How do I remove editor access to submissions where an editor is a listed author?

When an editor is listed as an author on a submission to their own journal, it is imperative that they remove themselves from any part of the editorial process. This will ensure that any bias or influence (unintentional or otherwise) is avoided - see this article for more information on this conflict of interest.

If the user permission level is restricted to that of Section Editor/Associate Editor (i.e., they can only see articles that are directly assigned to them, rather than all of the articles in process), no action is needed.

If the user has full editor permissions, i.e. you are the Editor in Chief or an Editor, the below steps need to be taken to ensure that editors cannot observe the peer review process for their own submission as it happens.

Restricting the editor permissions for a specific submission can be done in two ways:

1 - if the submitting author is an editor

When submitting a new article, if the submitting user has Editor permissions they will be presented with the option to submit as a Journal Editor or as an Author.

If the user will be processing the submission themselves then Journal Editor should be selected so that they can access the editorial decision options. In most cases, however, the Author option should be selected so that the user will only see the author interface for the submission.

2 - if listed as a co-author but not the submitting author

If an editor is listed as a co-author, but is not the submitting user, then this must be declared as a competing interest during the submission. Someone from the editorial team should then assign the editor/co-author as an Author within the ‘Participants’ section of the submission interface - this will restrict their access so that they only see the Author interface for the specific submission.

The editor in question will need their account to have the Author role assigned to it to complete this action.

Step 1: Click ‘Assign’ in the Participants section of the submission interface

Step 2: Select ‘Author’ from the User dropdown list and click 'Search

Step 3: Select the editor/co-author in question (use the ‘search user by name’ function, if required) and click the OK button at the bottom of the form.

• Should you wish to also email the editor/co-author then this can be done via the Message section.

Step 4: The editor/co-author will now show in the participant list