Editor Roles and Responsibilities

The editorial team at Archives of Family and Biomedicine holds responsibilities toward authors submitting manuscripts, peer reviewers evaluating submissions, the journal’s readership, the wider scientific community, as well as the owners, publishers, and the general public.

Responsibilities Toward Authors

  • Providing clear guidelines to authors for manuscript preparation and submission.

  • Offering a transparent declaration of the journal’s policies regarding authorship criteria.

  • Ensuring fair, courteous, objective, honest, and transparent treatment of all authors.

  • Establishing and communicating policies on conflicts of interest for all participants in the publication process, including editors, editorial staff, authors, and reviewers.

  • Implementing an efficient and well-structured peer-review system.

  • Making editorial decisions in a timely manner and communicating them clearly and constructively.

  • Preventing undue delays in manuscript handling by editors or reviewers without valid reasons.

  • Establishing procedures for reviewing and reconsidering editorial decisions when necessary.

  • Regularly reviewing policies related to publication ethics, misconduct, and ethical concerns involving authors and peer reviewers.

  • Informing authors that all submissions are evaluated according to the journal’s standard editorial procedures.

  • Working in collaboration with the publisher to ensure the timely publication of accepted manuscripts.

Responsibilities of Editors Toward Reviewers

  • Assigning manuscripts to reviewers based on their expertise and research interests.

  • Requiring reviewers to confirm their commitment to confidentiality and timely completion of reviews.

  • Informing reviewers that they may not use or benefit from the content of the manuscript prior to publication.

  • Providing reviewers with clear, written instructions available on the journal’s website.

  • Ensuring reviewers have no conflicts of interest related to the manuscript under review.

  • Exploring appropriate methods to acknowledge reviewers’ contributions, such as professional recognition, educational credits, or invitations to join the Editorial Board.

Editor Responsibilities Toward Readers and the Scientific Community

  • Informing and educating readers by making rational editorial decisions that ensure the publication of high-quality scientific content.

  • Reviewing all accepted manuscripts to ensure authors’ conclusions are supported by the data presented.

  • Providing author contact information to facilitate scholarly discussion and post-publication communication.

  • Verifying that individual and group authorship criteria are met to the best of the editor’s knowledge.

  • Requiring all authors to review and accept responsibility for the final version of the manuscript or their respective contributions.

  • Maintaining the internal integrity and credibility of the journal.

  • Preventing inappropriate citation practices, such as coercing authors to cite articles from the journal.

  • Ensuring full disclosure of authorship, funding sources, and any potential conflicts of interest.

Editor Responsibilities Toward Publishers and Journal Owners

  • Overseeing and supporting the peer-review process for submitted manuscripts.

  • Contributing to the improvement of the evaluation and dissemination of scientific content.

  • Complying with the financial policies of the journal’s owners and publishers without compromising editorial independence.

  • Adhering to the journal’s agreed mission, publication standards, and publication schedule.