Editorial Policy

An editorial policy of a scholarly journal at minimum describes or outlines the aim of the journal:

- the field(s) to be covered;

- the kinds of articles that may be accepted for publication (research articles or letters or short communications; commentaries and reviews that provide a synthesis of existing knowledge; book reviews; correspondence, etc.);

- the absolute need for originality and not being considered for publication simultaneously elsewhere;

- technical specifications as to submission of materials;

- the use of referees and editorial discretion;

- possible charges (e.g. article processing).

  • Clear policies should be put in place and should be published on the journal’s website. The following policies are recommended:

- Conflict of interest;

- Confidentiality;

- Ethical issues (including plagiarism);

- Corrections (Errata, Corrigenda, Retractions);

- Copyright;

- Advertising;

- Preprints, digital archiving, preservation;

- Peer review (refer to section on Peer Review).

  • Information on copyright and licensing are made available on the journal’s website and licensing terms should appear on all published articles.
  • Misconduct must be detected and prevented (e.g. presentation of data, graphs, or figures already published elsewhere; inconsistent data sets; citation manipulation; and plagiarism).
  • All manuscripts and substantive correspondence relating to published papers should be properly and accessibly stored (for editor’s reference), preferably in a well-designed record- and document-handling system for editor/s’ and audit reference.
  • The journal should contextualise reported findings in its editorial and supplementary sections.
  • Editors must ideally not submit papers to their own journals to prevent the perception of dishonesty. If they do, they must delegate full editorial discretion to an associate editor or Chair of the Editorial Board / guest editor.
  • An annual (or biannual) report on the journal must be compiled, with recommendations for journal improvement. These recommendations should be considered by the editor/s, an editorial board member or publisher, if applicable.
  • The editorial office contact details must appear on the journal’s website.

Resources: Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE)

Allegations of Misconduct

Short guide to ethical editing for new editors

See also Council of Science Editors: Editor’s roles and responsibilities