Ethics in journal editing
Corie Lok
Friday, 20 June 2008 17:34 UTC
I come from a science journalism background and young journalists are taught the ethics of dealing with sources: how to find the right balance between cultivating a close relationship with a source so that the source will provide you with good story tips and information, but not becoming too close so that you end up being biased towards their viewpoint.
So most news media have policies about whether journalists can, for example, except gifts from sources (usually not!) and that sort of thing.
I see some parallels with journal editors and their relationships with authors/reviewers. I presume that a journal editor needs to have good relationships with people in their field so that those authors will submit their papers to that editor and not to a competing journal and so that the editors stay on top of all the top-notch research going on. But the editor still needs to be unbiased in evaluating that paper once it comes in.
So is there any sort of ‘code of conduct’ among journal editors in how they manage that relationship with authors? EG can an editor be taken out to dinner by an author? What do editors do if an author gives them a gift?
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Replies
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The delicate balance you discuss sounds exactly the same for editors as it would apply to journalists.
I always follow a “beer trade” policy. Usually, I try to be the one who buys, but if I am brought a drink, unsolicited, I will always return the favor to keep the balance.
Dinner is typically split, in my experience, but at times, I have picked up the check when I have joined a group of authors for a discussion about the journal, policies, etc…
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The Nature journals have a short statement along these lines
Application to editors
All Nature journal editorial staff are required to declare to their employer (Nature Publishing Group) any interests — financial or otherwise — that might influence, or be perceived to influence, their editorial practices. Failure to do so is a disciplinary offence.In practice, no one editor has the power to accept a manuscript: at Nature at least three editors see all manuscripts that are accepted, including a senior one, and an objective case, in writing, has to be made by the handling editor as part of this process. “He bought me a meal” would not really cut it.
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Thanks Noah and Maxine. That’s good to know.
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