Editorial Guidelines

1. Editorial Responsibilities

  • Quality Assurance: Ensure published manuscripts meet the journal's standards of technical rigor, originality, and relevance to its scope.
  • Integrity: Uphold ethical publishing practices, addressing plagiarism, duplicate submission, and research misconduct in accordance with COPE guidelines.
  • Confidentiality: Treat all submitted manuscripts and related communications as confidential.
  • Objectivity: Base editorial decisions solely on the quality and relevance of the manuscript, free from personal, institutional, or commercial bias.

2. Submission Management

Initial Screening:

  • Assess fit with the journal's Aims and Scope and adherence to the Author Guidelines.
  • Run a preliminary plagiarism check via iThenticate.
  • Confirm required statements are present (Conflict of Interest, Data Availability, AI Use Declaration, Ethical Approval where applicable).
  • Reject submissions that are out of scope, substandard, or fail basic ethical requirements at this stage.

Assigning Reviewers:

  • Select reviewers with relevant subject-matter expertise.
  • Avoid assigning reviewers with a disclosed or apparent conflict of interest.
  • Assign a minimum of two independent reviewers per manuscript, under the journal's double-anonymous model.

Review Oversight:

  • Monitor review progress against the journal's 16–18 week target for first decision.
  • Provide reviewers with clear expectations, per the journal's Reviewer Guidelines.
  • Address any ethical concerns or data-access requests raised by reviewers.

3. Decision-Making

Types of Decisions: Accept / Minor Revision / Major Revision / Reject.

Final Review: Confirm that revised manuscripts adequately address reviewer comments; request further review where necessary.

Communication with Authors: Provide clear, specific, and professional feedback for all decisions, including reasons for rejection or requested revisions.

4. Ethical Oversight

  • Plagiarism: Use iThenticate to screen all submissions; address confirmed instances per the Plagiarism Policy.
  • Research Misconduct: Investigate suspected data fabrication, falsification, or other ethical violations.
  • Conflicts of Interest: Apply the journal's Conflict of Interest Policy and COPE Recommendation for Conflict of Interest (specific to editors).
  • Corrections and Retractions: Issue corrections or retractions per the Retraction and Correction Policy and COPE retraction guidelines.

5. Ensuring Timeliness

  • Target first editorial decisions within 16–18 weeks of submission, consistent with the journal's Peer Review Policy.
  • Follow up with reviewers proactively to keep manuscripts on schedule.
  • Maintain the journal's half-yearly publication schedule.

6. Maintaining Journal Standards

  • Ensure consistency in formatting, style, and quality across published articles.
  • Monitor and provide feedback on review quality.
  • Periodically review and update journal policies to reflect current publishing standards.

7. Communication and Collaboration

  • Provide reviewers with clear guidance and acknowledge their contribution.
  • Maintain transparent, timely communication with authors.
  • Collaborate with other editorial board members on complex cases or disputed decisions.

8. Promoting Ethical Research and Publishing

  • Confirm all listed authors meet ICMJE authorship criteria.
  • Ensure funding sources and contributions are properly acknowledged.
  • Confirm Data Availability, Code Availability, and AI Use statements are present and accurate in published articles.

9. Continuous Improvement

  • Gather feedback from authors, reviewers, and readers to improve editorial processes.
  • Stay current on developments in scholarly publishing, particularly regarding AI use in research and review.

10. Handling Appeals and Complaints

Handled per the journal's Complaints and Appeals Policy — authors may appeal editorial decisions, and complaints regarding editorial or reviewer conduct are investigated by the Editor-in-Chief or, where the Editor-in-Chief is the subject of the complaint, by another senior editorial board member.

11. Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

Editors apply the journal's DEIA Statement throughout the editorial and review process, avoiding bias based on gender, race, geography, career stage, or institutional affiliation.