A COPE member has noted instances of journals contacting individuals - who are not on their editorial board - to request that they act as guest editor for a single manuscript. The invitation makes it clear that they are being asked to recruit reviewers and to make the editorial decision. This practice includes instances where the invitee has had no prior contact with the journal.
- Can such single manuscript guest editing be considered good-ethical practice for journals? If so, under what circumstances?
- If a journal does not have an editor who is qualified to handle a submitted manuscript, what options does it have?
Several scenarios were suggested as reasons to invite a guest editor to oversee a single submission: if the editorial board did not consider themselves to have sufficient expertise in the area; if an editor who had seen through the first round of peer review was then unavailable to moderate revisions; if the editorial team considered themselves to have a conflict of interest; or where the journal was publishing an article produced by journal staff. Forum members gave examples where all of these had happened at their journals. However, it was agreed that it was poor ethical practice to make unsolicited invitations on an ad hoc basis and with no apparent intention to appoint the guest editor as a longer-standing member of the editorial board. Furthermore, for most journals, if an article is outside the expertise of the editorial board then the submission is probably out of the remit of the journal (it was noted that there are exceptions where the remit of a journal is very broad or where a non-traditional publishing model is used).
In all cases where an individual is invited to take on an editorial role for a single submission conflict of interest statements should be sought and checks should be made as to that person’s seniority and qualification to make editorial judgements. Ideally this would involve vetting by all board members to guard against individuals approaching ‘buddies’ to join unethically to give favourable decisions to particular manuscripts. It would be most appropriate also to invite such guest editors to join the editorial board in a longer-term capacity so that they are fully cognisant of the journal’s ethics and policies. Their guest editor work should be overseen by journal staff or other members of the editorial board to ensure that they are in line with the journal’s practices. Ultimately, and In line with COPE guidance, journals should be transparent about their policies, including a statement of their reasons for approaching people to take on this role where it is used.