Editor Guidelines

The role of an editor

Your role as editor is to maintain and develop wherever possible the journal’s profile and reputation. You have final responsibility for the journal’s content. You should ensure that the journal’s aims, scope and content respond to any changes of direction in the field of study to incorporate newly-emerging work. You will work closely with the journal’s publishing staff to ensure that it is strategically developed in line with market evolution. Both you and the publishing staff will make recommendations in this regard, based on your complementary expertise and sources of information.

The main roles we offer are:

Editor-in-Chief: Is the head of the journal and ultimately responsible for its content and editorial processes. Supported by a wider team, the Editor-in-Chief assesses incoming submissions, makes decisions and manages the peer review process as well as promoting the journal and representing it at conferences and other events. Together with the publishing team at ifspress, the Editor-in-Chief determines and implements the strategic direction of the journal, defining its scope, recommending new team members and soliciting content to ensure the journal grows and develops. Previous experience in another editorial role is highly recommended and may be required before taking on the responsibilities of an Editor-in-Chief.

Associate editor Depending on the size of a journal, the Editor-in-Chief might be assisted in their editorial duties by one or more additional editors. Whether they screen incoming submissions, oversee the peer review process for certain manuscripts, make decisions, or do all the above (and more) depends on the specifics of the journal in question and the structure of its editorial team. Establishing experience as an Editorial Board member or as a keen reviewer before embarking on one of these positions will help you get up to speed quickly.

Guest editor Usually a temporary role responsible for inviting content and/or coordinating on a specific topic of great interest to the journal. Guest editors are mostly involved with special issues which bring together a number of contributors all writing on the same theme. Guest editorships are ideal positions to explore and learn what it’s like to be an editor and may lead to a more permanent role on the journal’s editorial team.

Editor Editors support the Editor-in-Chief and other editors by reviewing manscripts, promoting the journal, advising on journal strategy and development, and generally supporting the journal wherever possible. Editorial Board member positions are a great starting point for gaining reviewing and publishing experience, and testing out your interest in editorial work.

Whatever your role, you’ll get lots back – a sneak preview into what’s new and exciting in your area, the opportunity to shape the direction of research, the chance to meet new people and expand your professional network, and much more.

Responsibilities of an editor

In your role you should:

• Ensure a supply of high-quality manuscripts to ifspress in quantities that are able to maintain the publishing schedule of the journal. If insufficient manuscripts are being submitted, then you should discuss how to address this with your publishing contact.

• Ensure that the subject matter of the manuscripts reflects any changes of direction in the field of study to incorporate newly-emerging work (this may necessitate inviting articles or special issues).

• Conduct your activities in accordance with generally accepted industry standards for integrity and objectivity and with the policies of the journal and the publisher. We further recommend that you consult the COPE short guide to ethical editing

• Continually engage the Editorial Board on the progress of the journal and update and include them on ideas for editorial development. The Editorial Board should be involved formally through an annual Editorial Board meeting or informally in ad hoc meetings and discussions.

• Carefully review communications we send you regarding industry & company developments, and information and advice, all relevant to your role.

• Highlight commercial advertising, supplement, and reprint opportunities, if these form important sources of income for your journal.

• Promote the journal to peers and colleagues.

Additional editors

In general, a journal will have multiple editors if it is:

• Very large, and the number of submissions is too great for one editor to handle, and/or

• The scope of the journal is so broad that it is not possible for one editor to make informed decisions about submissions in all subject areas

If you are working with additional editors, then papers may be divided between you on the basis of:

• Geographical origin

• Specialization

• Type of contribution, such as original articles or reviews

• Equal division of labor

Multiple editors may have different roles, depending on the journal.

What you need to bring

The level of expertise required to join one of our journal’s editorial teams greatly varies by role, but for all our editorial roles you will need to demonstrate sufficient subject matter expertise to be able to confidently and expertly judge other researchers’ work

Our Editors-in-Chief are established researchers with a broad interest in their field and are well connected and respected in their subject community. Previous editorial experience is helpful to get up to speed quickly. Associate Editors, or Editors need sufficient subject expertise in the relevant research field and ideally a record of reviewing manuscripts. The requirements to join Editorial Boards differs from journal to journal depending on their precise role in the journal.

Working with reviewers

Reviewers are often in short supply. To best support your reviewers, and help them to deliver the best reviews possible, there are some simple things you can do. While many of these suggestions are best implemented by the editor in chief, others can be applied by individual editors on a case-by-case basis.

Send good quality and relevant manuscripts for review

Reviewers are under considerable time pressure. It is best not to take up their time with manuscripts to review that are clearly not suitable for the journal and could be rejected without review, or articles on topics which are outside the reviewer's area of expertise

Keep reviewers informed

• Reviewers generally like to know the final editorial decision of the paper, and to see other reviewers’ comments. You can enable this functionality in the submission system — to adjust it for your journal, speak to your journal manager

• Reviewers often value feedback on their review. There are different ways to approach this, so discuss the options with your publisher

• If your editorial decision disagrees with a reviewer's advice, take the time to explain your reasoning. Reviewers may feel frustrated if they believe their advice has been disregarded, but will appreciate the nuances of a decision made based on differing opinions

Give reviewers recognition

• Reviewers are grateful for efforts, however small, to show appreciation of their work. Take the time to thank reviewers, and to seek them out at conferences or as potential authors

• You can recognize reviewers with certificates and annual listings in the journal

Top tips for working with reviewers

1. Select reviewers who are doing research in a related area — they are more likely to find the paper relevant and interesting, and therefore respond promptly. They will also be able to spot missing references and other shortcomings. Ask yourself: who would likely want to read this paper?

2. Make use of editorial board members for reviewing, and consider rotating off board members who do not review regularly

3. Think twice before using reviewers who have not been active in research in the last five years, as their expertise may be outdated or they may be retired

4. Avoid clear conflicts of interest, such as reviewers who have recently published with one of the authors, who share an institutional affiliation, or who have been excluded as reviewers by the authors

5. Check the journal’s recent authors — the best reviewers are often early career researchers who have recently published in the journal. It is best to avoid, where possible, authors who currently have a manuscript under consideration at the journal, or who have very recently had work rejected

6. Approach mid-career researchers for referrals to suitable reviewers

7. Only invite the reviewers you need — inviting more reviewers than are needed can cause reviewers to feel unappreciated, and conflicting reviews can come in after you have made your decision

Provide clear guidance

• Reviewers benefit from having information and guidance from the start of the review process, including timely and useful reminders

• Assist us to develop a set of clear reviewer guidelines

• Ensure that your journal includes deadlines in its reviewer invitation letter(s)

• Check that your journal has set up automatic reminders for reviewers and customize reviewer letters to include relevant information (your journal manager can assist with this)

• Provide personalised guidance in unusual situations, such as when asking a reviewer to comment on a manuscript that is not obviously in their area of expertise, or when a manuscript has previously been reviewed at the journal

The Editorial Board

The Editorial Board, or (Editorial) Advisory Board, is a team of experts in the journal's field. Editorial Board members:

• Review submitted manuscripts

• Advise on journal policy and scope

• Identify topics for special issues, which they may guest edit

• Attract new authors and submissions

• Promote the journal to their colleagues and peers

• Assist the editor(s) in decision making over issues such as plagiarism claims and submissions where reviewers can’t agree on a decision

A journal’s Editorial Board can affect its quality, so editors should consider the following:

• The location of Board members should represent the reach of the journal

• Board members' expertise should represent the journal's scope

• Representatives should be appointed from key research institutes

• Former guest editors of special issues, authors of key reviews and top reviewers may be suitable

• Existing Board members may have suggestions for new members

If you’re interested in joining a journal’s Editorial Board, locate the journal and contact the editor via the Editorial Board listings page. Please note, however, that Board members are normally invited directly by editors based on the above criteria; it is unusual for requests to join a Board to be accepted.