Editorial leadership
Defines journal direction, scope, standards, and final decision responsibilities.
Editorial governance
Editorial Team and Masthead
The editorial masthead identifies the people responsible for journal direction, manuscript decisions, review oversight, ethics, production, and record maintenance. Each listing should reflect a verified role, current affiliation, agreed term, and consent to appear.
journal editorial board research administration
1Verified roles2Current affiliations3ORCID iDs4Term transparency
01
A Masthead Readers Can Evaluate
A clear masthead distinguishes editors with decision authority from advisory or operational roles. It also shows where expertise sits across research administration, methods, policy, ethics, and scholarly communication.
Names, affiliations, photographs, biographies, and identifiers should not be copied from an earlier publisher or institutional site without verification. When a role changes, the public record should be updated promptly while preserving dated historical mastheads when appropriate.
Key routes
Use the Journal With Confidence
Each route connects to the record or policy needed for the next decision.
Review oversight
Supports reviewer selection, conflict management, quality checks, and consistent decisions.
Ethics and records
Coordinates concerns, corrections, retractions, complaints, and transparent versioning.
02
Information Included With Each Role
A masthead entry can include the person’s name, role, institutional affiliation, country, relevant expertise, ORCID iD, and term dates. Contact details should be limited to what the person and journal have agreed to publish.
Editorial independence matters as much as biography. The ownership page and policy set should clarify how the publisher supports the journal without controlling individual scholarly decisions.
- Verify consent before publishing a name or profile.
- Confirm role, affiliation, expertise, and term dates.
- Remove or archive outdated appointments promptly.
- Disclose conflicts and decision recusal procedures.
Common questions
Questions Readers and Contributors Ask
Does an editorial-board title imply employment by the journal?
Not necessarily. The masthead should describe the role accurately without implying an employment, institutional, or financial relationship that does not exist.
Why include term dates?
Term dates help readers distinguish current governance from historical service and support regular review of the board.
How are conflicts handled?
An editor with a relevant conflict should not control the review or decision for that manuscript. The peer review and ethics policies describe the process.
Sources
Standards and Further Reading
These external resources provide additional policy or practice context. The journal’s own published policies govern its workflow.
Understand Who Holds Editorial Responsibility
Read the masthead together with the ownership, peer review, and complaints policies.