Editor’s Guide
Editors have the following responsibilities:
-
To
acknowledge receipt of submitted manuscripts within a few days of receipt and
to ensure the efficient, fair and timely review process of submitted
manuscripts.
- To
ensure that submitted manuscripts are handled in a confidential manner, with no
details being disclosed to anyone, with the exception of the referees, without
the permission of the author, until a decision has been taken as to whether the
manuscript is to be published.
- To
invite reviewers, probably considering the use of an author's suggested
referees for his/her submitted article, but to ensure that the suggestions do
not lead to a positive bias (e.g. co-authors of previous publications, mentor).
The editor maintains the right to use referees of his/her own choice.
- Not
to use referees which an author has requested not to be consulted, unless the
editor reasonably considers there to be a significant overriding interest in so
doing.
- To
ensure the confidentiality of the names and other details of referees;
adjudication and appeal referees may be informed of the names of prior
referees, if appropriate.
- To
make the final decision concerning acceptance or rejection of a manuscript with
reasonable speed and to communicate the decision in a clear and constructive
manner.
- To
decide to accept or reject a manuscript for publication with reference only to
the manuscript’s importance, originality and clarity, and its relevance to the
journal.
- To
respect the intellectual independence of authors.
- To
make known any conflicts of interest that might arise. Specifically, in cases
where an editor is an author of a submitted manuscript, the manuscript must be
passed to another editor for independent peer review.
- Not
to use for their own research, work reported in unpublished submitted articles.
- To
respond to any suggestions of scientific misconduct, usually through
consultation with the author. This may require the publication of a formal
‘retraction' or correction.
- To
deal fairly with an author’s appeal against the rejection of a submitted
manuscript.
- To
monitor and ensure the fairness, timeliness, and thoroughness of the peer
review process.
Reviewer’s Guide
Reviewers have the following responsibilities:
- To
provide written, unbiased, and informative feedback in a timely manner on the
scientific value of the work, rating the work’s composition, scientific
accuracy, originality, and interest to readers.
-
To treat the manuscript as
confidential; not sharing, discussing with third parties, or disclosing the
information in the reviewed paper.
- To
return/destroy/erase the manuscript and to inform the editor should they be
unqualified to review the manuscript, or lack the time to review the
manuscript, without undue delay.
- To
judge the manuscript objectively and in a timely manner. Referees should not
make personal criticism in their reviews
-
To return the manuscript without review to the editor if there is a conflict of interest. Specifically, Referees should
not review manuscripts authored or co-authored by a person with whom the
referee has a close personal or professional relationship, if this relationship
could be reasonably thought to bias the review.
-
To
explain and support their judgments so that editors and authors may understand
the basis of their comments, and to provide reference to published work, where
appropriate.
- To
inform the editor of any similarity between the submitted manuscript and
another either published or under consideration by another journal to the best
of their knowledge.
- To
ensure that all unpublished data, information, interpretation and discussion in
a submitted article remain confidential and not to use reported work in
unpublished, submitted articles for their own research.
- To
alert the editor if a manuscript contains plagiarized material or falsified
data to the best of their knowledge.