Basic stuff you should know if you are working on #COVID19 and planning to submit your results for publication (1/9)

Most journals are currently overwhelmed with unprecedented increase in submissions – in the order 150-200% @NatureMedicine (2/9)

Our editors are doing all that is humanely possible to provide timely replies and thoughtful comments. However, that is not always possible. There are just so many papers a human being can read in a day. Be reasonable in your expectations. (3/9)

All COVID-19 submissions are being-fast tracked. If you submit to us and we do send your COVID-19 paper out for review it will be fast-tracked. (4/9)

Reviewers: please do reply to our requests. If you cannot review a paper, all you need to do is to click the ‘decline’ button. No explanation needed, suggestions of alternative reviewers are welcome. (5/9)

If you accepted to review and cannot deliver you report, it is fine. But DO let us know - the sooner the better. We will find someone else. Bear in mind it could have been your paper that is in the limbo because reviewers went AWOL. (6/9)

Reviewers: do DISCLOSE conflicts of interest and decline to review if there is an obvious one. During this pandemic I am seeing the most inappropriate reviewer behavior I’ve ever seen in my entire career as editor. I’m watching you. (7/9)

I am seeing authors trying to publish essentially the same results in several journals OR ‘saving up’ data that is essential to support the claims of the paper for future papers. That’s called salami-slicing. It is ethically questionable and a disservice to the community. (8/9)

We cannot offer double-blind peer-review for COVID-19 papers, because we'll ask you to deposit your work in a #preprint server if we send it out for review. More info here: https://bit.ly/2VlBcpQ . But seriously, we shouldn't need to ask, you should've already done it (9/9)