Rules for reviewing manuscripts (articles) sent to the Editorial Office of the journal:
All scientific articles received by the editorial office of the journal "Russian neurosurgical journal prof. A. L. Polenov ”, undergo obligatory double-blind peer review (the reviewer does not know the authors of the manuscript, the authors of the manuscript do not know the reviewers).

1. The manuscript of the article received by the Editorial Office is considered by the executive secretary in terms of compliance with the journal's profile and design requirements.
2. The manuscript sent to the Editorial Office must be accompanied by a letter written by the authors.
3. The article is sent for review to two or, if necessary, three reviewers – members of the Editorial Board, or, if necessary, other specialists with adequate experience in the specific scientific field. Experts working in the same division or subsidiary where the work was performed cannot be involved in the review process.
4. The article must be submitted to the reviewer anonymously without specifying information about the authors. The review also must be sent from the Editorial Board to the author anonymously without disclosing the reviewer. By mutual agreement the author and the reviewer can also communicate without the help of the Editorial Board, if this is necessary for work on the manuscript and there are no obstacles of a personal or other nature specified by them or the editor.
5. Reviewers are notified that the submitted manuscripts are intellectual property of the authors and refer to information that is not subject to disclosure. Reviewers do not have the right to take advantage of knowledge about the content of the work before its publication.
6. The review must contain a comprehensive analysis of the scientific and methodological merits and imperfections of the article and constructive comments on the revision of the article.
7. The reviewer must evaluate:
* Relevance of the content of the article: does the level of what is described in the article correspond to the current problems in neurosurgery and related disciplines;
* Novelty, significance and originality of the scientific and practical conclusions of the article;
* Completeness and reliability of the information provided;
* Correctness and accuracy of terminology, definitions and wording,
* Compliance with the norms and rules of professional ethics.

8. The review should include clear recommendations on the article:
* Accept without changes,
* Accept with minor changes,
* Adopt with major changes,
* Reject.

9. The review must be sent to the Executive Secretary within a period not exceeding 1 month from the date of receipt of the manuscript by the reviewer.

10. If the review contains recommendations for correction and revision of the article, it must be sent to the author with a suggestion to take into account the recommendations when preparing a new version of the article or reasonably refuse them. The article must be returned in a corrected form within 1 month. The revised manuscript must be accompanied by a letter from the author containing answers to the questions and explanatory comments regarding the changes made in the article. The article reworked by the author must be sent for review to the same reviewer who made critical comments.

11. If the reviewer did not recommend the article for publication, the Editorial Board may send the article back to the author for revision, taking into account the comments made, and also to another reviewer. The text of a negative review must be sent to the author.

12. Manuscripts that have received contradictory reviews must be sent for additional peer review. If two negative reviews are received for a manuscript, it is rejected.

13. The decision on publication after reviewing is made by the Editor-in-Chief/Deputy Editor-in-Chief, and - if necessary - by the entire Editorial Board. The Executive Secretary informs the author about the decision made.

14. The maximum period of review between the dates of receipt of the manuscript by the Editorial Board and the decision of the Editorial Board must not exceed 2 months.

15. All changes in the text of the manuscript (article) before publication are agreed with the author.

16. Reviews and correspondence with authors are kept in the Editorial Office for at least 5 years from the date of publication of the articles and information (copies of reviews) can be provided upon requests to the expert councils of the Higher Attestation Commission, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

17. Reviewers are not paid, all work of the Editorial Board, Editorial Council and reviewers is gratuitous.
According to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals  (http://www.icmje.org/index.html)