Last Updated: Feb 1, 2017
JANS code of conduct and best practice statement is based on the COPE Guidelines
JANS Editorial decisions are not affected by the origins of the manuscript, including the nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, or religion of the authors.
General duties and responsibilities of editors
Editors will adhere to following guidelines to the best of the their abilities:
strive to meet the needs of readers and authors;
strive to constantly improve their journal;
have processes in place to assure the quality of the material they publish;
champion freedom of expression;
maintain the integrity of the academic record;
preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards;
always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.
Best Practice for Editors includes:
actively seeking the views of authors, readers, reviewers and editorial board members about ways of improving their journals processes
encouraging and being aware of research into peer review and publishing and reassessing their journals processes in the light of new findings
working to persuade their publisher to provide appropriate resources, guidance from experts (e.g. designers, lawyers)
supporting initiatives designed to reduce research and publication misconduct
supporting initiatives to educate researchers about publication ethics
Relations with authors
Editors decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication should be based on the papers importance, originality, and clarity, and the study's validity and its relevance to the remit of the journal.
Editors should not reverse decisions to accept submissions unless serious problems are identified with the submission.
New editors should not overturn decisions to publish submissions made by the previous editor unless serious problems are identified.
A description of peer review processes should be published, and editors should be ready to justify any important deviation from the described processes.
Editors should publish guidance to authors on everything that is expected of them. This guidance should be regularly updated.
Editors should provide guidance about criteria for authorship and/or who should be listed as a contributor following the standards within the relevant field.
reviewing author instructions regularly and providing links to relevant guidelines
ensuring that appropriate reviewers are selected for submissions (i.e. individuals who are able to judge the work and are free from disqualifying competing interests)
being guided by the COPE flowcharts (http://publicationethics.org/flowcharts) in cases of suspected misconduct or disputed authorship
publishing details of how they handle cases of suspected misconduct (e.g. with links to the COPE flowcharts)
publishing submission and acceptance dates for articles
Relations with reviewers
Editors should provide guidance to reviewers on everything that is expected of them including the need to handle submitted material in confidence. This guidance should be regularly updated and should refer or link to this code.
Editors should require reviewers to disclose any potential competing interests before agreeing to review a submission.
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 reviewers.
encouraging reviewers to comment on ethical questions and possible research and publication misconduct raised by submissions , inappropriate data manipulation and presentation
encouraging reviewers to comment on the originality of submissions and to be alert to redundant publication and plagiarism
considering providing reviewers with tools to detect related publications (e.g. links to cited references and bibliographic searches)
sending reviewers' comments to authors in their entirety unless they contain offensive or libellous remarks
seeking to acknowledge the contribution of reviewers to the journal
encouraging academic institutions to recognize peer review activities as part of the scholarly process
monitoring the performance of peer reviewers and taking steps to ensure this is of a high standard
developing and maintaining a database of suitable reviewers and updating this on the basis of reviewer performance
ceasing to use reviewers who consistently produce discourteous, poor quality or late reviews
ensuring that the reviewer database reflects the community for their journal and adding new reviewers as needed
using a wide range of sources (not just personal contacts) to identify potential new reviewers (e.g. author suggestions, bibliographic databases)
following the COPE flowchart in cases of suspected reviewer misconduct