Neurology corresponds to the position of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editor (ICMJE) on “conflict of interest”. Conflicts of interest for authors are defined as “financial and other conflicts of interest that may distort their work.” In addition, Neurology has adopted the American Academy of Neurology`s Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Directive. This Directive requires all authors to disclose fully any financial relationships or other competing interests that might be perceived as bias in the study, whether or not such assistance is related to the subject of the manuscript. A publishing contract is a contract for the publication of a book and the payment of the author in return for the delivery of the manuscript by the author as agreed. Many standard acceptance clauses in publishing contracts allow the publisher to reject a manuscript on the basis of nothing but a whim, which undermines the nature of the contract – whether it is an agreement to publish a work, provided the work is written and delivered as agreed. Worse, many standard acceptance clauses refuse to have the author published elsewhere until all the money advanced is refunded. These unilateral acceptance clauses are another example of how standard publishing contracts can put authors on an unequal basis from day one. The corresponding author must inform and explain the editor if the status of the author changes after the submission of the manuscript (supplement, omission or author order). The corresponding author must request and collect letters of consent from all authors of the manuscript, including the author who is added or omitted. During the revision, these statements should be uploaded to the online system as additional files. See Additional data/Additional files. Therefore, the quintessence regarding the acceptance of the manuscript, if a dispute were to take place, is that, since the standard of acceptance is subjective, that if the publisher can prove a good reason why the manuscript is unacceptable, the likely outcome would be that the refusal of the manuscript was justified. Most importantly, an author should have the opportunity to revise the manuscript before it is totally rejected.
Such provisions are often found in agents` contracts. If the publishing house is not satisfied with the manuscript, the agreement provides that the publishing house must submit a written list of editorial reasons (as opposed to commercial reasons) for the non-acceptance of the manuscript in the version indicated. . . .