Duties Of Editors
MedWeb Publications follow Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines which define a set of recommended core practices that are applicable to all involved in publishing scholarly literature: editors and journal teams, publishers, and institutions. COPE offers advice to editors and publishers on all aspects of publication ethics and, in particular, how to handle cases of research and publication misconduct.
Publication Decisions
The editor of a learned journal is solely and independently responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always underwrite such decisions. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding issues such as libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers (or society officers) in making these decisions.
Peer review
The editor shall ensure that the peer-review process is fair, unbiased,
and timely. Research articles must typically be reviewed by at least
two external and independent reviewers, and where necessary the editor should
seek additional opinions.
The editor shall follow best practices in avoiding the selection of
fraudulent peer reviewers. The editor shall review all disclosures of potential
conflicts of interest and suggestions for self-citation made by reviewers in
order to determine whether there is any potential for bias.
Fair play
The editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content
without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic
origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors. When nominating
potential editorial board members, the editor shall take account of the need
for appropriate, inclusive and diverse representation.
The editorial policies of the journal should encourage transparency and
complete, honest reporting, and the editor should ensure that peer reviewers
and authors have a clear understanding of what is expected of them.
The editor shall establish, along with the publisher, a transparent
mechanism for appeal against editorial decisions.
Confidentiality
The editor must protect the confidentiality of all material submitted to
the journal and all communications with reviewers, unless otherwise agreed with
the relevant authors and reviewers. In exceptional circumstances and in
consultation with the publisher, the editor may share limited information with
editors of other journals where deemed necessary to investigate suspected
research misconduct.
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be
used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the
author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be
kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
Declaration of Competing Interests
Any potential editorial conflicts of interest should be declared to the
publisher in writing prior to the appointment of the editor, and then updated
if and when new conflicts arise. The publisher may publish such declarations in
the journal.
The editor must not be involved in decisions about papers which s/he has
written him/herself or have been written by family members or colleagues or
which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest.
Further, any such submission must be subject to all of the journal’s usual
procedures, peer review must be handled independently of the relevant
author/editor and their research groups, and there must be a clear statement to
this effect on any such paper that is published.