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About

Aims and scope

International Journal of Bipolar Disorders is a peer-reviewed, open access online journal publishing contributions from the broad range of clinical, psychological and biological research in bipolar disorders. It collaborates with the International Group for the study of Lithium Treated Patients (IGSLi) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Bipolare Störungen (DGBS), and serves as the official journal of these organisations. International Journal of Bipolar Disorders invites clinicians and researchers from around the globe to submit original research articles, short research communications, reviews, guidelines, case reports, study protocols and letters to the editor that help to enhance understanding of bipolar disorders. The journal makes all articles freely available to researchers worldwide, ensuring maximum dissemination of content. Content is published online continuously to provide timely communication to the community and keep publication times to a minimum.

Benefits of publishing with SpringerOpen

High visibility

International Journal of Bipolar Disorders's open access policy allows maximum visibility of articles published in the journal as they are available to a wide, global audience. 

Speed of publication

International Journal of Bipolar Disorders offers a fast publication schedule whilst maintaining rigorous peer review; all articles must be submitted online, and peer review is managed fully electronically (articles are distributed in PDF form, which is automatically generated from the submitted files). Articles will be published with their final citation after acceptance, in both fully browsable web form, and as a formatted PDF; the article will then be available through International Journal of Bipolar Disorders and SpringerOpen.

Flexibility

Online publication in International Journal of Bipolar Disorders gives you the opportunity to publish large datasets, large numbers of color illustrations and moving pictures, to display data in a form that can be read directly by other software packages so as to allow readers to manipulate the data for themselves, and to create all relevant links (for example, to PubMed, to sequence and other databases, and to other articles).

Promotion and press coverage

Articles published in International Journal of Bipolar Disorders are included in article alerts and regular email updates. 
In addition, articles published in International Journal of Bipolar Disorders may be promoted by press releases to the general or scientific press. These activities increase the exposure and number of accesses for articles published in International Journal of Bipolar Disorders

Copyright

Authors of articles published in International Journal of Bipolar Disorders retain the copyright of their articles and are free to reproduce and disseminate their work (for further details, see the copyright and license agreement).

For further information about the advantages of publishing in a journal from SpringerOpen, please click here.

Open access

All articles published by the International Journal of Bipolar Disorders are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication, without subscription charges or registration barriers. Further information about open access can be found here.

As authors of articles published in the International Journal of Bipolar Disorders you are the copyright holders of your article and have granted to any third party, in advance and in perpetuity, the right to use, reproduce or disseminate your article, according to the SpringerOpen copyright and license agreement.

For those of you who are US government employees or are prevented from being copyright holders for similar reasons, SpringerOpen can accommodate non-standard copyright lines. Please contact us if further information is needed.

Article processing charges (APC)

Authors who publish open access in International Journal of Bipolar Disorders are required to pay an article processing charge (APC). The APC price will be determined from the date on which the article is accepted for publication.

The current APC, subject to VAT or local taxes where applicable, is: £2090.00/$2790.00/€2390.00

Visit our open access support portal and our Journal Pricing FAQs for further information.

Open access funding

Visit Springer Nature’s open access funding & support services for information about research funders and institutions that provide funding for APCs.

Springer Nature offers agreements that enable institutions to cover open access publishing costs. Learn more about our open access agreements to check your eligibility and discover whether this journal is included.

Springer Nature offers APC waivers and discounts for articles published in our fully open access journals whose corresponding authors are based in the world’s lowest income countries (see our APC waivers and discounts policy for further information). Requests for APC waivers and discounts from other authors will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and may be granted in cases of financial need (see our open access policies for journals for more information). All applications for discretionary APC waivers and discounts should be made at the point of manuscript submission; requests made during the review process or after acceptance are unable to be considered.

Indexing services

All articles published in International Journal of Bipolar Disorders are included in:

  • DOAJ
  • Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science)
  • OCLC
  • PubMed
  • PubMed Central
  • Summon by Serial Solutions

The full text of all articles is deposited in digital archives around the world to guarantee long-term digital preservation. You can also access all articles published by SpringerOpen on SpringerLink.
We are working closely with relevant indexing services to ensure that articles published in International Journal of Bipolar Disorders will be available in their databases when appropriate.

Peer-review policy

Peer-review is the system used to assess the quality of a manuscript before it is published. Independent researchers in the relevant research area assess submitted manuscripts for originality, validity and significance to help editors determine whether the manuscript should be published in their journal. You can read more about the peer-review process here.

International Journal of Bipolar Disorders operates a single-blind peer-review system, where the reviewers are aware of the names and affiliations of the authors, but the reviewer reports provided to authors are anonymous.

The benefit of single-blind peer review is that it is the traditional model of peer review that many reviewers are comfortable with, and it facilitates a dispassionate critique of a manuscript.

Submitted manuscripts will generally be reviewed by two or more experts who will be asked to evaluate whether the manuscript is scientifically sound and coherent, whether it duplicates already published work, and whether or not the manuscript is sufficiently clear for publication. The Editor-in-Chief will reach a decision based on these reports and, where necessary, they will consult with members of the Editorial Board.

Editorial policies

All manuscripts submitted to International Journal of Bipolar Disorders should adhere to SpringerOpen's editorial policies.

Once your article is accepted, it will be processed by production and published shortly afterwards. In some cases, articles may be held for a short period of time prior to publication. If you have any concerns or particular requirements please contact the Journal.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Citing articles in International Journal of Bipolar Disorders

Articles in International Journal of Bipolar Disorders  should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional journal. Because articles are not printed, they do not have page numbers; instead, they are given a unique article number.

Article citations follow this format:

Authors: Title. Int J Bipolar Disord [year], [volume number]:[article number].

e.g. Roberts LD, Hassall DG, Winegar DA, Haselden JN, Nicholls AW, Griffin JL: Increased hepatic oxidative metabolism distinguishes the action of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor delta from Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma in the Ob/Ob mouse. Int J Bipolar Disord 2009, 1:115.

refers to article 115 from Volume 1 of the journal.

Appeals and complaints

Authors who wish to appeal a rejection or make a complaint should follow the procedure outlined in the BMC Editorial Policies.