Guidelines for Editors

• Editors’ decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication should be based only on the paper’s importance, originality, and clarity, and the study’s relevance to the remit of the journal.
• Editors must treat all submitted papers as confidential.
• Editors should inform peer reviewers about this Misconduct.
• Editors should encourage peer-reviewers to consider ethical issues raised by the research they are reviewing.
• Editors should request additional information from authors if they feel this is required.
• Editors should exercise sensitivity when publishing images of objects that might have cultural significance or cause offense.
• Editors should inform readers if ethical breaches have occurred.
• Editors should encourage peer-reviewers to decline peer-review request if they identify a conflict of interest with the manuscript.
• Editors may assign peer-reviewers suggested by authors but should not consider suggestions made by authors as binding.
• Editors should mediate all exchanges between authors and peer reviewers during the peer-review process (i.e. prior to publication). If agreement cannot be reached, editors should consider inviting comments from additional peer reviewer(s) if the editor feels that this would be helpful.
• Decisions by editors about whether or not to publish submitted manuscripts must not be influenced by pressure from the editor's employer, the journal owner, or the publisher.
• Editors should publish corrections for discovered errors that could affect the interpretation of data or information presented in a manuscript.
• Editors should expect allegations of theft or plagiarism to be substantiated and should treat allegations of theft or plagiarism seriously.
• Editors should keep peer-reviewers’ identities from authors. If peer-reviewers’ identities are revealed, editors should discourage authors from contacting peer-reviewers directly, especially when misconduct is suspected.
• Editors should reserve the right to reject manuscripts if there is a doubt whether appropriate procedures have been followed. If a paper has been submitted from a country where there is no ethics committee or institutional review board, editors should use their own experience to judge whether or not the paper can be published. If the decision is made to publish a paper under this circumstance, a short statement should be included to explain this situation.
• Editors should ensure timely peer-review and publication for manuscripts they receive, especially where findings may have important implications.
• The Editorial Board is responsible for making publication decisions based on the reviewer’s evaluation, policies of the journal editorial board and legal restraint acting against plagiarism, libel, and copyright infringement.