Appointments in progress — no members are listed yet
Peer Academics is being established, and its editorial board is still being assembled. No name appears on this page. The journal will not list any person as Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor, Section Editor, or member of the Editorial Advisory Board until that person has accepted the role in writing, has been told what the role requires, and has confirmed that the journal may publish their name, affiliation, country, and ORCID iD.
This rule exists because listing scholars who have not agreed to serve is a known deceptive practice in scholarly publishing, and the journal does not engage in it. If you ever see your own name on this page and did not consent to it, write to [email protected] and it will be removed immediately while the matter is investigated.
Until the board is in place, editorial decisions are taken by the acting editorial management appointed by the Publisher, under the policies published on this website, and every manuscript is subject to the same review requirements set out in the Aims and Scope. No manuscript is published on fewer than the stated minimum number of reviewers because a board seat is vacant.
If you are willing to serve, or to review, write to [email protected] with your affiliation, your ORCID iD, your subject areas, and a link to your publication record.
How the board is structured
Peer Academics is establishing a four-tier editorial structure. It is set out here so that authors and reviewers can see how decisions are taken, and how they will be taken once the board is appointed. Each tier has defined authority, and each decision is recorded in the journal's internal records against the editor who took it.
Editor-in-Chief
The Editor-in-Chief holds final responsibility for what the journal publishes and for the integrity of its editorial process. The Editor-in-Chief sets editorial policy together with the board, assigns submissions to Associate or Section Editors, takes decisions on manuscripts that no other editor can handle, rules on appeals against editorial decisions, and decides on corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions. The Editor-in-Chief also represents the journal to the Publisher. The Publisher appoints the Editor-in-Chief and does not instruct the Editor-in-Chief on individual manuscripts; the Publisher's only editorial authority is to appoint and, for cause, to remove.
Associate Editors
Associate Editors run the review of the manuscripts assigned to them. An Associate Editor carries out the initial assessment, may decline a manuscript without external review where it is out of scope or clearly below the journal's standard, selects and invites reviewers, evaluates the reports received, writes the decision letter, and judges whether a revision has answered the reviewers. An Associate Editor may recommend acceptance and may reject, and refers to the Editor-in-Chief any case involving a conflict of interest, an ethics concern, or a decision they do not wish to take alone.
Section Editors
Section Editors are responsible for a defined disciplinary section of the journal. A Section Editor advises on scope within that section, maintains and extends the pool of reviewers for it, handles or allocates submissions in that field, and keeps the section's standards aligned with the journal's policies. On the manuscripts they handle, Section Editors exercise the same authority as Associate Editors.
Editorial Advisory Board
The Editorial Advisory Board advises rather than decides. Its members review the journal's policies periodically, advise on scope and on new sections, suggest and, when asked, act as reviewers, and alert the Editor-in-Chief to developments in their fields. Advisory Board members do not take decisions on manuscripts. When an Advisory Board member handles a manuscript as a reviewer, they do so under the same anonymity rules as any other reviewer.
Appointment, terms, and removal
- Who appoints. The Publisher appoints the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief appoints Associate Editors, Section Editors, and Editorial Advisory Board members, and informs the Publisher of each appointment.
- Criteria. Candidates are assessed on their scholarly record in a discipline within the journal's scope, on relevant editorial or peer-review experience, and on their capacity to handle the workload. The board is assembled with attention to disciplinary, geographic, and institutional spread, so that no single institution or country dominates any tier.
- Written acceptance. Every appointment is made by a written offer that states the role's duties and expected workload and is confirmed by the appointee's written acceptance. Only then is the person listed on this page.
- Term. Appointments run for three years and may be renewed. Renewal is not automatic: the Editor-in-Chief reviews each appointment at the end of its term, and the Publisher reviews the Editor-in-Chief's.
- Resignation. Any member may resign at any time by writing to the Editor-in-Chief, and is asked to hand over any manuscripts in progress.
- Removal. An appointment may be ended before term for sustained inactivity, for breach of the journal's confidentiality or conflict-of-interest rules, or for conduct incompatible with the journal's ethics policies. The Editor-in-Chief decides in the case of other editors; the Publisher decides in the case of the Editor-in-Chief.
- Departures. When a term ends, this page is updated. The journal does not retain former members on the list.
Obligations that come with a board role
- Confidentiality. Editors treat every submission as confidential. They do not disclose its existence, content, or fate to anyone outside the editorial process and do not use unpublished material for their own purposes.
- Anonymity. Review is double-anonymous. Editors do not reveal reviewer identities to authors or author identities to reviewers, and do not circumvent the anonymized workflow.
- Conflicts of interest. An editor who has a conflict with a manuscript — a shared institution, recent collaboration, supervisory relationship, financial interest, or personal relationship with an author — declares it and hands the manuscript to another editor.
- Editors as authors. An editor may submit to Peer Academics, but takes no part in the handling of their own manuscript. Such submissions are assigned by the Editor-in-Chief to an editor with no relationship to the author, and where the author is the Editor-in-Chief, the Publisher designates an independent handling editor. The independent handling is recorded and stated on the published article.
- Timeliness. Editors are expected to complete an initial assessment promptly and to keep manuscripts moving, normally reaching a first decision within the period stated in the Author Guidelines. Persistent delay is grounds for review of the appointment.
The journal's editorial policies are informed by the principles of COPE and ICMJE. Peer Academics is not a member of either organization.