To act in a balanced, objective, and fair way in carrying out editorial duties, without bias or discrimination on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, ethnicity, or geographical origin of the journal authors.
To reject or accept articles for publication, including “desk rejections” when applicable, and to acknowledge their authority and responsibility for so doing.
To recognize potential conflicts of interest with regard to individual submissions and to take appropriate action to ensure that these conflicts do not affect a submission’s consideration for publication, acceptance, or rejection.
To preserve the anonymity of the journal peer reviewers and/or journal authors, depending on the journal’s peer review process.
To communicate the status of consideration and to share comments and/or peer reviews with the journal authors and to provide a decision within a reasonable peer review period.
If a material error is found, to promote publication of a correction or retraction as appropriate and feasible.
Journal Peer Reviewer’s Responsibilities
To contribute to the journal editor’s decision-making process and to assist in improving the quality of the papers under review by critiquing manuscripts thoroughly and objectively.
To disclose to the journal editor any potential conflict of interest with respect to the research, the authors [if not double-blind], and/or the research funders for a manuscript, and, if appropriate, withdrawing their peer review services for that manuscript.
To point out by citation any similar published work that is not yet cited in the manuscript under review.
To maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by the journal editor or journal author. Peer reviewers should not retain, discuss, or distribute copies of reviewed manuscripts.
To provide the peer review to the journal editor by the specified due date or any extension thereof, or to withdraw from the peer review process if the reviewer cannot complete the review within a reasonable time frame.
Journal Author’s Responsibilities
To affirm that the manuscript submitted is not under consideration or accepted for publication elsewhere.
To participate in the journal’s peer review process. Authors will have the opportunity to suggest peer reviewers for their submissions, and to alert the journal editor if they believe particular scholars would not be appropriate peer reviewers for the manuscript in question.
To confirm that the work submitted is original and to acknowledge and cite content drawn or reproduced from other sources. Authors should obtain all permissions necessary when reproducing content drawn from other sources.
To notify promptly the journal editor or journal publisher if/when a significant error in the publication is identified. Authors should work with the journal editor and journal publisher to publish an erratum, addendum, or retraction where this action is deemed appropriate and necessary.
To formally inform the editors if they wish to withdraw an article from consideration for any reason.
Journal Publisher’s Responsibilities
To ensure that the standards above are followed by the journals published under its auspices.
To adhere to the ethical guidelines put forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), viewable on the COPE website: http://publicationethics.org/
