Ethical Code

1.   GENERAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDITORS

1.1. Editors should be accountable for what is published in their journal. This means they should:

   1.1.1 strive to meet the needs of readers and authors;

   1.1.2 strive to constantly improve their journal;

   1.1.3 have processes in place to assure the quality of the material they publish;

   1.1.4 promote freedom of expression;

   1.1.5 preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards;

   1.1.6 always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.

2. RELATIONS WITH READERS

2.1. Readers should be informed about the affiliated institution and who has funded research.

3. 3.    RELATIONS WITH AUTHORS

3.1. Editors’ decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication should be based on the paper’s scientific relevance, originality and clarity, and the study’s validity and its relevance to the scopes of the journal.

3.2. Editors should not reverse decisions to accept submissions unless serious problems are identified with the submission.

3.3. New editors should not overturn decisions to publish submissions made by the previous editor unless serious problems are identified.

3.4. A description of peer review processes should be sent, and editors should be ready to justify any important deviation from the described processes.

3.5. Editors should publish guidance to authors on everything that is expected of them. This guidance should be regularly updated.

4. RELATIONS WITH REFEREES

4.1. Editors should provide guidance to reviewers on everything that is expected of them including the need to handle submitted documents in confidence.

4.2. Editors should require reviewers to disclose any potential competing interests before agreeing to review a submission.

4.3. Editors should have systems to ensure that peer reviewers’ identities are protected unless they use an open review system that is declared to authors and referees.

5.   RELATIONS WITH EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

5.1. Editors should provide new editorial board members with guidelines on everything that is expected of them and should keep existing members updated on new policies and developments.

6.  RELATIONS WITH JOURNAL OWNERS AND PUBLISHERS

6.1. The relationship of editors to publishers and owners is often complex but should be based firmly on the principle of editorial independence.

6.2. Editors should make decisions on which articles to publish based on quality and suitability for the journal and without interference from the journal publisher.

7. EDITORIAL AND PEER REVIEW PROCESSES

7.1.  Editors should strive to ensure that peer review at their journal is fair, unbiased and timely.

7.2. Editors should have systems to ensure that material submitted to their journal remains confidential while under review.

8. QUALITY ASSURANCE

8.1. Editors should take all reasonable steps to ensure the quality of the material they publish, recognizing that journals and sections within journals will have different aims and standards.

9. PROTECTING INDIVIDUAL DATA

9.1. Editors must obey laws on confidentiality in their own jurisdiction. Regardless of local statutes, however, they should always protect the confidentiality of individual information obtained in the course of research or professional interactions. It is therefore almost always necessary to obtain written informed consent for publication from people who might recognise themselves or be identified by others (e.g. from case reports or photographs). It may be possible to publish individual information without explicit consent if public interest considerations outweigh possible harms, it is impossible to obtain consent and a reasonable individual would be unlikely to object to publication.

10. DEALING WITH POSSIBLE MISCONDUCT

10.1. Editors have a duty to act if they suspect misconduct or if an allegation of misconduct is brought to them. This duty extends to both published and unpublished papers.

10.2. Editors should not simply reject papers that raise concerns about possible misconduct. They are ethically obliged to pursue alleged cases.

10.3. Editors should make all reasonable efforts to ensure that a proper investigation into alleged misconduct is conducted; if this does not happen,    editors should make all reasonable attempts to persist in obtaining a resolution to the problem.

11. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND DEBATE ENCOURAGEMENT

11.1. Editors should be alert to intellectual property issues and work with their publisher to handle potential breaches of intellectual property laws and conventions.

11.2. Editors should encourage and be willing to consider cogent criticisms of work published in their journal.

11.3. Authors of criticised material should be given the opportunity to respond.

11.4. Studies reporting negative results should not be excluded.

12. COMMERCIAL POLICY

12.1. Journals should have policies and systems in place to ensure that commercial considerations do not affect editorial decisions (e.g. advertising departments should operate independently from editorial departments).

12.2. Editors should have declared policies on advertising in relation to the content of the journal and on processes for publishing sponsored supplements.

13. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

13.1. Editors should have systems for managing their own conflicts of interest as well as those of their staff, authors, reviewers and editorial board members.

13.2. Journals should have a declared process for handling submissions from the editors, employees or members of the editorial board to ensure unbiased review.