Editorial Policies

The Poison is an international, peer-reviewed, gold open-access journal dedicated to clinical toxicology. The journal publishes research that advances the understanding, diagnosis, and management of intoxications in humans, integrating molecular and biochemical insights with clinical evidence. It includes acute and chronic poisoning, drug toxicity and adverse drug reactions, forensic and analytical toxicology, toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics, antidotal and supportive therapies, and emerging chemical and biological hazards.

The journal considers original research articles, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, narrative reviews, mini-reviews, short communications, case reports, images in toxicology, and correspondence. All submissions undergo rigorous double-blind peer review by independent international experts. Editorial decisions are based on scientific merit, methodological rigor, and clinical relevance.

All articles in The Poison are freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication, without subscription fees or embargo periods, ensuring that advances in toxicological science reach researchers, clinicians, and health systems worldwide without barriers.

The Poison is published under a double-blind peer-review process. Authors are notified by email within 15 (fifteen) days of manuscript submission regarding the initial editorial decision, indicating whether the manuscript has been accepted for revision or rejected. All original articles, reviews, case reports, and other contributions considered relevant by the editors are evaluated by external reviewers. The identities of both authors and reviewers remain confidential throughout the review process.

Each article is assessed by two independent reviewers selected by the Editorial Board based on their expertise in the relevant field. Should any discrepancies regarding the contents arise, a third reviewer may be invited to participate. Reviewers are given a period of 4 (four) weeks to examine the manuscript. Based on the reviewers’ reports, the editors may request revisions in order to make the final editorial decision.

Reviewers provide recommendations classified as accepted without amendments, accepted with minor revisions, major revisions, or rejected. Final editorial decisions may take up to 3 (three) months for Section A manuscripts and up to 2 (two) months for Sections B, C, and D. Authors are required to review and approve the final version of the manuscript prior to publication.

The Poison is published semiannually, in January and June. The contents of this journal are published collectively as part of an issue. Occasionally, articles may be published at other times if the Editorial Board and the author/s so decide (special issue).

The Poison provides immediate and unrestricted open access to all of its content. All articles are freely available to readers worldwide without subscription fees or embargo periods. Users are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, and to use them for any lawful purpose, provided that the original work is properly cited. This policy is consistent with the definition of open access established by the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) and with the open access criteria of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

The Poison adheres to the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and to the ethical guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

If the objective is to publish a systematic or narrative review in The Poison, the author is requested to send an email to editorial@thepoisonjournal.com. The name/s and surname/s of the first author, affiliated institution/s, title of the proposed review and its relevance must be mentioned in the main body. If a favourable response from the Editorial Board is received, the author shall continue with the usual manuscript submission process.

Each person appearing as author of an article published in The Poison is responsible for having contributed significantly and in an identifiable way to the design, production, analysis and report of the work. To that end, the journal follows the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) system to define and acknowledge authorship credits, ensuring each author’s role is clearly identified. The Author Contributions form must be attached when submitting the manuscript, as stated in the Authors section. 

The Poison allows only one corresponding author to contact the journal and to receive all the emails related to forms, authorship issues, manuscript files, among others.

ICMJE and The Poison require that researchers register their clinical trials in acceptable clinical trial registries before enrolment of the patients. Articles describing primary outcomes of non-registered trials shall be rejected before peer-review.

To be considered acceptable, a trial registry must be operated by a not-for-profit organization, be publicly accessible, and include the minimum data set required by the World Health Organization (WHO).

ICMJE and The Poison require that researchers submit a data sharing statement and register a data sharing plan when registering a trial.

The Poison acknowledges that there are many ways of performing statistical analyses and solving problems in this field. Should there be any doubt about the results or specific statistic mistakes, the journal's reviewers/editors may request additional information not included in the material submitted.

The authors are responsible for obtaining all the necessary permissions to reproduce any copyrighted material. In that case, the Permission to reproduce material digitally and/or in print must be attached when submitting the manuscript, as stated in the Authors section. Likewise, the written authorisation of the patients whose photographs are included in the article (see Identifiable Patients section) must be certified.

When sending their manuscripts, authors should describe and indicate clearly all modification, selective editing and digital improvements performed on any image.

Authors should eliminate any information appearing in photographs or text of the manuscript that may contribute to identifying the patient. Should this be impossible, the presentations must be accompanied by an authorisation of the patient through an Informed Consent, as stated in the Authors section.

All the authors should state any conflict of financial interest or any other interest that may bias the results or interpretation of the article. Therefore, together with the manuscript they should attach the Declaration of Interests form available in the Authors section. In turn, journal policies require that no editor has any financial relationship with biomedical companies that may bias their work.

The Poison follows ICMJE recommendations regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the preparation of material submitted for publication:

  • Authors must declare, at the time of submission, whether AI-assisted technologies (such as large language models, chatbots, or image generators) were used in the creation of any part of the work. This disclosure must be included in the manuscript, specifying the technology used and the nature of the content produced

  • Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the submitted content. Under no circumstances may an AI technology be listed as an author

  • Authors must ensure that AI-generated material does not contain plagiarised text or images. All quoted content must be properly attributed, with complete references

  • AI-generated material cannot be cited as a primary source

The Poison is committed to editorial integrity and maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward plagiarism. We define plagiarism as the uncredited use of others' ideas, data, or text, as well as redundant publication (self-plagiarism). 

To ensure the originality of all submitted work, every manuscript is screened using Dupli Checker prior to the peer-review process. Should any anomaly arise, the editors will take the corresponding measures based on the guidelines outlined in the COPE Flowchart. The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject submissions, issue formal retractions, and, in cases of severe misconduct, notify the author's home institution. 

All articles published in The Poison are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). The articles are freely available to the public, allowing anyone to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link to the full texts, or use them for any other lawful purpose, as long as proper credit is given to the original author(s) and source.

The Poison and its logotypes are trademarks of Panamerican Toxicology Press. Their use is strictly forbidden for the sale, distribution or advertising of any product or service that may potentially result in confusion, mistake or deception.

The Poison has advertising spaces in each issue of the journal, as well as in its official web page, newsletters and social networks. The journal accepts promotional content to support its open access model, provided it is relevant to the academic community, honest, and respectful of ethical and scholarly standards. Advertising does not influence editorial decisions, and all ads are clearly separated from editorial content. We reserve the right to reject or remove any advertisement that conflicts with the journal’s values or editorial independence. Acceptance of ads does not imply endorsement by the journal or its editors.

The Poison requests the payment of a specific amount for the editing service for all the articles accepted for publication. It should be paid within 7 (seven) days after the final acceptance of the manuscript by bank transfer to the journal’s bank account (banking information to be sent by email).

The journal offers APC waivers to papers whose authors are based in countries classified by the World Bank as low-income or lower-middle-income economies.

For the time being, depending on the section, APCs are as follows:

SECTION A: Original articles, short communications, systematic reviews, narrative reviews and mini-reviews USD 300

SECTION B: Case reports and images in Toxicology USD 150

SECTION C: Correspondence (letters to the Editor and letters of response) FREE OF CHARGE

SECTION D: Editorials FREE OF CHARGE

NB Only for Argentina, publication fees are ARS 75,000 for section A and ARS 50,000 for section B. Sections C and D are FREE OF CHARGE (the same as for foreign authors).

The Poison follows a rigorous long-term digital archiving policy to ensure the permanence and accessibility of all published content. All articles are securely stored on Internet Archive and deposited in Zenodo, ensuring standardised metadata, long-term readability, and broad accessibility. This approach safeguards the scholarly record, protects against accidental loss, and ensures that readers, researchers, and the public have indefinite access to past content.

Authors are permitted to deposit all versions of their manuscript in an institutional or subject repository of their choice. This includes the submitted version (preprint), the accepted version (Author Accepted Manuscript, AAM), and the published version (Version of Record, VoR). No embargo period applies. 

Deposited versions must clearly acknowledge The Poison as the original place of publication and include a full citation and a link to the final published article on the journal website when available. The journal retains the right of first publication.

Editorial Policies

Aims and scope Peer review Publication frequency Open access policy Publication ethics Presubmission inquiry Authorship Registration of clinical trials Data Sharing Statistics Permission to reproduce material digitally and/or in print Image manipulation Identifiable patients Conflicts of interests Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Plagiarism detection Licensing Copyright Unauthorised use Advertising policies Article Processing Charges (APCs) Archiving policy Repository policy