Editors’ duties

Privacy

All manuscripts are treated as confidential and are published after a double-blind peer review and after approval of the editors-in-chiefs. The editors do not have the authority to influence the reviewers who are reading the articles submitted for evaluation following a blind-reading procedure. Comments and opinions on submitted manuscripts are only revealed to the author.

Information and conflicts of interest

The information and ideas contained in the submitted manuscripts and that are unpublished by the author must not be used by members of the editorial staff or reviewers for their own research work without the express written consent of the author.

Decision on publication

The editors take into consideration the publication policies of the journal’s Editorial Board as well as legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism.

The editors-in-chiefs ultimately decide on the publication of the submitted articles. They may share the decision with the other members of the Editorial Committee or with the reviewers. In the event of an appeal against the evaluation decision, the editors may solicit new reviewers.

Reviewers’ duties

Confidentiality

Reviewers do not know the identity of the author, and any identifying information will be removed from the document prior to review. The reviewers’ comments and opinions are confidential and will be made anonymous before being forwarded to the author. The names of the reviewers are strictly confidential; their identity is only known by the editors and/or by the editorial board.

Objectivity

The reports must be conducted objectively. The reviewer’s opinion must be clear, well-argued and respectful of the author.

Skills

The reviewer must be able to identify the author’s sources. If he or she feels unqualified to review a manuscript, or if he or she lacks the necessary time to provide a prompt review, he or she must inform the editors immediately and decline the review process.

Information and conflicts of interest

The information and ideas obtained through blind review are confidential and must not be used for the personal benefit of the reviewer. Reviewers must decline the review process of manuscripts which may lead to a conflict of interest or of which they are co-authors.

Authors’ duties

Validity

The articles must be characterised by a critical approach and satisfactory bibliographical information. They must report the results of personal research carried out by the authors, and proper acknowledgement of the work of others must always be given. All quotations must be identified, referenced and presented according to the editorial standards of the journal.

Originality

The authors must ensure that they have written entirely original work, or translated an original work. In case of translation, they must give the reference of the first publication and be free from the copyright of the original publisher.

The authors undertake not to submit their article to several journals at the same time, and to request the permission of the editorial staff if the information and ideas contained in their manuscript have been or will be the subject of another publication in another journal.

Conflicts of interest

The authors should indicate any conflicts of interest that may affect their publication project. The sources of any financial support obtained for the conduct of the research must be disclosed.