Journal Policies

Peer Review 

The Editor will determine if the manuscript subject is within scope for Hypothesis. The Editor also will gauge the potential appeal of the manuscript subject to the Hypothesis readers. If either of these criteria are not met, the Editor will suggest that the manuscript author(s) submit the manuscript to a more appropriate journal. 

A member of the Editorial Team will screen each submission to ensure it meets the basic requirements. Next, the Editor will decline, request additional edits, or send the submission out for review. Manuscripts sent out for review will receive a minimum of two anonymized peer reviews. Peer reviewers will be asked to decline the request, if they have any conflicts or feel unable to perform the review for any reason.  

Upon reviewing peer reviewer comments, the Associate Editor will recommend the article be accepted with minimal revisions, request revisions, or decline the submission. Any revised manuscript and letter addressing peer reviewers’ suggestions will be distributed to the original peer reviewers. After soliciting input, the Editor will make a final decision for each submission. 

Open Access Policy 

Hypothesis is a Diamond (1) open access journal and provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Users have the right to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal, or use them for any other lawful purpose. 

Research Approval 

For any studies dealing with human subjects or animals, authors should indicate Human Ethics, Institutional Review Board (IRB), or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval include the name of the approving body, approval number, and date of approval. Approval should be listed in the both the abstract and Methods section of a manuscript. 

Copyright Policy 

All works in Hypothesis are licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. Authors own copyright of their articles appearing in Hypothesis. Readers may copy articles without permission of the copyright owner(s), as long as the author(s) are acknowledged in the copy, and the copy is used for educational, not-for-profit purposes. For any other use of articles, please contact the copyright owner(s).  

Indexing 

Hypothesis is indexed by CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), LISSA (Library and Information Science Source), and LISTA (Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts). 

Article Processing Charges (APC) 

Hypothesis is a Diamond open access journal (1) and does not charge article processing charges for accepted publications. 

Copy Editing 

Copy editors will ask authors to rework statements for clarity or to improve readability. Citations will be reviewed to conform with the Vancouver style. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

Hypothesis Editorial Team members will not use artificial intelligence (AI) as they complete screening, peer review, copy editing, and production of submissions.  

Artificial intelligence cannot take the place of or be listed as an author per the ICJME guidelines for authorship. 

Authors who choose to use AI must do the following: 

  1. Agree to be responsible for all aspects of the manuscript
  2. Disclose both the name of tool and how (e.g., figure and chart generation, data analysis, and so forth) the researchers used it in the research project as explained by Annette Flanagin, et al., in the JAMA March 7, 2024 editorial (2) and in the ICJME guidelines for authorship, which they updated in January 2024 with a new Artificial Intelligence policy (3). 
  3. Address implications for bias in the manuscript. 
  4. Authors must complete the AI Disclosure Form (5-6)*

*Authors who use AI to check grammar, structure, or readability of the document do not need to provide a citation nor complete the AI Disclosure form. 

Hypothesis reserves the right to review and update all policies to ensure they remain consistent with changing standards in both research and publishing. We acknowledge that this policy may not apply to all situations - the Editorial Team recognizes an unusual, new, or innovative use of AI may occur. Under these circumstances, the author(s) are encouraged to contact the Editorial Team or the Editorial Team will contact the author(s). Please contact the Editor with any questions or concerns regarding any of these policies.

References 

  1. Yoon J, Ku H, Chung E. The road to sustainability: Examining key drivers in open access diamond journal publishing. Learned Publishing [Internet]. 2024 Jul [cited 2024 Nov 27];37(3):e1611. doi:10.1002/leap.1611
  2. Flanagin A, Pirracchio R, Khera R, Berkwits M, Hswen Y, Bibbins-Domingo K. Reporting Use of AI in Research and Scholarly Publication—JAMA Network Guidance. JAMA [Internet]. 2024 Apr 2 [cited 2025 Nov 3];331(13):1096. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.3471
  3. Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals [Internet]. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. 2024 [cited 2025 Nov 3]. Available from: https://icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf
  4. Barbour V, Kleinert S, Wager E, Yentis S. Guidelines for retracting articles [Internet]. Committee on Publication Ethics; 2009 Sep [cited 2025 Nov 3]. Available from: https://publicationethics.org/node/19896 
  5. Peters M. Leveraging Generative Artificial Intelligence with Transparency: Enhancing Academic Integrity in Higher Education. Journal of Scholarly Publishing. 2025 [cited 2025 Nov 3];56:510–528. doi:10.3138/jsp-2024-1124
  6. Weaver KD. The Artificial Intelligence Disclosure (AID) Framework: An Introduction. College & Research Libraries News [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2025 Nov 3];85. doi:105860/crln8510407