Posted on September 1, 2021
Updated on April 4, 2023

Contents

• Journal Content
• 1. Name of Journal
• 2. Website
• 3. Publishing schedule
• 4. Archiving
• 5. Copyright
• 6. Licensing
• Journal practices
• 7. Publication ethics and related editorial policies
• 8. Peer review
• 9. Access
• 10. Ownership and management
• 11. Advisory body
• 12. Editorial team and contact information
• Business Practices
• 13. Author fees
• 14. Other revenue
• 15. Advertising
• 16. Direct Marketing

This is Version 4.0 September 2022 of the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing

Journal content

1. Name of journal

The official journal title is Journal of Liver Cancer. The abbreviated title is J Liver Cancer. The journal was originally launched in 2001, under the title of Journal of the Korean Liver Cancer Study Group (print ISSN 1596-6314). Since 2014, the title is now changed to Journal of Liver Cancer. The abbreviated title is J Liver Cancer.

2. Website

1) The URL address of official journal web site is https://www.e-jlc.org.

The website is regularly maintained and supported, and all traffic is redirected through https.

2) 'Aims & Scope' statement

Journal of Liver Cancer (J Liver Cancer, JLC) is the official journal of the Korean Liver Cancer Association (KLCA, https://livercancer.or.kr/eng/index.php). The aim of JLC is to provide a forum for medical doctors and basic scientists working in the field of liver cancer. Its regional scope is mainly Korea, but it welcomes submissions from researchers all over the world. The journal covers basic, translational and clinical research on liver cancer, including its molecular and cellular biology, pathophysiology, etiology, epidemiology, prevention, surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment. JLC publishes articles in the form of original articles, case reports, review articles, and editorials. All submitted manuscripts are peer reviewed.

• Areas of specific interest include the following:
• Molecular and cellular biology of liver cancer
• Pathophysiology of liver cancer
• Etiology of liver cancer
• Epidemiology of liver cancer
• Prevention and surveillance of liver cancer
• Diagnosis of liver cancer
• Treatment of liver cancer

3) Readership

JLC is a multidisciplinary journal that is targeted at a broad readership, including basic researchers, clinicians, allied health professionals, health-related policy makers or medical students, who are interested in the field of liver cancer. Clinicians include hepatologists, surgeons, oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists or pathologists whose clinical practice and/or research interests are focused on liver cancer.

4) Duplicate submission and redundant publication

Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Submitted manuscripts are screened for possible plagiarism or duplicate publication by Similarity Check upon arrival. If plagiarism or duplicate publication related to the papers of this journal is detected, the manuscripts may be rejected, the authors will be announced in the journal, and their institutions will be informed. There will also be penalties for the authors. Articles published in this journal are not allowed to be reproduced in whole or in part in any type of publication without permission of the Editorial Board. Figures and tables of this journal can be used freely if original source is verified according to Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License. It is mandatory for all authors to resolve any copyright issues when citing a figure or table from other journals that are not open access.

5) ISSNs

pISSN: 2288-8128
eISSN: 2383-5001

3. Publishing schedule

JLC is published biannually, on March 31st and September 30th. Supplement issues may be published.

4. Archiving

The contents of JLC are accessible without barrier from PubMed Central (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/4408/), Korea Citation Index (https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/main.kci), or National Library of Korea (http://nl.go.kr) in the event a journal is no longer published.

5. Copyright

All published papers become the permanent property of the KLCA. Copyrights of all published materials are owned by the KLCA. Permission must be obtained from the KLCA for any commercial use of materials. Every author should sign the copyright transfer agreement forms.

6. Licensing

This is an open-access journal distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited for non-commercial purpose (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Journal content

7. Publication ethics and related editorial polices

1) Statement of Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

All studies on human subjects should follow the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/), and the authors should provide an affirmation that the studies have been approved by the appropriate institutional review board (IRB) and/or national research ethics committee with relevant reference numbers and dates. The following statement should be included in the text at the end of the Methods section: "All procedures performed in the current study were approved by IRB and/or national research ethics committee (reference number and date) in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments." Clinical studies that do not meet the Helsinki Declaration will not be considered for publication. The name or initials of the patient should not be displayed and the patient’s identity should not be known when submitting photographs related to the patient. If there is a possibility that the patient’s identity may be exposed, it should be stated that the patient has given written consent.

Animal studies should describe procedures that have been undertaken to reduce the pain and discomfort of laboratory animals and should state that the experimental procedure was not in conflict with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals or its equivalent. If necessary, submission of consent forms and approval of clinical trial ethics committees may be required.

Any research that deals with a clinical trial should be registered with a primary national clinical trial registration site such as https://cris.nih.go.kr/cris/index.jsp, or other sites accredited by World Health Organization (WHO) or the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

2) Statement of informed consent and institutional review board approval

Authors should have obtained written informed consent from all participants prior to inclusion in the study, and copies of written informed consent documents should be kept for studies on human subjects, which includes identifiable information or sensitive information. For clinical studies of human subjects, a certificate, agreement, or approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the author’s institution is required. If necessary, the editor or reviewers may request copies of these documents to resolve questions about IRB approval and study conduct.

The following statement should be included at the end of the Methods section after the IRB approval statement: “Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.” Identifying details of the participants (e.g. names, dates of birth, and unit numbers) should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and genetic profiles. In cases where identifying details are essential for scientific purposes, the participant should have given written informed consent for the identifying information to be published and it should be stated separately as following: "Additional informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for whom identifying information is included in this article."

Waiver of the informed consent can only be granted by the appropriate IRB and/or national research ethics committee in compliance with the current laws of the country in which the study was performed, and this should be separately stated as following: “Formal written informed consent was not required with a waiver by the appropriate IRB and/or national research ethics committee.” It should be noted that manuscripts that do not contain statements on IRB approval and patient informed consent can be returned to the authors before the review process.

For autopsy case reports, an informed consent is not required under the premises that consent was previously obtained for the autopsy to be conducted and that the strict anonymity of the patient has been respected.

2) Journal policies on authorship and contributorship

Authors are responsible for the whole content of each article. Co-authorship should be based on the following 4 criteria:

(1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
(2) Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
(3) Final approval of the version to be published; AND
(4) 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.

For any persons who do not meet above four criteria, they may be placed as contributors in the Acknowledgments section. Description of co-first authors or co-corresponding authors is also accepted if corresponding author believes that their roles are equally contributed.

The corresponding author takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process, and typically ensures that all the journal's administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and gathering conflict of interest forms and statements, are properly completed, although these duties may be delegated to one or more coauthors. The corresponding author should be available throughout the submission and peer review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely way, and should be available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication.

After the initial submission of a manuscript, any changes in authorship (adding author(s), deleting author(s), or re-arranging the order of authors) must be explained by a letter to the Editor-in-Chief from the authors concerned. This letter must be signed by all authors of the paper. Copyright assignment must also be completed by every author. JLC does not correct authorship after publication unless a mistake has been made by the editorial staff.

3) How the journal will handle complaints and appeals

Authors who wish to appeal a decision should contact the Editor-in-Chief, explaining in detail the reasons for the appeal. Appeals will only be considered when a reviewer or editor is thought to have made a significant factual error or when his/her objectivity is compromised by a documented competing interest, and when a reversal based on either of these grounds would change the original decision. The journal staff will ask for confirmation of the reason(s) in the first instance.
If the authors proceed, the original editor(s) will usually be asked to consider the appeal. Additional Editorial Board members may also be consulted. The editors will try to handle an appeal expeditiously; however, each appeal is unique and the journal cannot guarantee the turnaround time or the outcome. The process of handling complaints and appeals follows the guidelines of COPE available from (https://publicationethics.org/appeals). JLC does not consider second appeals.

4) Journal policies on conflicts of interest / competing interests

The corresponding author must inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the authors’ interpretation of the data. Examples of potential conflicts of interest are financial support from or connections to companies, political pressure from interest groups, and academically related issues. In particular, all sources of funding applicable to the study should be explicitly stated.

Peer review process for handling submissions from editors, employees, or members of the Editorial Board: All manuscripts from editors, employees, or members of the Editorial Board are processed same to other unsolicited manuscripts. During the review process, submitters will not engage in the selection of reviewers and decision process. Editors will not handle their own manuscripts if they are commissioned ones.

5) Journal policies on data sharing and reproducibility

a) Open data policy
For clarification of accuracy and reproducibility of the results, the journal encourages that raw data or analysis data are submitted with the manuscripts. If the data is already a public one, its URL site or sources should be disclosed. If data cannot be publicized, it can be negotiated with the editor. If there are any inquiries on depositing data, authors should contact the Editorial Office.

b) Clinical data sharing policy
This journal follows the data sharing policy described in “Data Sharing Statements for Clinical Trials: A Requirement of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors” (https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2017.32.7.1051).

6) Journal's policy on ethical oversight

When JLC faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as a redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fabricated data, changes in authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, an ethical problem discovered with the submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and other issues, the resolving process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The Ethics Committee of KLCA (https://www.e-jlc.org/policy/ethics_committee.php) will discuss the suspected cases and reach a decision. The Editorial Board will not hesitate to publish errata, corrigenda, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when necessary.

7) Journal's policy on intellectual property

All published papers become the permanent property of the KLCA. Copyrights of all published materials are owned by the KLCA.

8) Journal's options for post-publication discussions and corrections

Post-publication discussion is available through Letters to the Editor. If any readers have a concern on any articles published, they can submit a Letter to the Editor with reference to the articles. If there are any errors or mistakes in the article, they can be corrected through errata or corrigenda, or may be retracted.

9) Policy for handling cases requiring corrections, retractions, withdrawals, and expressions of concern

a) Correction
If correction is necessary, it will follow the ICMJE Recommendation for Corrections, Retractions, Republications and Version Control available from: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/corrections-and-version-control.html as follows:

Honest errors are a part of science and publishing and require publication of a correction when they are detected. Corrections are needed for errors of fact. Minimum standards are as follows: 1) A correction notice will be published as soon as possible detailing changes from and citing the original publication on both an electronic and numbered print page; 2) It will post a new article version with details of the changes from the original version and the date(s) on which the changes were made through CrossMark; 3) It will archive all prior versions of the article, and the archive is directly accessible to readers; 4) Previous electronic versions will contain a note that there are more recent versions of the article via CrossMark.

b) Retraction
JLC is responsible for the integrity of the published articles; therefore, occasions may arise when it is necessary to retract articles. Articles may be retracted on following circumstances:

• (1) When there is clear evidence of scientific misconduct (e.g. data fabrication) or honest error (e.g. experimental error) so that the findings and conclusions are judged to be unreliable.
• (2) When findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication).
• (3) When there are ethical issues or inappropriate authorship (See COPE discussion document: https://publicationethics.org/files/Authorship_DiscussionDocument.pdf).

JLC folows the retraction process in accordance with COPE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines):

• (1) When editors have convincing evidence that a retraction is required, editors may retract publications even if the authors do not agree.
• (2) The editors discuss the issue in question and evaluate the authors’ answers.
• (3) The final decision is then communicated to the author and, if necessary, any other relevant bodies, such as the author's institution on occasion.
• (4) The retraction statement is posted on the JLC website and published in the next available issue of the journal with a link to the article being retracted. A ‘retracted’ watermark will appear on the article, and the article as first published is retained online. The retracted article is identified in all online sources, on the original article, and all bibliographic databases.
• (5) The retraction is listed in the contents page, and appears on a numbered page. The text of the retraction explains the reason for being retracted, and is linked to the original article so that anyone who comes across the original article can see the retraction.

c) Withdrawal
When an accepted article contains errors or infringes an ethical code, it may be withdrawn with a withdrawal statement. Bibliographic information about the deleted article is retained for the scientific record, and an explanation is given for the withdrawal.

d) Expression of concern
Editors may consider issuing an Expression of Concern if they feel that readers should be informed of any potentially misleading information contained in an article. However, editors should be aware that an Expression of Concern carries the same risks to a researcher's reputation as a retraction, and it should be issued only if there are strong indicators to suggest that the concerns are valid. See COPE case 17-02 Data manipulation and institute's internal review and COPE case 15-10 Handling self-admissions of fraud.

8. Peer review

The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to the journal readership. All manuscripts, including solicited manuscripts, are screened upon submission. Only those which fully comply with the submission requirements outlined, including ethics statements, and in which the level of English is of an acceptable standard will enter the peer review process. The Editors reserve the right of early rejection without further external review if the manuscript is judged unlikely to be accepted.

Before reviewing, all submitted manuscripts are inspected by Similarity Check powered by iThenticate (https://www.crossref.org/services/similarity-check/), a plagiarism-screening tool. If the similarity score is too high, the Editorial Board will do a more profound content screening. The criterion for similarity rate for further screening is usually 15%; however, the excess amount of similarity in specific sentences may be also checked in every manuscript. The settings for Similarity Check screening are as follows: It excludes quotes, bibliography, small matches of 6 words, small sources of 1%, and the Methods section.
JLC adopts a single-blind peer review process: the reviewers know the identity of the authors, but not vice versa. Manuscripts will be evaluated by at least 2 independent reviewers and by the Editors.

The role of the reviewers is to advise editors to revise, accept, or reject an individual manuscript. Judgments should be objective and comments should be lucidly described. Scientific soundness is the most important value of the journal; therefore, logic and statistical analysis should be considered meticulously. The use of reporting guideline is recommended for review. Reviewers should have no conflicts of interest. Reviewers should point out relevant published work which is not yet cited. Reviewed articles are managed confidentially. After review, the Editorial Board determines whether the manuscript is accepted for publication or not.

The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the final decision for the manuscript. The final decision letter is sent to the corresponding author by e-mail within approximately 6 weeks after submission. All articles are published ahead-of-print within 2 months after final acceptance by the Editorial Office, and the final print version published within 6 months after final acceptance.

The authors may be requested to revise the contents. Revised manuscripts are peer reviewed in the same manner as for the initial submission. This invitation does not imply, in any case, that the revised version will be accepted for publication. Authors should submit both a marked and unmarked version of the revised manuscript, with all changes in the marked copy underlined. The resubmitted manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter stating that the manuscript has been revised according to the comments made by the Editor and the Reviewers. Figures and tables must be uploaded in the recommended formats. Revised manuscripts should be accompanied by a point-by-point reply to the critiques, specifying the changes made in the revised version, which should be highlighted. Failure to resubmit the revised manuscript within 4 weeks of the editorial decision is regarded as a withdrawal. Once rejected, the manuscript does not undergo another round of review.

If manuscripts from the Editor-in-Chief, the Deputy/Associate Editors or the Editorial Board are submitted, they also undergo the same process as with other manuscripts. Editors will not handle their own manuscripts and are not involved in the peer reviewer selection, review process, or final decision.

9. Access

This is an Open Access journal distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://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. There are no subscription or pay per view fees imposed on readers. All contents of the journal are available on the website (https://www.e-jlc.org) in html or pdf form. A free full-text service, both in XML and PDF formats, is available immediately upon publication without an embargo period.

Organization

10. Ownership and management

1) Information about ownership

JLC is owned by the publisher, the Korean Liver Cancer Association (KLCA, https://livercancer.or.kr/eng/index.php).

2) Management team

Journal management team (2021-2023)

• - Journal manager: Haeryoung Kim, Seoul National University, Korea
• - Manager of the review process:
•       Haeryoung Kim, Seoul National University, Korea
•       Dong Hyun Sinn, Sungkyunkwan University, Korea
• - Statistics editor: Min-ho Kim, Ewha Womans University, Korea
• - Ethics editor: Won Hyeok Choe, Konkuk University, Korea
• - Manuscript editor:
•       Suji Yoon, KLCA, Korea
•       Ha eun Choi, Jin Publishing Co., Korea
• - Layout editor: Mi Sun Im, Jin Publishing Co., Korea
• - Website and JATS XML file producer: Jane Lee, M2PI, Korea
• - Administrative manager: Suji Yoon, KLCA, Korea

11. Advisory body

The advisory body of JLC is the journal's Editorial Board (https://www.e-jlc.org/about/editorial.php).

12. Editorial team and contact information

1) Editorial team

The editorial team information is available on https://www.e-jlc.org/about/editorial.php, and in the front page of the printed journal.

2) Roles of the editorial team

• Editor-in-Chief
• - Responsible for the whole journal content
• - Selecting, appointing and managing Deputy/Associate Editors and Editorial Board members
• - Making the final decision to accept or reject the manuscript for publication
• - Attracting high-quality manuscripts
• - Responsible for handling allegations on scientific misbehaviors and misconducts
• - Providing guidelines to the authors for submission of manuscript and journal policies

• Deputy Editor
• - Assisting the Editor-in-Chief in getting manuscripts reviewed and published
• - Handling articles by subject areas
• - Initial screening of manuscripts
• - Checking for plagiarism and similarity

• Associate Editor
• - Assisting the Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor in getting manuscripts reviewed and published
• - Handling articles by subject areas
• - Initial screening of manuscripts
• - Checking for plagiarism and similarity

• Statistics Editor
• - Verifying and advising on the statistical results described in the manuscripts

• Ethics Editor
• - Advising on ethical issues of the journal.

• Manuscript Editor
• - Assisting Editor-in-Chief and Deputy/Associate Editors
• - Handling paperwork related to the journal
• - Performing technical checks on all submitted manuscripts

• Layout Editors
• - Responsible for the final layout and printing of the manuscripts

• Editorial Board
• - A group of respected scholars in the field of liver cancer
• - Assisting with peer review
• - Recommending review article subjects

3) Contact information

Administrative Manager: Suji Yoon
The Korean Liver Cancer Association
620 Yeoksam Heights Bldg.(FASTFIVE),151 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06132, Korea
Tel: +82-2-313-1900, e-mail: liver@klcsg.or.kr

Business practices

13. Author fees

Page charges, article processing fees or submission fees will not be applied to the authors. JLC publishes all contents open access and makes the content freely available online.

14. Other revenue

The revenue sources of JLC are from the support of the publisher (KLCA) and advertising.

15. Advertising

1) JLC accepts advertisements on the following basis:

All products or services should be safe and reliable, and not cause any harm to the health and welfare of humans. Advertisements may promote information and technologies relevant for authors, editors, reviewers, and readers.

• - Advertising is separate from content. Advertisers and sponsors have no advance knowledge of our editorial contents, nor do the editors have advance knowledge of advertisers. The content of JLC is never altered, added, or deleted to accommodate advertising. Advertisers and sponsors have no input regarding any of our editorial decisions or advertising policies.
• - We reserve the right to decline or cancel any advertisement at any time.
• - Advertisements for pharmaceutical products must conform to all regulations and policies of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Republic of Korea, in every aspect.

2) Orders

Any individuals or organizations who are interested in advertising their products or services in the print copies of the journal or on its website are encouraged to contact the Editorial Office.
The acceptance of advertisement will be discussed by the Editorial Board and will be ultimately approved by the publisher.

3) Advertisement fee

For one print copy issue, the advertisement fee for one whole page ranges from KRW 700,000 to KRW 2,000,000, depending on the layout.

4) Disclaimer

Liability: Neither the publisher nor the editors will be legally liable for advertisements presented in JLC. In addition, they cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information provided. Endorsement: The publisher and the editors do not endorse any products or services that are advertised.
Disclaimer: Neither the publisher nor the authors will be legally liable for any of the contents of advertisements.

16. Direct marketing

Journal propagation is done through the journal’s web site and distribution of electronic Tables of Contents (eTOC) by email. Invitations to submit manuscripts are usually focused on the presenters at conferences or seminars, if the topic is related to the journal's aims and scope.