ARCR editorial staff and the manuscript will be published online with open access.

Contact Us

For more information or to contact journal staff, please email arcriq@iqsolutions.com.

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