Guidelines for Editors

Guidelines for Editors

Editor Responsibilities:

Manuscript Selection:

• Ensure qualified reviewers with no conflicts of interest (COI) assess submissions.
• Aim for at least three reviewers per manuscript and replace consistently unreliable reviewers.
• Utilize diverse sources, not just personal networks, to identify new reviewers.

Review Management:

• Respond promptly to assigned manuscripts, striving for an initial decision within 3 to 6 months.
• Review all assigned papers, with reassignment being exceptional.
• Provide written feedback to authors with every decision, even one based solely on reviewer comments.
• Justify any significant deviations from the established peer-review process.

Reviewer Guidance:

• Require reviewers to disclose potential COIs before accepting review requests and monitor their performance for high standards.
• Encourage reviewers to comment on ethical concerns, potential research misconduct, originality, and plagiarism.

Decision Making:

• Base acceptance/rejection recommendations on reviewer reports, the manuscript’s significance, originality, clarity, validity, and alignment with the journal’s scope.
• Immediately reject papers demonstrably below Sustainable Engineering and Technological Sciences standards.
• Avoid reversing acceptance decisions unless serious issues arise.
• New editors should follow suit with previous editors’ publication decisions unless serious problems are identified.
• Report any suspected misconduct or authorship disputes to the editor-in-chief or publisher.