Role
What board members do
The duties below are the ones the journal sets out in its
editor guidelines and
editorial policies. Nothing is claimed here that
those pages do not state.
- Publication ethics
- Editors follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines for journal
editors: maintaining confidentiality, conducting fair and unbiased peer review,
handling conflicts of interest, and addressing allegations of misconduct according to
the COPE flowcharts.
- Manuscript evaluation
- Assessing the scientific merit, originality and significance of a submission, and
whether it falls within the journal's declared
scope.
- Reviewer selection
- Identifying and inviting two to three qualified reviewers with relevant expertise and
no conflicts of interest.
- Peer-review model
- Single-blind (double-blind on request). Reviewer identities remain confidential. Author identities
are known to reviewers unless the double-blind option is requested at submission.
- Editorial decisions
- Deciding on the basis of the reviews and the scientific quality of the work, and
giving authors the reasoning behind the decision.
- Authorship and disclosure
- Authorship is assessed against the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
(ICMJE) criteria, and full disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is required of
authors.
Appointment to the board follows the process the journal records on its
editor registration page: an application stating credentials and areas of expertise, a
review of the applicant's qualifications and research background, and an interview covering
research interests and availability.