Journal editors as authors: potential conflicts
Summary
- Sometimes, editors may find it necessary to submit a paper to their own journal that needs to be reviewed (i.e. not an editorial). Steps must be taken to avoid conflicts of interest.
- Editors cannot edit a paper on which they are an author, and an alternative editor must be assigned to handle the submission.
- The handling editor must also make sure that the submitting editor is locked out of seeing the peer review details, in particular who the reviewers are, and the confidential contents of the reviews. For information about how to do that, please see [knowledge base article].
- If accepted, a publisher’s note must be added to the publication transparently explaining that one of the authors is an editor in the journal, and outlining the steps taken to avoid a conflict.
When is submitting to your own journal an issue?
It is very important for editors to avoid conflicts of interest (COIs) and other potentially unethical practices, as far as possible.
Ethical issues (and logistical ones) can be caused by editors submitting a non-editorial paper to their own journal that needs to undergo peer review.
Please note that by ‘editor’, we mean people with roles e.g. Editor-in-Chief, Section Editor. I.e. anyone who may have the permission levels on OJS3 to see, and control, more of the review process than an ordinary author would. This does not usually encompass editorial board members, unless they happen to have these permissions. If editorial board members are completely removed from the editorial process and are otherwise un-conflicted, then we actively encourage them to submit to the journal to indicate their support and trust.
Pros and Cons
Firstly, the editor should check if it is really necessary for them to submit to their own journal, and try to find another journal that would be suitable for their work.
Ideally, they will find an alternative. A recent survey found that most journal editors - 79% - thought it was acceptable for an editor to submit to their own journal, as long as the integrity of the peer review was maintained. But the logistics of maintaining that integrity can be challenging, and many academics still feel that submitting to your own journal is an indication of a lack of quality, or an attempt to avoid a truly rigorous review process.
However, we acknowledge that sometimes editors will need to submit to their own journals. This may happen if they work in a small, specialised field catered to by few journals, or if the editor, as a major figure in the field, could greatly benefit the journal’s own impact by submitting to it.
If an editor does submit to their own journal, steps must be taken to preserve the integrity of peer review in these cases.
Steps to take
It is vital that editors step back from the editorial process if it is their own work under review.
Firstly, this means that the editor cannot administer the peer review or decision making for their own submission. This is ethically correct - but this good practice also protects the editor from potential retraction or other punishment.
As long as the journal has more than one editor, assigning another editor should be straightforward. If the journal only has one editor, then they will need to seek a guest editor to handle their own submission.
But beyond this, steps must be taken so that the submitting editor is locked out of seeing the peer review details, in particular who the reviewers are, and the confidential contents of the reviews.
If the paper is accepted, you must ensure that a publisher’s note is included in the final publication, stating transparently the role the editor had as an author in this paper, and detailing the process used to maintain the integrity of the peer review. This level of transparency is ethical, but it is also wise - if you hide
If your journal is a full service journal, please speak to your EAM about the logistics, and about any concerns you have about the integrity of the peer review.
https://retractionwatch.com/2022/05/02/elsevier-retracts-papers-when-it-realizes-one-of-the-authors-hid-fact-he-was-guest-editor-of-issue/ it is both ethically and personally wise to do this
How
A predetermined procedure for editors' own submissions should be available in the journal's information to readers and potential authors, and should be applied to each such case. (from that article, and echoes the COPE wording on it too).
NB don’t forget to also detail how it could be done off system if necessary.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/leap.1449
NCBI - WWW Error Blocked Diagnostic
A short guide to ethical editing for new editors While you should not be denied the ability to publish in your own journal, you must take extra precautions not to exploit your position or to create an impression of impropriety. Your journal must have a procedure for handling submissions from editors or members of the editorial board that will ensure that the peer review is handled independently of the author/editor. We also recommend that you describe the process in a commentary or similar note once the paper is published.
https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/publication-ethics/
- Also, editors should submit their own manuscripts to the journal only if full masking of the process can be ensured (e.g., anonymity of the peer reviewers and lack of access to records of their own manuscript).
ICMJE | Recommendations Editors who make final decisions about manuscripts should recuse themselves from editorial decisions if they have relationships or activities that pose potential conflicts related to articles under consideration.
1. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.62529
2. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1449