Editorial Responsibilities

This comprehensive guide outlines the responsibilities of Editors-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Section Editors, and editorial staff. It ensures alignment with COPE, WAME, DOAJ, and ICMJE standards.

Editors are the custodians of academic quality. Their decisions shape the journal’s credibility and influence global mental health scholarship.

1. Upholding Editorial Integrity

Editors must ensure:

  • Editorial independence from commercial or political influence
  • Transparent decision-making processes
  • Adherence to journal policies
  • Protection of research integrity

Editorial decisions must always be based solely on scientific merit and relevance.

2. Ensuring Fair Manuscript Evaluation

Editors must ensure that each manuscript is evaluated without bias. They must:

  • Assess scope alignment and scientific relevance
  • Avoid discrimination based on nationality, gender, or ideology
  • Guard against personal or institutional conflicts
  • Ensure equal treatment of all authors

Unfair editorial practices undermine scientific trust and violate ethical norms.

3. Initial Screening Responsibilities

The initial editorial check includes evaluating:

  • Clarity of research questions
  • Study design appropriateness
  • Ethics approval documentation
  • Plagiarism screening results
  • Compliance with journal submission requirements

Editors may desk-reject manuscripts that clearly fall outside the journal’s standards.

4. Overseeing the Peer Review Process

Editors are responsible for:

  • Selecting qualified, unbiased reviewers
  • Ensuring double-blind review integrity
  • Communicating expectations clearly to reviewers
  • Managing deadlines and follow-ups
  • Evaluating reviewer comments for professionalism and relevance

Reviewers should be guided to provide constructive, evidence-based critiques.

5. Decision-Making Authority

Editors must make decisions based on:

  • Scientific rigor
  • Methodological validity
  • Clarity and originality
  • Reviewer recommendations

Possible editorial decisions include:

  • Accept
  • Minor Revision
  • Major Revision
  • Reject with resubmission options
  • Reject

Every decision must be accompanied by a clear rationale.

6. Managing Revisions

Editors should:

  • Ensure authors address reviewer comments thoroughly
  • Assess the adequacy of revised data and explanations
  • Engage reviewers again for complex re-evaluations
  • Prevent unnecessary or unreasonable revision cycles

Constructive dialogue between authors and reviewers is encouraged.

7. Confidentiality and Data Protection

Editors must:

  • Maintain confidentiality of submitted manuscripts
  • Secure all peer-review materials
  • Avoid sharing unpublished data or findings
  • Ensure compliance with privacy and data protection laws

Misuse of manuscripts or reviewer identities is strictly prohibited.

8. Handling Conflicts of Interest

Editors must recuse themselves when conflicts arise, such as:

  • Personal or professional relationships with authors
  • Financial or institutional interests
  • Potential for ideological bias

Alternate editors should be assigned in such cases to maintain fairness.

9. Ethical Oversight and Misconduct Management

Editors must handle suspected misconduct following COPE guidelines. Issues include:

  • Plagiarism
  • Data fabrication or falsification
  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest
  • Improper authorship practices
  • Image manipulation

Actions may involve:

  • Requesting clarification from authors
  • Notifying institutional officials
  • Issuing corrections or retractions
  • Imposing submission bans
Editors must remain neutral investigators—not adversaries—during misconduct evaluations.

10. Communication with Authors

Editors should communicate:

  • Respectfully and professionally
  • With transparency regarding decisions
  • With clear revision guidance
  • Without ambiguous or unhelpful wording

Effective communication enhances the author experience and journal reputation.

11. Supporting Reviewers

Editors must:

  • Provide reviewers with clear expectations
  • Discourage personal criticism in reviews
  • Recognize reviewer contributions
  • Ensure reviewers adhere to ethical guidelines

Quality reviewers are crucial to maintaining the journal’s scholarly rigor.

12. Ensuring Publication Quality

Editors contribute to journal quality by:

  • Encouraging submission of high-impact studies
  • Identifying trending research themes
  • Ensuring linguistic clarity and logical structure in manuscripts
  • Supporting early-career researchers through clear guidance

13. Post-Publication Responsibilities

Editors remain involved after publication to:

  • Review correction requests
  • Investigate reader concerns
  • Coordinate retractions when necessary
  • Support long-term discoverability of articles

Editors also review citation patterns, article metrics, and journal impact indicators.

14. Examples of Ethical Editorial Conduct

Ethical Scenario

An editor receives a manuscript from a colleague at their institution. Recognizing a conflict of interest, the editor immediately assigns the paper to another Associate Editor to maintain neutrality.

Unethical Scenario

An editor pressures reviewers to reject a paper due to personal disagreement with its conclusions rather than scientific shortcomings.

15. Responsibilities of Senior Editorial Leadership

Editors-in-Chief and senior editors must:

  • Uphold the journal’s mission and standards
  • Provide mentorship to new editorial members
  • Lead discussions on journal policies and improvements
  • Ensure fairness in workload distribution
  • Contribute to strategic growth and indexing goals

16. Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Editors should:

  • Promote diversity in reviewer selections
  • Avoid geographic or institutional bias
  • Support research from underrepresented communities
  • Maintain sensitivity to cultural contexts

Inclusive editorial practices strengthen global mental health discourse.

17. Continuous Editorial Development

Editors are encouraged to:

  • Engage in COPE and WAME workshops
  • Stay updated on peer-review innovations
  • Study ethical case reports and guidelines
  • Enhance skills in scientific evaluation

Ongoing development ensures the editorial board remains aligned with evolving publishing standards.

Conclusion

Editorial responsibilities at APMH extend beyond decision-making—they embody stewardship of scientific integrity, fairness, transparency, and ethical conduct. By adhering to these standards, editors ensure that every published article contributes meaningfully to global psychiatric research and upholds the trust placed in academic journals.