The Role of Authors

Authors are responsible for the entire research process, from conception to publication, ensuring that the work is original, ethical, and accurately reported.

Integrity and Accountability

• Substantial Contribution: All individuals listed as authors must have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or creation of new software used in the work. They must also have drafted or critically revised the article for intellectual content, and approved the final version for publication.
• Accountability: All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work to ensure that any questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
• Originality and Submission Declaration: Authors must ensure their work is entirely original and has not been published previously (except as a preprint, abstract, or academic thesis). The submission is an implied declaration that the article is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
• Citations and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that all use of the work and/or words of others is appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism, which includes copying substantial parts of another's paper without attribution or claiming results from others' research, is considered unethical and unacceptable behavior. Authors should cite relevant, timely, and verified literature to support claims.
• Ethical Research: If the research involves human participants, the manuscript must confirm that informed consent was obtained and detail how this was addressed, in compliance with relevant guidelines. If the work involves animals, authors must adhere to ethical guidelines and the 3R principles (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement).

Transparency and Disclosure

• Competing Interests: Authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships that could potentially influence or bias their work, including interests within the last three years. This includes grants, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or affiliation with the journal as an Editor or Advisory Board Member.
• Funding Sources: Authors must disclose all funding sources that provided financial support for the research. If no funding was provided, this should also be stated.
• CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy): Authors are strongly encouraged to include an Author Contribution statement, specifying the contributions of every author using standardized roles like Conceptualization, Methodology, or Writing – original draft.
• Generative AI Use: Authors must disclose the use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation in a dedicated statement at the end of the manuscript. However, AI Tools cannot be listed as an author or co-author because authorship implies responsibilities that only humans can perform. Copywriting (generating new content) using generative AI is generally not permitted, but copy-editing (improving grammar and language) of the author’s existing work is permitted.

The Role of Reviewers

Reviewers perform the pivotal role of validating academic work and improving the quality of published research through independent expert assessment.

Objectivity and Ethical Conduct

• Independent Assessment: Peer review generally involves assessment by at least two external and independent reviewers. Reviewers are selected by the editor based on their suitable expertise in the relevant field.
• Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively, and personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers must express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
• Confidentiality: Reviewers must treat the manuscript as a confidential document. They must not share the review or information about the paper with anyone, nor use unpublished materials or privileged information obtained through the peer review process for personal advantage.
• Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers must declare any potential conflicts of interest to the editor before agreeing to review, such as collaborations within the last three years or shared institutional affiliations. If a conflict exists, they should discuss with the editor whether they need to recuse themselves.
• Citation Ethics: Reviewers must not suggest citations to their own work or that of their associates unless the suggested citations are for genuine scientific reasons, avoiding suggestions made with the intention of increasing citation counts.
• Generative AI Use in Review: Reviewers are prohibited from uploading submitted manuscripts or any part of them into a generative AI tool (LLM) for assessment or evaluation. This prohibition protects authors' confidentiality and proprietary rights. Reviewers may use generative AI tools only for copy-editing their review reports to improve language and readability, provided they declare such usage transparently to the editorial team.

Review Criteria

Reviewers are asked to assess the manuscript on multiple factors, including:

• Whether the paper is technically competent and the arguments, facts, and logic are sound.
• The paper's originality and significance to the research evaluation community or relevant field.
• The validity of the methodology and the quality of data presentation.
• Whether the claims and conclusions are reasonable and supported by the results.
• Whether there are any ethical issues in the paper that should be brought to the editor's attention.

The Role of Editors and Editorial Board

The editor holds the ultimate authority in the publishing process, guided by the ethical principles of COPE and the policies of the editorial board.

Decision-Making and Integrity

• Publication Decisions: The editor is solely and independently responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal should be published, based on the validation of the work and its importance to readers. They may be guided by the journal's editorial board policies and constrained by legal requirements regarding libel, copyright, and plagiarism.
• Peer Review Management: Editors ensure the peer review process is fair, unbiased, and timely, typically securing reports from a minimum of two independent reviewers. The editor selects reviewers with suitable expertise and reviews all disclosures of potential conflicts of interest made by reviewers.
• Final Authority: The editor oversees the peer review process of all submissions, including special issues, and is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles.
• Conflict of Interest Management: The editor must not be involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves, or which have been written by family members or colleagues, or which relate to products or services in which they have an interest. Any such submissions are handled independently by another editor. Editors and editorial board members are required to declare any competing interests.
• Ethical Vigilance: The editor works to safeguard the integrity of the published record by reviewing and assessing reported or suspected misconduct (research, publication, reviewer, and editorial). They utilize systems for plagiarism detection.
• Corrections and Retractions: When presented with convincing evidence of misconduct or errors, the editor coordinates with the publisher to arrange the prompt publication of a correction, retraction, or expression of concern to correct the scholarly record.
• Generative AI Use: Editors are prohibited from uploading submitted manuscripts or any part of them into a generative AI tool. Editors should not use AI tools to assist in the evaluation or decision-making process of a manuscript.

The Editorial Board typically supports the Editor-in-Chief:

• Final Approval: Submitted papers will be published after peer review and upon the approval of the editorial board.
• Guidance: The editor is guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board.
• Oversight for Special Issues: For special issues or article collections, a guest editor may recommend a decision to the journal editor, but the journal editor (and implicitly the Editorial Board oversight) oversees the process to ensure high standards are maintained and is responsible for the final decision.
• Journal Integrity: The board supports the editor in maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.