CSE's White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications

2.0 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN PUBLISHING

2.5 Relations between Editors and Publishers, Sponsoring Societies, or Journal Owners

Editors should have total responsibility, authority, and accountability for the editorial content of the journal, an arrangement that is usually referred to as "editorial independence." The journal should have a stated policy on editorial independence, and a disclaimer indicating that material published in the journal does not represent the opinion of the publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner should be published regularly. Editors should resist any action that might compromise editorial independence. Editors must be free to authorize publication of peer-reviewed and other appropriate research reports, as well as society news, appropriate advertising, and other materials. The publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner is usually responsible for financial and other management issues and business policies, but it should always recognize and accept the journal's scientific integrity and objectivity and the editorial independence of the editor, and it should not interfere in the assessment, selection, or editing of journal articles. The relationship between the editor and the publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner should be based on trust and respect.

Editors and publishers, sponsoring societies, or journal owners should have a signed contract to ensure proper editorial freedom and responsibility. The contract should identify the officers, committee, or other management group to whom the editor is primarily responsible. The publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner should ensure that the editor has direct access to the highest management level and, preferably, reports to a governing body and not to an individual administrator. The contract should state the editor's rights and duties and contain the editor's job description, reporting responsibilities, and performance measurements (see section 2.1). These should include statements of the scientific, editorial, and administrative expectations of all parties; the length of the contract; financial conditions including operating expenses and remuneration (if any); and terms for termination by either party. There should be a mechanism for resolving conflicts between the editor and the publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner. A journal oversight committee for performance review and evaluation and for conflict resolution should be considered.

To maintain the professional autonomy associated with publication of peer-reviewed reports, editors should not allow their editorial judgment to be influenced by political, commercial, or other considerations. Editors should be able to express views that might run counter to the positions, commercial aims, or strategic plans of the publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner. Editors should have the right to review and refuse advertisements and advertising placement. Advertising considerations should not influence editorial decisions.

The editor and the publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner should confer about any political, commercial, or other incidents that could impair the scientific credibility of the publication and should agree to measures necessary to ensure that such incidents do not affect the decisions of the editor.

Editors should annually disclose any noneditorial, scientifically related activities in which they are engaged to the publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner, regardless of whether the editor is a volunteer or employed on a part- or full-time basis.

Peer review and other publication assignments should be undertaken by qualified specialists as necessary. These specialists should disclose any conflicts of interest with the editor, submitting authors, publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner. The journal should institute procedures that guard against potential conflicts involving the editor or the journal owner.

Editors and publishers, sponsoring societies, or journal owners should work together to ensure that services and products of contractors, vendors, and other commercial interests required for proper publication are selected on the basis of merit. Publishers, sponsoring societies, or journal owners should consider maintaining the necessary insurance to cover themselves and other key decision makers against legal action.

Editors should not disclose confidential information unless they are authorized by the source of that information, there are allegations of misconduct that require access to that confidential information for proper investigation (see section 3.6), or they are required by law to do so. In the case of misconduct, if the editor determines that disclosure is warranted and appropriate, the allegations of misconduct should be made known to the publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner. To maintain editorial independence, there should be agreement between the editor and the publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner on the nature of editorial material, whether manuscripts, reviews, or minutes, that may rightly be viewed as confidential and thus unavailable to the journal owner.

The editor may be called on to assist the publisher, sponsoring organization, or journal owner in the education and training of new editors.

(Authorship: Stephen Morrissey took the lead in writing this section of the white paper on behalf of the CSE Editorial Policy Committee. Stephen Morrissey and Elizabeth Blalock revised this section for the 2009 Update. Members of the Editorial Policy Committee and the CSE Board of Directors reviewed and commented on it. This section was formally approved by the CSE Board of Directors March 29, 2009.)

2.5.1 Resources and Case Studies

American Medical Association Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors, 10th ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2007:246-59.

Callaham ML. Journal policy on ethics in scientific publication. Ann Emerg Med. 2003;41:82-89.

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Code of conduct. Available at: http://publicationethics.org/code-conduct (Accessed March 28, 2009).

Council of Science Editors (CSE). Editorial policy statement on editor's rights. Available at: http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/services/draft_approved.cfm#EditorsRights (Accessed March 28, 2009).

Davis RM, Mullner M. Editorial independence at medical journals owned by professional associations. Sci Eng Ethics. 2002;8:513-528.

Gastel B. The relationship between journal editors and journal owners. Science Editor. 2001;24:43.

Geological Society of America. Ethical guidelines for publication. Available at: http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/ethics.htm (Accessed March 28, 2009).

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. II.B. Editorship. Available at: http://www.icmje.org/index.html#editor (Accessed March 28, 2009).

World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). Relation of the journal to the sponsoring society. Available at: http://www.wame.org/resources/publication-ethics-policies-for-medical-journals#sponsoring (Accessed March 28, 2009).

World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). The relationship between journal editors-in-chief and owners. Available at: http://www.wame.org/wamestmt.htm#independence (Accessed March 28, 2009).

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