Editorial Independence

The journal is committed to full editorial independence. Editorial decisions are based exclusively on the scientific quality, originality, methodological validity, ethical acceptability, relevance, and alignment of a manuscript with the journal’s aims and scope.

The evaluation, peer review, selection, acceptance, rejection, scheduling, editing, correction, and retraction of individual articles must remain independent of inappropriate institutional, financial, commercial, political, personal, or other external influence.

Editorial Authority

The Editor-in-Chief has final responsibility and authority for the editorial content of the journal and for publication decisions.

The Editor-in-Chief, or an appropriately authorized independent editor acting under the journal’s policies, makes the final decision to accept, revise, or reject a manuscript after considering editorial assessment, peer-review reports, ethical requirements, and other relevant scientific evidence.

Reviewer recommendations are advisory and do not replace editorial judgment.

Editorial decisions must not be based on:

• the author’s institutional position, academic title, professional status, nationality, geographic location, or personal relationships;
• the commercial value or expected popularity of an article;
• the payment or waiver of publication charges;
• the interests of the journal’s owner, publisher, sponsors, funders, advertisers, partners, or service providers;
• the potential effect of an article on journal metrics or citation indicators;
• pressure to publish or suppress particular conclusions for institutional, financial, political, or reputational reasons.

ICMJE defines editorial freedom as the Editor-in-Chief having authority over the journal’s editorial content and the timing of publication and states that journal owners should not interfere in the evaluation, selection, scheduling, or editing of individual articles.

Relationship with the Owner and Publisher

The journal’s owner and publisher may establish the journal’s overall mission, provide organizational, financial, publishing, technical, legal, and administrative support, and participate in long-term strategic governance. These functions do not include control over editorial decisions on individual manuscripts.

The owner, publisher, administrative leadership, or technical publishing provider must not:

• instruct an editor to accept or reject a particular manuscript;
• select reviewers in order to influence the outcome of a manuscript;
• alter or suppress reviewer reports or editorial recommendations for non-scientific reasons;
• interfere with legitimate investigations of research or publication integrity;
• delay, accelerate, suppress, or prioritize an article for inappropriate institutional or commercial reasons;
• require publication of material that has not satisfied the journal’s scientific, ethical, and peer-review requirements.

ICMJE specifically recommends that medical journals clearly define their governance and relationship with their owners and states that editorial decisions should be based on the validity and importance of the work rather than commercial implications.

Financial and Commercial Independence

Financial considerations must remain separate from editorial judgment.

Submission fees, article processing charges, waivers, sponsorship, advertising, institutional support, donations, grants, commercial partnerships, or other sources of journal income must not influence whether a manuscript is sent for review, accepted, rejected, prioritized, corrected, or retracted.

Persons responsible for financial, commercial, administrative, or technical matters must not exercise inappropriate influence over scientific decisions.

Editorial staff must not be given incentives that encourage acceptance of manuscripts on the basis of publication volume, revenue generation, citation performance, or other non-scientific targets.

COPE similarly emphasizes that editorial decisions should be based on the quality and suitability of submissions rather than political, financial, or personal influence.

Editors’ Conflicts of Interest

Editors must disclose relevant financial, professional, institutional, academic, personal, or other interests that could affect, or reasonably appear to affect, their impartiality.

An editor must recuse themselves from handling a manuscript when a relevant conflict of interest exists. The manuscript must then be assigned to another suitably qualified and independent editor.

This applies particularly to manuscripts:

• authored by the handling editor;
• authored by close collaborators, supervisors, trainees, family members, or persons with other relevant relationships;
• originating from an institution, project, organization, or commercial entity with which the editor has a relationship capable of affecting impartiality;
• involving a direct intellectual, professional, or financial interest of the editor.

The journal’s Conflicts of Interest and Funding Policy provides additional requirements for managing competing interests.

Manuscripts by Editors and Editorial Board Members

Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, editors, Editorial Board members, or other persons involved in journal governance must receive no preferential treatment.

Such manuscripts must be handled independently by an editor who has no relevant involvement or conflict of interest. The author-editor must not participate in reviewer selection, have access to confidential reviewer identities beyond what is permitted by the journal’s review model, influence editorial assessment, or participate in the final decision on their own manuscript.

The same peer-review, scientific, ethical, and acceptance standards applied to other authors must apply to editorial personnel.

Sponsors, Funders and Advertisers

Sponsors, funders, advertisers, commercial partners, and supporting institutions must not control editorial decisions or influence the interpretation or publication of research.

Funding or sponsorship agreements must not give an external organization the right to:

• determine whether an individual manuscript will be accepted or rejected;
• suppress scientifically valid findings;
• prevent appropriate criticism or discussion;
• control independent peer review;
• interfere with correction, Expression of Concern, or retraction when such action is scientifically or ethically necessary.

Sponsored content, where applicable, must be clearly distinguishable from independently evaluated scholarly content.

Special Issues and Invited Content

Special issues, thematic collections, invited articles, and other specially commissioned content remain subject to the journal’s scientific and ethical standards.

Guest Editors or external collaborators must not have unrestricted authority over publication decisions. Appropriate editorial oversight must remain with the journal, and relevant conflicts of interest must be declared and managed.

Where a Guest Editor or other person has a conflict concerning a manuscript, independent editorial handling must be arranged.

Protection from External Pressure

Editors must be able to make responsible scientific decisions without retaliation or threats related to individual editorial decisions.

Disagreement between the journal’s owner, publisher, institution, sponsor, or another external party and an editorial decision must not result in reversal of that decision unless legitimate scientific, ethical, procedural, or factual grounds for reconsideration exist.

Changes in journal leadership or editorial appointments must not be used as a mechanism to influence the outcome of individual manuscripts or suppress legitimate scientific conclusions.

Accountability

Editorial independence does not mean absence of accountability. Editors remain responsible for applying the journal’s policies consistently, managing conflicts of interest, ensuring appropriate peer review, responding to ethical concerns, and correcting the scientific record where necessary.

Concerns about improper interference with editorial decisions may be raised through the journal’s Complaints and Appeals Policy and will be reviewed independently where a conflict of interest exists.