Information For Editors
Editors play a significant role in maintaining the quality of journals through proper management of the review process. They are important during the entire publication process: since the paper has been submitted until accepted and published. The editor has responsibilities toward authors, reviewers, JSGR itself, and the general scientific community and public. JSGR supports the 'Editor Roles and Responsibilities' suggested by the Council of Science Editors1. Therefore all editors should be familiar with these recommendations, and also with recommendations of COPE2, and act in line with that. In particular, editors should provide full information to authors and reviewers when needed regarding JSGR policies and regulations, should work on the revision of policies and regulations when needed and make them accessible to all, and should take special care that all JSGR ethical principles are respected.
Editors are responsible for JSGR quality publications, and therefore after manuscript revision, they should search for at least two reviewers per each manuscript depending on the field of study and find an expert in a particular topic. If there is a strong conflict/disagreement between the two referees' reports it is the responsibility of the editor to finally decide or to search for additional reviewer(s). To guaranty objectivity and transparency, the selection of referees should be carried out with special care. Authors and close collaborators cannot be allowed to carry out the manuscript peer-reviewing process. The editors will document potential reviewers in their database who can participate in the reviewing process. Editors are also responsible for publications efficiency and transparency, and therefore should respect and control all timescales suggested in this document. To come up with suggested times, editors should inform authors that they have three months in total to re-submit their corrected manuscript and should send a reminder note to authors three weeks before the deadline. On the other side, editors must inform reviewers that the first peer-reviewing process must not take more than one month, send a reminder note one week before the deadline, and suggest more efficient peer reviews for each re-submission. Editors must take special care that all authors and reviewers are receiving the correct treatment, that there is no application of any unethical and scientifically unprofessional behaviors during all the process of manuscript revision, that there are no conflicts of interests, and that authorship is respected.
