Editor Roles & Responsibilities

The Editor-in-Chief and the Section Editors are the official representatives and spokespersons for the journal; they develop and promote the journal’s policies and procedures, and ensure the good governance, structure, and the proper conduct of business. The Editors are responsible, where appropriate, for reviewing submitted manuscripts, performing editorial and expedited review, and publishing. All editors are ambassadors for the journal and, as such, engage in supporting and promoting the journal in local and international venues, and in soliciting and actively encouraging submissions. Editors must protect the confidentiality of authors, not publicly discuss submissions that are in the pre-publication process and not appropriate author ideas or work. In order to ensure that Editors have basic knowledge in terms of publishing ethics principles and guidelines, they are required to follow COPE’s eLearning course for Editors.

Editor-in-Chief
The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the good governance and day-to-day functioning of the journal: presiding the Executive Committee, overseeing all editorial activities, and ensuring the timely publication of issues and manuscripts. The Editor-in-Chief reviews all manuscripts for accuracy as well as potential libel or slander and provides suggestions about any changes needed prior to publication. Journal layout and design changes are approved by the Editor-in-Chief and the Scientific Director. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for: drawing up budget proposals, generating ideas for new procedures or practice (e.g., workflow, website), implementing ways to increase readership, and resolving disagreements between editors regarding submissions and/or their evaluations. Furthermore, they are responsible for developing and updating the journal’s policies and procedures, ensuring overall journal quality, nominating editors, and developing relationships with external stakeholders. The Editor-in-Chief approves all manuscripts for final publication.

The Editor-in-Chief is the journal’s primary representative (along with the Scientific Director) for social and public events and presentations. The position is voluntary, non-remunerated, and non-term limited.

Resignation by the Editor-in-Chief necessitates six (6) months’ notice to the Editorial Advisory Board, who will then form a search committee composed of the Scientific Director, two (2) Section Editors, and one (1) Editor. The search committee will solicit proposals for possible replacements from the Editorial Board and the Editorial Advisory Board, evaluate all proposals, and make a recommendation. Feedback will be solicited from the Editorial Board regarding the chosen candidate, and a decision made whether to name the candidate as Editor-in-Chief or to relaunch the selection process.

Scientific Director
The Scientific Director manages the day-to-day activities of the journal, working with the Section Editors to coordinate their activities and ensure a timely management of all submissions. The Scientific Director trains new Editors and, when necessary, may act as Section Editor or Editor. The Scientific Director is responsible for organizing meetings of the Editorial Board, developing and updating the journal’s policies and procedures, ensuring overall quality control of publications, mentoring the editors, and developing relationships with external stakeholders, in support of the Editor-in-Chief. The Scientific Director is nominated by and accountable to the Editor-in-Chief. The position may be remunerated. Selection and replacement of the Scientific Director is done by the Editor-in-Chief.

Section Editors
The Section Editors manage and coordinate the main sections of the journal, i.e., articles, commentaries, case studies, reviews, perspectives, editorials/letters to the editor, conference proceedings, and creative works. They ensure that the different sections run smoothly and efficiently. When necessary, Section Editors may act as Editors and evaluate submitted works. Section Editors are nominated by, and are accountable to, the Executive Committee. Nominations will be solicited first from members of the Editorial Board, before seeking external candidates.

Editors
In collaboration with the Section Editors, Editors are responsible for critically reviewing the manuscripts submitted to the journal, and in the context of refereed publications (i.e., articles and critical commentaries), they are asked to ensure the high quality and diligence of the peer-review process. Editors are recruited by the Editor-in-Chief and the Scientific Director; they are expected to have knowledge of bioethics as a field of research and practice, experience in publication, and may also be recruited based on expertise in particular areas of bioethics. The Editors are accountable to the Section Editor of the manuscript to which they are assigned, and to the Editor-in-Chief and the Scientific Director.