For Editors
Applied Systems Editorial Offices (Europe - Romania (headquarters) and USA - Boston, MA)
Applied Systems SRL is a for-profit Romanian company founded in 1991 in the city of Craiova. The company operates in several areas, including Publishing and the Research and Development of new technologies in Life Sciences and Engineering.
Applied Systems maintains a dedicated team for its Publishing House and began publishing the journal Discoveries in 2013, followed by Discoveries Reports in 2014. The Discoveries Journals series - currently comprising Discoveries and Discoveries Reports - is a group of peer-reviewed, open-access, online multidisciplinary journals that publish high-quality review articles and original experimental research across disciplines related to Medicine, Biology, and Chemistry.
All articles published in the Discoveries Journals are made immediately available online upon publication under an open-access model. Published content is indexed in Google Scholar, PubMed Central, and PubMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health), typically within 1-4 weeks after publication.
Applied Systems closely collaborates with DISCOVERIES JOURNALS llc, 1 Boston Pl., 26th floor, Boston, MA 02108, USA, which is considered Discoveries Journals' USA Office.
Peer Review and Editorial Process
Articles submitted to Discoveries Journals are subject to a strict peer-review process. For most journals, peer review is conducted using a single-blind model, in which reviewers are aware of the authors’ identities, while authors do not know the reviewers’ identities. In some cases established by the Editors-in-Chief or the Senior Editors, a double-blind peer-review process may be applied, whereby reviewers do not know the authors’ identities until after publication.
The Discoveries submission and editorial management system supports online manuscript submission, peer review, and editorial decision-making. Reviewers and external editors are required to create user accounts, being granted secure, one-time access through personalized links. All Editors, including the Editors-in-Chief, Senior Editors and Guest Editors may access submitted and assigned manuscripts at any time through the system. Guest Editors are only invited in exceptional cases, when an Editor or Senior Editor with the required expertise is not available.
All Editors must treat submitted manuscripts - including abstracts, figures, tables, supplementary materials, and data - as strictly confidential throughout the peer-review and publication process. Additional details are provided in the Ethical Guidelines for Reviewers and Editors.
The Instructions for Authors provide detailed guidance on manuscript preparation and submission.
Editorial Workflow
Upon submission, a manuscript is received by the Editors-in-Chief or one of the in-house Managing Editors (selected from the Senior Editors), who realizes initial prescreening of the manuscripts within 2-3 days of the submission and coordinates the entire editorial process. This includes peer review, editorial decision-making, possible author revisions, manuscript acceptance, copyediting, English editing, proofreading, and final publication. If the manuscript passes the initial prescreening The Managing Editor/Editor-in-Chief either continue to act as the Editor for the manuscript, or she/he assigns an Editor or Senior Editor responsible for issuing reviewer invitations and supporting communication throughout the review process and for the decision.
A minimum of two independent reviewer reports are required for each manuscript. If the initial reviews differ substantially, a third report may be requested. Reviewers must hold a PhD, MD (or equivalent), must not have published with the authors and must have recent, relevant publications in the field of the submitted manuscript.
The final decision to accept or reject a manuscript is made by the Editor-in-Chief/Managing Editor, Guest Editor, or the appropriate Editorial Board Member who was assigned to act as an Editor for the respective manuscript, usually after authors have addressed reviewer comments. Normally, no more than two rounds of major revision are permitted, although exceptions can be considered, at the Editor's judgement.
Following acceptance, the in-house editorial team oversees production, including copyediting, English language editing, and final formatting for publication. Although journals are organized into yearly volumes and regular issues, articles are usually published online immediately after acceptance and completion of production.
In certain cases, Editors who have made the final acceptance decision may choose to have their name and editorial role listed in the published manuscript. This is optional for Editors and mandatory for Guest Editors of Special Issues.
Use of Generative AI by Editors
Editors (Editors-in-Chief, Editorial Board Members, and Guest Editors) play a critical role in maintaining the rigor and integrity of the peer-review process. Due to this responsibility, the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools during editorial evaluation or decision-making is strictly prohibited.
Under no circumstances may Academic Editors upload unpublished manuscripts - or any part thereof, including figures, tables, images, or related communications - to GenAI tools, as doing so violates Discoveries’ confidentiality and peer-review policies.
Editorial Board Responsibilities
Editor-in-Chief
The Editor-in-Chief serves as the scientific leader and representative of the journal. This role includes overseeing journal activities, ensuring scientific quality, and guiding the journal’s development within the research community. The Editor-in-Chief works closely with the Editorial Board and Editorial Office. The standard term of appointment is two years.
Key responsibilities include:
- Acting as an ambassador for the journal, Discoveries Journals, and open-access publishing;
- Defining and refining the journal’s scientific scope;
- Inviting leading researchers to join the Editorial Board;
- Proposing and approving Special Issue topics;
- Providing guidance to Editorial Board Members and editorial staff;
- Making final editorial decisions on manuscripts after peer review;
- Upholding peer-review and publication ethics standards;
- Chairing annual Editorial Board meetings.
Managing Editors are typically appointed on a temporary basis by the Editors-in-Chief to assume specific editorial responsibilities and/or to oversee collections of articles or designated journal sections. They support the Editor-in-Chief in managing particular subject areas, ensuring scientific quality and contributing to the strategic development of their sections. Managing Editors are selected from the existing Editorial Board, including Senior Editors and Editors.
Senior Editors
Senior Editors assist the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editors-in-Chief in managing manuscript evaluations and editorial decisions. They are usually expected to bring their expertise and contribute to the vision and the development of the journals. There is no limit of time for their appointment.
Responsibilities include:
- Advising on journal and section strategy;
- Supporting editorial policy development;
- Overseeing peer review and making editorial decisions for assigned manuscripts;
- Proposing and supporting Special Issues;
- Recommending new Editorial Board Members;
- Promoting the journal within the scientific community.
Editorial Board Members contribute to the scientific quality and visibility of the journal. The standard term of appointment is 5 years and this can be extended without any further notice if both parts consider their collaboration beneficial.
Their responsibilities include:
- Making editorial decisions on assigned manuscripts;
- Editing or supervising at least one Special Issue during their term, or acting as an editor for at least 5 submitted manuscripts
- Advising on journal policies and development;
- Promoting the journal at conferences and within professional networks;
- Participating in Editorial Board meetings;
- Reviewing manuscripts as needed.