Online First Publication Policy

Global Virology Reports (GVR) is committed to accelerating the pace of scientific communication. Through our Online First service (also known as Early View), we ensure that peer-reviewed, accepted research is made available to the global community in its final form without delay. This policy details the lifecycle of an article from its initial online release to its final inclusion in a scheduled journal issue.

a. The Objective of Online First Publication
The primary goal of the Online First service is to bridge the critical gap between manuscript acceptance and its formal inclusion in a quarterly issue. By publishing articles immediately upon finalization, we provide significant advantages to the research community:

·       Expedited Visibility: Your findings become accessible to readers, clinicians, and policymakers months earlier.

·       Advanced Citation Potential: The research enters the scholarly conversation immediately, allowing it to be cited without restriction from the day of its online publication.

·       Timely Impact: Critical developments in virology are communicated without the traditional delays associated with print production cycles.

b. Pathway to Online First Publication
A manuscript becomes eligible for Online First publication only after it has successfully completed a rigorous multi-stage editorial process. This includes:

·       Successful completion of the double-blind peer review process.

·       Receipt of formal acceptance from the handling editor or Editor-in-Chief.

·       Finalization of all editorial production, including professional copyediting, typesetting, and author approval of the final proofs.

c. The Status of Online First Articles
Articles published Online First are considered the definitive Version of Record (VoR). This signifies that the content is final and has been editorially accepted. A permanent Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is assigned at this stage, which will never change. No further substantive alterations can be made, except through the formal publication of a correction notice (e.g., a corrigendum for minor errors) that is permanently linked to the original article.

d. Citation and Digital Preservation
Upon Online First publication, the article receives its permanent DOI, ensuring it is always citable and traceable. The correct citation format for this stage is:

Author(s). (Year). Article title. Global Virology Reports. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/xxxxx

When the article is later assigned to a volume and issue, the citation will automatically update to include this information across all major indexing platforms, while the DOI remains constant.

e. Integration into the Scholarly Record
Once published Online First, the article is immediately deposited with Crossref and other registration services. It becomes fully searchable and accessible through the journal's website and DOI resolvers. Depending on the policies of various bibliographic databases (e.g., PubMed, Scopus), the article may be indexed immediately or upon its formal assignment to a journal issue.

f. The Transition to a Scheduled Issue
Online First is a temporary, yet official, publication stage. When the journal's production cycle for a specific quarterly issue is completed, all Online First articles published during that period are gathered into a cohesive unit. They are then assigned to a specific Volume and Issue, receive continuous page numbers, and are presented in a curated Table of Contents. This process in no way alters the article's content or its DOI; it simply integrates it into the journal's archival structure.

g. Author Responsibilities and Journal Safeguards
Authors are required to review their article proofs meticulously before the Online First publication, as the content is thereafter considered fixed. They should promptly use the assigned DOI for all academic communications.

The journal reserves the right to make necessary production corrections, delay publication if quality standards are not met, or, in rare circumstances, withdraw an Online First article in cases of serious ethical or legal concerns, following COPE guidelines.