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The role of an Editor-in-Chief is varied, but their core purpose is to be a champion for their discipline and a custodian of the scientific record in order to ensure the success of the journal for their community.

Overview of the editor-in-chief role

An editor-in-chief ensures that:

1. Their journal meets the needs of their research community.
2. Their journal provides a route for scientific discussion and debate as well as the dissemination of sound primary research.
3. All of the content in the journal is scientifically valid and fits the aims and scope of their journal.
4. The peer review system is managed and overseen efficiently and with integrity.
5. Their journal adheres overall to the high standards expected from a journal published by Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø.

One way in which Editors-in-Chief do this is to assess manuscripts for their suitability for peer review, select suitable peer reviewers and make editorial decisions based on peer review reports. Sometimes this is done single-handedly, other times with a team of handling editors or Editorial Board Members.

However, there is much, much more. The Editor-in-Chief role requires a unique set of skills and expertise in its own right, and a day in the life of an Editor-in-Chief might include activities as varied as:

• selecting Editorial Board Members for their journal,
• keeping their Editorial Board engaged with their journal,
• deciding whether to publish a manuscript in the face of conflicting peer review reports,
• making decisions about manuscripts on controversial topics,
• investigating cases of suspected research misconduct.

A Guest Editor is responsible for overseeing a collection, including managing the review process, promoting the collection to researchers, soliciting content, and upholding editorial standards. Collections are a valuable way for journals to highlight exciting or emerging areas of research by grouping related articles. More information on collections can be found in this Publish to a Collection article.

Overview of the Guest Editor role

The activities carried out by a Guest Editor may include: 

• Defining the scope and topics of interest for the collection. 
• Inviting potential authors with expertise in the collection topic to submit their paper. 
• Assessing scientific validity and topic relevance of all papers published in the collection. 
• Managing the peer review process for the collection efficiently and with integrity. 
• Ensuring that the collection adheres to the relevant standards of both the field and the journal in which it is published. 
• Making recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief on which papers to accept or reject. 
• Writing an Editorial to introduce the collection. 
• Promoting the collection by reaching out to relevant academic communities 

Ethical responsibilities

Guest Editors help promote and support ethical practices in publishing by adhering to the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø Code of Conduct for Editors and . This includes: 

• Ensuring that peer review and decision-making process is rigorous and unbiased, for instance by choosing peer reviewers with appropriate subject matter expertise and monitoring for potential conflicts of interest. 
• Disclosing any potential conflicts of interest to the relevant Publishing contact. We define conflicts of interest for an Editor as having any interests that may influence or may be perceived to influence, their decisions as Editor. More information can be found here. 
• Respecting and upholding the confidential status of materials submitted to the Journal and ensuring that material remains confidential while under review. 
• Confirming that manuscripts accepted for publication comply with the Journal’s editorial policies and specific research requirements and ethics standards for the relevant field.  
• Cooperating with the Publisher if complaints, appeals, and post-publication issues relating to the collection arise. 

Advantages to being a Guest Editor 

Collections offer many benefits for Guest Editors, for instance: 

• Increasing their visibility as a Subject Matter Expert in their field and more generally through targeted promotion of the collection and wide readership. They will be named on the Collections page on the journal homepage and the Call for Papers.  
• Growing their research network by collaborating with distinguished authors, reviewers, and scholars worldwide.  
• Gaining experience in handling manuscripts and collaborating with a journal, which establishes a relationship of trust with the journal Editors.  
• Having the opportunity to write an Editorial for the journal they partner with as a Guest Editor. 
• Collections may be tied to one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, thereby enhancing visibility of the Guest Editor’s work and contributing to global societal benefit.
• Collections have high visibility and may contribute to higher readership of the topic at hand.

How to become a Guest Editor 

Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø invites researchers to contribute as Guest Editors for our collections. A potential Guest Editor will be identified as an expert in their field of research and invited directly by one of our editors.  

• After agreeing to edit a collection, Guest Editors will be asked to familiarize themselves with the Journal’s editorial and publishing policies and may be asked to help define the scope and topics of interest for the collection. 
• Guest Editors will be onboarded and receive support throughout the collection lifecycle in the form of: 
  • Direct contact with a member of our in-house team 
  • Resources that provide guidance on both the day-to-day aspects of your role and the support available.  

In some cases, unsolicited collection proposals may also be submitted to the Journal directly. All proposals will be reviewed by the Journal Editorial team. Please refer to the Journal’s policies and procedures before submitting a collection proposal.  

Additional resources

If you need to refer to Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø policies regarding best practices, code of conduct, and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion):  

• Publishing policies 
• Editorial policies 
• Journal Editors Code of Conduct 
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Research Publishing

The Editorial Board will naturally be invested in the success of the journal and serve as the champions in the community. A key aspect of the role of an Editor or Editorial Board Member is therefore to work with the Publisher to manage journal development by encouraging submissions and increasing the visibility of the journal in the relevant field.

Development strategy

The aims of a journal development strategy might include:

• Growing market share in publications
• Attracting submissions to the journal from key geographic regions or emerging fields
• Achieving inclusion in Abstracting & Indexing services
• Engaging with the research community
• Driving content usage and improving metrics, such as mean number of days from submission of the manuscript to first decision; Impact Factor; social media shares; or total number of downloads for articles, to name just a few. 

Commissioning

Commissioning – whether reviews, opinion pieces and/or original research - can be instrumental in increasing the readership and overall impact of a journal.

Commissioning is an important aspect of journal development because:

• Articles from experts in the field can increase the journal’s credibility
• Commissioning articles in a topical or emerging area indicates that the journal is open for submissions in that area of the field
• Commissioning content on a particular aspect of the journal’s scope also helps to indicate that the journal is interested in publishing in this area

An Editor-in-Chief can commission content for their journal in the following ways:

• Utilizing contacts to encourage submissions
• Actively soliciting submissions from key researchers and colleagues in the field, and presenters of relevant work at conferences
• Actively soliciting submissions in a topical or emerging area within the scope of the journal
• Publishing high quality themed or special issues
• Working with the Publisher to ensure that your journal is promoted at relevant conferences.

The most effective ways in which to develop a journal and commission content will vary between journals. The Editor-in-Chief and Publisher work closely to maintain an effective development strategy via regular strategic commissioning meetings.

Using the Editorial Board

As well as working with the Publisher, the journal Editorial Board is a rich source of support for commissioning and journal development activities and Editors-in-Chief should engage with their Editorial Board and foster enthusiasm in these activities to ensure the success of the journal.