Scientific and editorial ethics are founded on integrity, competence, and a responsibility to protect the communal and public interest. Scientific editors strive to advance the reporting of science in ways that ensure the highest standards of reliability, accessibility, transparency, and integrity of the scientific enterprise and promote the broader ethical and communal interests of science in the public domain.

Editors should have total responsibility, authority, and accountability for the scientific content of the journal, an arrangement that is usually referred to as “editorial independence.”. It should resist any action that might compromise editorial independence and should not interfere in the assessment, selection, and editing of journal articles. Furthermore, as the open science movement challenges traditional understandings of content ownership and responsibility to share data, forethought and public and clear delineations of rights and responsibilities help editors and journal owners achieve these goals. 

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, advertising, or other considerations. 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 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 independent authority to select their own editorial board and may be called on to assist the publisher, sponsoring organization, or journal owner in the education and training of new editors. Editors should ensure the editorial board is diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity, and content expertise and should accommodate board members with significant caregiving responsibilities.

Editors should not disclose confidential information about submissions 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 may 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 journal should have a stated policy on the journal website 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. This policy should also delineate the relationship between the editorial board, ownership of the publication, and journal management. 

Editors should annually disclose any scientifically related activities (whether editorial or noneditorial) 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 selected by the editor or their editorial board. 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.

The publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner should always recognize and accept the journal’s scientific integrity and objectivity and the editorial independence of the editor and should therefore have a signed contract with the editor to ensure it, any business vendor, or any partnering organization do not interfere with these processes. 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 or owner. 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. An independent and objective journal oversight committee for performance review and evaluation and for conflict resolution should be considered.

Editors 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. The relationship between the editor and the publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner should be based on trust and respect.

The publisher, sponsoring society, or journal owner and the editor should have a signed, written agreement delineating how to handle grievances and disagreements. Also, they should work together to ensure that partnerships and the services and products of contractors, vendors, and other commercial interests required for proper publication are selected on the basis of merit. Publication staff should review editorial policy periodically. It should also publicize all policy relevant to authors and editors and clearly explain the publication’s ownership, editorial board, and management on the journal website. Publishers, sponsoring societies, or journal owners should consider maintaining the necessary insurance to cover themselves and other key decision makers against legal action.

2.5.1 Resources and Case Studies

American Medical Association Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors, 11th ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2020:333-50.

Callaham ML. Journal policy on ethics in scientific publication. Ann Emerg Med. 2003;41:82-89. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Code of conduct and best practice guidelines for journal editors. Available at: https://publicationethics.org/files/Code%20of%20conduct%20for%20journal%20editors_0.pdf (Accessed June 24, 2022).

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). A short guide to ethical editing for new editors. Available at: https://publicationethics.org/files/COPE_G_A4_SG_Ethical_Editing_May19_SCREEN_AW-website.pdf. (Accessed June 23, 2022).

Committee on Publication EthicsCOPE). Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing. (Accessed June 23, 2022).

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Code of conduct for journal publishers. Available at: http://publicationethics.org/files/Code%20of%20conduct%20for%20publishers%20FINAL_1.pdf (Accessed June 24, 2022).

Conrad LY. Editorial Independence and Journal Ownership in the Age ofOpen Science. The Scholarly Kitchen. Available at https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2019/02/12/editorial-independence-and-journal-ownership-in-the-age-of-open-science. (Accessed 24 June 2022).

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: https://www.geosociety.org/gsa/pubs/Ethical_Guidelines.aspx (Accessed June 24, 2022).

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations).. Available at: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/ (Accessed June 24, 2022).

World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). Recommendations on Publication Ethics Policies for Medical Journals . Available at: https://wame.org/recommendations-on-publication-ethics-policies-for-medical-journals#Relation%20to%20the%20Journal (Accessed June 24, 2022).

World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). The relationship between journal editors-in-chief and owners. Available at: http://www.wame.org/resources/policies#independence (Accessed June 20, 2022 ).

(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. Howard Browman and Stephen Morrissey revised this section for the 2012 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 30, 2012. Danny Lambert and Heather Goodell revised this section for the 2023 update. This section was formally approved by the CSE Board of Directors on May 19th, 2023.)

2.5.2 Publication Oversight Committees

Oversight of journals may be provided by a publications committee (PC).* A PC is intended as an objective intermediary between the owner-publisher and the Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Board and is tasked with ensuring the editorial independence of the latter while at the same time respecting and implementing the objectives of the former.

Terms of reference

• Provide independent, objective assessments of the performance of the publications, its Editor-
• in-Chief, Editorial Board, and, if appropriate, its publisher.
• Evaluate new financial proposals related to the publications, e.g., advertising policies,
• sponsorships.
• Ensure that the scientific content of the publications is of the highest quality.
• Ensure the scientific publishing operations are conducted in accordance with sound business practices.
• Establish goals and objectives for the scientific journals and assess whether or not they are met.
• Form and/or participate in search committees to appoint new Editors or Editors-in-Chief when necessary or desirable, noting that the final decisions regarding these senior appointments are often made by the owner’s governing body. 
• Recommend the creation and discontinuance of scientific journals. Assess proposals for new books and other publications as deemed appropriate.
• Conduct an in-depth evaluation of scientific quality and business operation for each journal the year before a new editor-in-chief is appointed; identify any problems, develop corrective action, and report results to the organization’s governing body.
• Develop and approve policies governing scientific publications and consult with the organization’s governing body as appropriate. Examples of such policies include (but are not limited to), conflict resolution, conflicts of interest, ethics, and advertising.
• Ensure the organization’s publications are in harmony with the goals of the larger organization.
• Conduct an in-depth evaluation of scientific quality and business operation for each journal the year before a new editor-in-chief is appointed; identify any problems, develop corrective action, and report results to the organization’s governing body.
• Develop and approve policies governing scientific publications and consult with the organization’s governing body as appropriate. Examples of such policies include (but are not limited to), conflict resolution, conflicts of interest, ethics, and advertising.

Membership

PCs should be populated with members with diverse experience and knowledge of, for example, journal management and finances, editorial conventions, policies and practices, production and archiving, journal ranking metrics, journal promotion (including social media), and publication ethics. Alternatively, PCs in professional societies may consist exclusively of society members with journal staff and the publisher consulting on areas of expertise particular to the publishing industry.

The number of members will depend upon the extent of the PC’s remit. In general, an odd number of members is recommended to avoid ties in voting on contentious issues.

Appointments to POCs

A PC should have a Chair and a Vice-Chair whose terms end at different times (to ensure continuity). Chairs and Vice-Chairs are appointed via whatever process is established by the organization. In populating a PC, some considerations include: balancing disciplines; gender equality; early-career representation. Conflicts of interest should be scrupulously avoided. Some examples of such are:

• Members who sit on the organization’s governing body, or on higher-level committees to which the PC reports.
• Members who sit on PCs for journals that are direct competitors of the journal(s) being overseen.
• Members who simultaneously hold high-level (decision-making) positions on the editorial boards of direct competitors of the journal(s) being overseen. If some members have a conflict of interest (COI) over certain issues, these COIs should be disclosed and discussed and, if appropriate, that member should be asked to leave the room for the discussion of the issue(s) over which they have a COI.

Terms of office

Membership should be refreshed regularly and terms should be of limited and clearly specified duration.

*Some organizations use the term “Publications Oversight Committee.”

2.5.2.1 Resources and Case Studies

The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Publication Oversight Committee. https://ishlt.org/governance/oversight-committees/publications. Accessed July 8, 2022). Hoey J, Todkill AM. Why a Journal Oversight Committee? CMAJ. 2003;168(3):287-288.

(Authorship: Howard Browman took the lead in authoring this section of the White Paper on behalf of the CSE Editorial Policy Committee. This section was approved by the CSE Board of Directors on February 21, 2017 and it was added to the White Paper on May 4, 2018.  Danny Lambert and Heather Goodell revised this section for the 2023 update. This section was formally approved by the CSE Board of Directors on May 19th, 2023.)