Synthēsis is a peer-reviewed, diamond open-access journal published by Perfervid Consultancy Services (Plot No. BA 951, Bush Road, CF 0491 Mankessim, Central Region, Ghana). Articles are published continuously online and gathered into monthly issues. There are no fees for authors and no fees for readers.
Synthēsis publishes evidence syntheses across all areas of medicine: short, fully reproducible meta-analyses; methodological notes; and brief updates to previously published syntheses where new data materially change the inference. Every empirical paper is accompanied by an evidence capsule with the protocol, search strategy, data, code, and PRISMA flow. Authors are encouraged to pre-register protocols on PROSPERO or OSF and to follow PRISMA 2020 for reporting.
Article types
Our encouraged default format is the E156 micro-publication: a 156-word abstract that is the paper, accompanied by an evidence capsule and badged for reproducibility. Long-form articles are equally welcome where the question or audience warrants more space.
- E156 Micro-publication (default, 156-word body) — structured fields: Background, Methods, Results, Inference. Required: evidence capsule (see below).
- Methods Paper (up to 3,000 words) — methodological development, statistical innovation, validation, software, workflows.
- Narrative Review (up to 4,000 words) — critical synthesis; PRISMA where systematic.
- Case-Based Teaching (up to 2,500 words) — anonymised clinical case with CARE reporting and written patient consent.
- Editorial (up to 1,500 words, invited or proposed).
- Viewpoint (up to 1,500 words) — author-led perspective.
- Debate (paired, up to 1,200 words each).
- Reply / Response (up to 800 words).
The E156 evidence capsule and Assurance badges
An evidence capsule is a public, version-controlled record of everything needed to understand, reproduce, and audit an E156 micro-publication: cleaned analysis-ready data, analysis code, automated tests, a runnable dashboard or notebook, a README that maps the 156-word paper to the underlying files, and a Zenodo-mirrored release. Capsules are scored on three tiers:
- Bronze — basic reproducibility: data file present, analysis code runs end-to-end on a clean machine, dashboard/notebook generates, every citation link resolves.
- Silver — audited reproducibility: all of Bronze, plus row-level data provenance documented, automated tests pass, every claim matched to a specific code output, stated limitations checked against what the data support.
- Gold — independent verification: all of Silver, plus independent re-extraction by a second reviewer, independent re-run reproducing the published numbers, completed citation and source audit, and a published correction-and-versioning policy on the repository.
Policies overview
Detailed policies are published on the following pages:
- Submissions & Author Guidelines — article types, authorship, ethics, data sharing, reproducibility, reporting guidelines, preprint, image manipulation, plagiarism.
- Editorial Team — editor-in-chief and editorial independence.
- Privacy Statement
- Contact
Indexing & identifier readiness
| Index / identifier | Status |
|---|---|
| ISSN | Application in preparation. |
| DOI (Crossref) | Planned. |
| Google Scholar | Structured for discovery; inclusion not guaranteed. |
| DOAJ | Application staged once minimum publication history is in place. |
| PubMed Central | Application staged once ISSN, DOIs, JATS XML output, and a preservation network are in place. |
| MEDLINE (LSTRC) | Pursued after PMC acceptance. |
| Scopus / Web of Science (ESCI) | Applications pursued in parallel with DOAJ. |
| OAI-PMH | Open (Dublin Core enabled). |
| ORCID | Required as a manual field at submission; full plugin integration planned. |
This page is updated as indexing status changes.
Peer Review Process
Synthēsis follows a structured editorial and peer-review process aligned with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Each submission is first assessed by the editorial team for scope, completeness, and research integrity, then reviewed by individuals with relevant expertise who evaluate originality, methodological soundness, clarity, and significance. Final decisions rest with the editors and are based on the reviews and the scholarly merit of the work.
Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
Synthēsis upholds high standards of publication ethics and follows COPE guidance. Authors, editors, and reviewers are expected to act with integrity. The journal addresses allegations of misconduct—including plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, and redundant publication—and issues corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern where warranted.
Authorship
Authorship is limited to those who have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the work. All listed authors approve the final version and agree to be accountable for it. Contributors not meeting authorship criteria are acknowledged.
Competing Interests
Authors must disclose any financial or non-financial competing interests that could be perceived to influence the work. Reviewers and editors recuse themselves from submissions in which they have a conflict of interest.
Data Availability
Authors are encouraged to make the data, code, and materials underlying their findings openly available where ethically and legally possible, and to include a data-availability statement.
Open Access and Licensing
Synthēsis is a fully open-access journal. All articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), permitting use and redistribution with appropriate credit.