Introduction

The editors of the Journal of Clinical Intensive Care and Medicine (JCICM) play a pivotal role in ensuring the quality, credibility, and integrity of published content. These Editorial Responsibilities define the ethical and professional duties expected of all editorial board members and handling editors.

Fair and Impartial Evaluation

Editors must evaluate manuscripts based solely on scientific merit, relevance, and originality.
Personal biases, nationality, gender, or institutional affiliation of authors should never influence decisions.
Manuscripts should be handled consistently and fairly across all submissions.

Confidentiality

Editors are required to maintain strict confidentiality regarding:

Manuscript content prior to publication.
Reviewer identities (double-blind peer review process).
Communications between authors, reviewers, and editors.

Conflict of Interest

Editors must declare any conflicts of interest that could compromise objectivity. Examples include:

Collaborations or competitive relationships with the authors.
Financial interests that may bias editorial decisions.
Institutional affiliations that present potential conflicts.

In such cases, editors should delegate responsibility to another qualified editor.

Timeliness and Efficiency

Editors should strive to provide timely decisions to authors.
Manuscripts should be moved efficiently through the review and production process.
Delays should be communicated transparently to authors.

Ethical Oversight

Editors are responsible for investigating and addressing potential ethical issues, including:

Plagiarism or duplicate submissions.
Data falsification or fabrication.
Unethical research involving humans or animals.
Failure to disclose conflicts of interest.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

Editors should act swiftly in correcting the record when significant errors or ethical violations are identified. Retractions or expressions of concern should follow COPE guidelines.

Supporting Reviewers

Provide reviewers with clear instructions and evaluation criteria.
Ensure reviewers act with professionalism and confidentiality.
Protect reviewers from undue pressure or bias.

Professional Development

Editors are encouraged to engage with professional organizations such as COPE, WAME, ICMJE, and DOAJ to stay informed of best practices and industry standards.

FAQs

What if an editor has a conflict of interest? The editor should recuse themselves and assign another editor.

Can editors reject without peer review? Yes, if the submission is out of scope or fails to meet basic requirements.

How do editors handle appeals? Appeals must be reviewed objectively, ideally by an independent editor.