Editorial Board Roles and Responsibilities

The International and National Journals of Center of Excellence in Life Sciences comprises around 700+ editors and 20 Editor-In-Chiefs. Editorial Board of CELS is open for welcoming new editors and chiefs.

Editor-In-Chief Responsibilities 

  • The key role of Editor-In-Chief to maintain the journal standard with quality of papers and ensure the success of the journal at all other parameters.
  • Editor-In-Chief determines the editorial board guidelines and tone of voice for the brand, ensuring that all content produced falls in line with this style.
  • An editor in chief acts as the publication’s representative at social functions or industry events.
  • To conduct 3-4 e-meetings of editorial the board every year.
  • The editor in chief is responsible for hiring the staff for the content and editorial team for the hiring of assistant editors. The editor in chief works closely with these team members to develop editorial boards for upcoming publications, issues, or campaigns.
  • The editor-in-chief reviews the content of each issue and makes sure it is free of copy errors or inappropriate content (for example, libel).
  • The editor-in-chief will contribute written pieces to the publication periodically—either as full articles or as introductory editorial pieces that serve as a prologue to the issue’s content.

Role of Editorial Board Members and Work Flow

Editorial or manuscript flow determines the overall process which each manuscript undergoes during the peer review process. The entire process of editorial workflow is maintained through online or electronic system. Online system such as Editor Manger System or Editorial Tracking System is being used for such purposes along with E-mail. Any submitted article at the initial stage is assessed for the suitability of the subject of the article within the scope of the journal and the compliance of the article for specific article type mentioned by the author. Along with this basic grammatical check is performed. After such evaluation by the Editor-in-Chief the following by which rigorous plagiarism checking is performed for each submission. If the submitted article passes through plagiarism check it will assigned manuscript number. If any article found plagiarized, that will be summarily rejected in this stage of processing.

Once the manuscript number is assigned, Editor-in-Chief will invite the Editor(s) based on the suitability of their expertise with the submitted manuscript. In such Editor selection step conflict of interest of the assigned Editor is strictly investigated.

After assignment of the Editor for a manuscript having manuscript number stipulated time will be provided to the assigned Editor to take up the assignment else the assignment will be passed other Editorial Board member bearing the relevant expertise.

The assigned Editor will be responsible for the further peer review process under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief.

The assigned Editor will appoint the potential review and monitor the review process further. To be accepted any manuscript is required to have positive comments from the reviewers. Assigned reviewers are responsible to scrutinize a manuscript technically and check the organization of the manuscript properly depending on the article type. Reviewer’s comments should be brief to the point and clearly understandable by the Editors and Authors.

Comments provided by the reviewers should convey their final decision within the following types: 1.Acceptance, 2. Minor revision, 3. Major revision and 4. Rejection.

Once the review comments and decision of the reviewers on the manuscript is received by the Editorial Office, the assigned Editor will be notified for further decision on the article as the required reviews are completed.

Editor is responsible for providing the decision based on the comments and their relevance and suitability with the manuscript. In such circumstances Editors decision is final, reviewers or authors are not entitled to raise any question after the final decision. If assigned Editor decides to send the article for revision, it will be forwarded to the authors for revision and authors are liable to send back the revised manuscript to the Editorial Office within the stipulated time provided. Once the revised manuscript received it will be further inspected in relation to the incorporation of the specified points and the assigned Editor may provide the decision or send back to the reviewer once more depending on the comparative status and enrichment of the manuscript. In every step of processing Editor-in-Chief is having the right to interfere and take the final decision even after the decision taken by the assigned Editor. A fast track review process will be followed to complete all these process within a tightly bound time limit.

  • All Editorial board members must obey the direction provided by the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.
  • Once the plagiarism check is completed every article will be assigned with an Editor and if the article is in the area of Editor’s research interested, it is expected that assigned Editor will take up the assignment at an earliest possible time. If he or she wants to deny the assignment due to some personal reason, that should also be informed to the Editorial Office at an earliest possible convenience.
  • Assigned Editor should not have any conflict of interest with any assignment, if so then he or she should decline the assignment stating the proper reason to the Editorial Office.
  • It is mandatory that every Editor treat each author with proper dignity, courtesy, fair behavior irrespective of considering the matter and fate of the article.
  • Honesty and transparency is must to become an Editorial Board member, where an Editor should judge every submission equally and transparently.
  • Editor-in-Chief can take the final decision for any publication oriented issue.
  • If required Editor may provide the necessary guidelines and dictate the process of submission to the author.
  • Editor should not reveal any information regarding the author, reviewer or the article information to anyone, complete confidentiality maintenance is mandatory.
  • Editor should be responsible for a fast and transparent peer review process, if required Editor may take support from the Editorial Office.
  • Providing the final judgment on the articles assigned within the allotted time with proper reason and clarification should be done by the Editor.
  • Editor should remember the policy of fast and effective peer review and further  process, therefore, should communicate with the reviewers or authors depending on the stage of article processing in case of any delay.
  • Editor should be responsible for any query regarding reconsideration of editorial decisions and should provide the decision quickly and clearly with proper reasons. Editor is responsible for establishing such protocol.
  • Once the assigned Editor is notified by the Editorial Office regarding any information at any stage of the publication process for an assigned manuscript, the   Editor should respond as early as possible.
  • Along with the publisher, the Editorial Board members are responsible for timely publishing the accepted articles.
  • For any manuscript assigned Editor is responsible for selecting potential reviewers considering their expertise in particular subject areas and keeps monitoring the review process.
  • It is Editor’s responsibility to inform the selected reviewers that reviewers are not entitled to use the any part of the work in any form provided in the article they are reviewing. Reviewers should be also informed about the complete confidentiality of the assignments they are undertaking.
  • Editors will be responsible to convey the expectations of the journal to the reviewers with the review scope, quality and timeliness for an effective, fair and constructive review for the assigned submission.
  • Every Editor should keep in mind the time required for reviewing articles before sending any reminder to the reviewer so that assigned reviewer should get appropriate time he or she requires.
  • If any special issue proposal is submitted to the journal, the assigned Editorial Board member should review the proposal for suitability with the scope of the journal, timeliness and assessing the scope and the importance of the topic.
  • Editorial Board members may recommend for the timely topics and suggest potential guest Editors considering the scope, importance and timeliness of the topic.
  • Review the special issue proposals for relevance to current research in the concerned field.
  • Editors must attend the Editorial Board meetings occasionally scheduled by the Editorial Office and Editor-In-Chief for taking part in the discussion for the improvement of the Journal.
  • Being an integral part of the Journal, Editors are responsible to coordinate and manage the critical decisions along with the cooperation of Editorial Office, such as retraction issues or similar matters.
  • Being the path director of the journal, Editors are expected to inform the Journal Office regarding the potential timely topics and author pool through their constant communication.
  • Editors should ensure the smooth functioning of the whole process in coordination with publishing house.
  • Editors should provide time to time input regarding the targeted readers and their preferences, in other words, creative input from Editors will help in understanding the readers and their choices within the scope of the subject.
  • Editors should comply with the guidelines and protocols provided by the publishing house.
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