Guidelines for editors


EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The Editor-in-Chief takes prime responsibility in maintaining or updating the scientific quality of the journal. However, most of the editorial processes are handled by our PPH team. Hence, the Editor-in-Chief does not need to be actively involved or spent more time in the editorial process. The Editor-in-Chief may serve for a three years term and may be reappointed. The Editor-in- Chief responsibilities are given below;

  •  Editor-in-Chief has to inviting well qualified researchers to join the editorial board
  •  May need to advice on or improve the journal policy and scope
  •  Suggesting titles for special issues or inviting guest editors for the special issues
  •  Final decision on the manuscripts submitted to our journal
  •  Editor-in-Chief may submit his/her own work publication (In this case, Associate Editors may handle the manuscript)

  • Editorial Board Structure:

    The Editorial Board of the Journals published by Prominent Publication (PPH) comprises of Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor and Editorial Board members. Editor-in-Chief remains the chairperson of the board. Managing Editor will be responsible for managing entire review process of the manuscripts. (Receipt of Assignment from Admin to Submission of Reviewer's & Editorial Decision)

    The formation of the Editorial Board is done through incorporating global expertise with excellent academic track record and expertise in the respective journal subject. There is no restriction in the number of the Editorial Board members. Editorial board members must qualify the following major facts:

  •  Should possess a Ph.D. degree in the relevant subject.
  •  Must have good publication record.
  •  Should hold some academic position in Universities, Research/ Academic Institutes or other such organizations or must be a renowned independent researcher.

  • Duties of the Editorial Board Members:
  •  All Editorial board members must obey the direction provided by the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.
  •  Once the plagiarism check is completed every article will be assigned with an Editor and if the article is in the area of Editor's research interested, it is expected that assigned Editor will take up the assignment at an earliest possible time. If he or she wants to deny the assignment due to some personal reason, that should also be informed to the Administrative Office at an earliest possible convenience.
  •  Assigned Editor should not have any conflict of interest with any assignment, if so then he or she should decline the assignment stating the proper reason to the Editorial Office.
  •  It is mandatory that every Editor treat each reviewer/ author with proper dignity, courtesy, fair behavior irrespective of considering the matter and status of the article.
  •   Honesty and transparency is must to become an Editorial Board member, where an Editor should judge every submission equally and transparently.
  •   Managing Editor can take the final decision for any publication oriented issue in consultation with Editor-in-Chief.
  •  If required Editor may provide the necessary guidelines and dictate the process of submission to the author.
  •  Editor should not reveal any information regarding the author, reviewer or the article information to anyone, complete confidentiality is to be maintained mandatorily.
  •  Editor should be responsible for a fast and transparent peer review process, if required Editor may take support from the Administrative Office.
  •  Providing the final judgment on the articles assigned within the allotted time with proper reason and clarification should be done by the Editor.
  •  Editor should remember the policy of fast and effective peer review and further process, therefore, should communicate with the reviewers or authors depending on the stage of article processing in case of any delay.
  •  Editor should be responsible for any query regarding reconsideration of editorial decisions and should provide the decision quickly and clearly with proper reasons. Editor is responsible for establishing such protocol.
  •  Once the assigned Editor is notified by the Administrative office regarding any information at any stage of the publication process for an assigned manuscript, the   Editor should respond as early as possible.
  •  For any manuscript assigned Editor is responsible for selecting potential reviewers considering their expertise in particular subject areas and keeps monitoring the review process.
  •  It is Editor’s responsibility to inform the selected reviewers that reviewers are not entitled to use the any part of the work in any form provided in the article they are reviewing. Reviewers should be also informed about the complete confidentiality of the assignments they are undertaking.
  •  Editors will be responsible to convey the expectations of the journal to the reviewers with the review scope, quality and timeliness for an effective, efficient and transparent review for the assigned submission.
  •  Every Editor should keep in mind the time required for reviewing articles before sending any reminder to the reviewer so that assigned reviewer should get appropriate time he or she requires.
  •  If any special issue proposal is submitted to the journal, the assigned Editorial Board member should review the proposal for suitability with the scope of the journal, timeliness and assessing the scope and the importance of the topic.
  •  Editorial Board members may recommend for the timely topics and suggest potential guest Editors considering the scope, importance and timeliness of the topic.
  •   Guest Editor can handle a special issue independently while maintaining a regular communication and approval with the Administrative office of PPH.
  •   Once a special issue is finalized,
    • - Review of proposals for special issue for relevance to current research in the concerned field.
    • - Recommend suitable proposals and their guest editors along with their biographies to administrative office of PPH.
    • - Once a proposal has been accepted by the EB members and approved by administrative office of PPH for creating a special issue, the corresponding guest editors will be responsible for handling and processing of the special issue articles.
  •   Editors may attend the Editorial Board meetings occasionally scheduled by the administrative Office (Offline/ Online Mode) for taking part in the discussion for the improvement of the Journals.
  •   Being an integral part of the Journal, Editors are responsible to coordinate and manage the critical decisions along with the cooperation of Administrative Office, such as retraction issues or similar matters.
  •   Being the path director of the journal, Editors are expected to inform the Journal Office regarding the potential timely topics and author pool through their constant communication.
  •   Editors should ensure the smooth functioning of the whole process in coordination with publishing .
  •   Editors should provide time to time input regarding the targeted readers and their preferences, in other words, creative input from Editors will help in understanding the readers and their choices within the scope of the subject.
  •   Editors should comply with the guidelines and protocols provided by the publishing .

  • REVIEWER SELECTION
  •   Ensure appropriate reviewer is selected for the particular manuscript (highly qualified in specify field and dynamic reviewer).
  •   Editors are responsible of choosing two reviewers (in particular case editors can choose more than two) and ensure that all of them are not recommended by the authors of the manuscript.
  •   Editors should break off with reviewers who consistently produce poor quality of reviewing the paper, late review of the manuscript, rude and disrespectful.
  •   Editors are encouraged to search of reviewers in wide range in different sources to spot out the potential new reviewer not to stop with the personal contacts author suggestions, bibliographic databases.

  • REVIEW PROCESS
  •   Editors should ensure that initial response to the paper should be given on time within the time limit of (max of 3 weeks). In some special cases, the Editors may extend the review time.
  •   Editors should able to manage all papers assigned to them, irrespective of the fields and subject area.
  •   Section editors should assign the papers appropriately, to balance the discrete loads in the editorial board.
  •   The Section Editors should send reviewers comments directly to authors and also receive the comments from authors and then directed towards the editor for decision.
  •   Editors should intimate all the information to the authors in written feedback.
  •  Editors should be always justifying the reason for the important decision that has been deviated from actual peer review process.
  •   An editor has authority to monitor the peer review process of the reviewers to ensure the quality and to maintain ethics of publications.
  •   Editors can encourage reviewers to comment on the ethical questions of the manuscript and to be alert on the plagiarism.
  •   Editors should enquire reviewers to disclose any potential conflict of interest before agreeing to review a manuscript.

  • DECISION MAKING
  •   Editor’s decision on acceptance or rejection of a paper should be based on the reviewer’s comments and their own view of the paper (quality, importance and originality).
  •   Editors founds out that the paper have quality towards the publication, and there is conflict of two different decision from the reviewers,
  •   Editors can choose one or more reviewers for particular paper.
  •   Editors can make final decision towards the acceptance or rejection of the paper.
  •   Editors can immediately reject the manuscript, if it does not hold any standard toward the particular journal.
  •   Editors should not fluctuate with decision that they have made towards the submission of the manuscript, unless they identify valid serious problem. The decision should be justified to Editor –in-chief.
  •   Editor’s decision will be final in case of the misconduct and conflict raised from the authors.
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