New guidelines for the publication of genetic population data.

In 2000 a new policy concerning the publication of population genetic data was set up in Forensic Science International [1] with the introduction of a new section entitled ‘‘Announcement of population data’’. Subsequently in 2010 [2] a new section on ‘‘Forensic Population Genetics’’ was introduced, and recommendations were redefined. FSI: Genetics is one of the few journals still considering population genetic data for publication and we strongly believe that this policy has contributed to the dissemination of common standards in the field all over the world and also to motivate labs and people to embark in research in the area of forensic genetics. For this reason it is our intention to continue with this policy, and recently an associate editor exclusively devoted to this topic was appointed to the journal. Despite having defined a more detailed procedure for acceptance, our journal is still receiving a massive number of submissions of varying quality in this area. Therefore it has become necessary to raise the threshold regarding the acceptance of this type of publication to ensure a high standard of published data. In addition we want to improve the submission, reviewing and publication procedures, and to correct some aspects that we have detected such as the obligation to meet ethical standards in the collection of samples including informed consent and approval by ethical committees. For this reason, we have decided to publish new guidelines for the publication of population genetic data in the journal.