Editor Rights

October 28, 2025

Editor Rights

At Global Journals®, editors play a central role in safeguarding the scholarly record. As such, we recognise and grant a set of rights and prerogatives to editors, while also outlining the responsibilities that accompany them. This page describes those rights, guidance on their appropriate use, and how they support editorial independence, integrity, and accountability.

  • Editorial Independence & Decision Authority​
  • Editors have the right to make publication decisions (accept, revise, reject) based on scientific merit, relevance, and quality, free from interference by commercial, institutional, or personal interests.
  • Publishers and institutional stakeholders must respect the autonomy of editors and refrain from influencing decisions (for example through advertising, reprint revenue, or external pressures).
  • When a conflict of interest arises, editors may reassign that submission to a different editor to preserve impartiality.
  • Access to Support & Resources​
  • Editors are entitled to technical, procedural, and legal support from the publisher, including advice on ethical or misconduct matters.
  • Editors can request training, resources, or guidance in emerging ethical issues such as AI tools, plagiarism, data integrity, or policy updates.
  • Publishers should facilitate access to tools (e.g. similarity checking, plagiarism screening, editorial management systems) to assist editors in their work.
  • Protection from Conflicts & Disclosure
  • Editors have the right to full disclosure of potential competing interests from authors, reviewers, and other editors.
  • They may demand transparency in financial, institutional, or professional ties that could affect neutrality.
  • Editors should recuse themselves from handling articles in which they have a personal, financial, or institutional conflict and may require alternate editorial oversight.
  • Confidentiality & Use of Information
  • Editors have the right to expect that manuscript content, reviewer reports, and internal communications remain confidential and not be disclosed by third parties.
  • They may control who has access to sensitive editorial materials and communications.
  • Editors can enforce strict confidentiality with tools, processes, or agreements (e.g. when dealing with external consultants or technical reviewers).
  • Governance & Oversight
  • Editors are entitled to periodic review and performance assessment, but such evaluations should be transparent, fair, and based on objective metrics (turnaround times, quality of decisions, policy adherence).
  • They may also have the right to appeal or respond to comments or concerns about their editorial conduct.
  • Editorial Role Clarity & Scope
  • Editors can expect clearly defined responsibilities, roles, tenure, and scope (e.g. handling specific subject areas or special issues).
  • They may receive clarity on compensation, recognition, and how their editorial contributions are acknowledged on journal platforms.
  • Editors should have access to orientation or handbooks on journal policy, ethics, workflows, and editorial best practice.
  • Ethical Immunity & Support
  • Editors should be protected from retaliation or undue pressure when applying the journal’s ethical policies, including rejecting submissions with misconduct, enforcing corrections, or issuing retractions.
  • The publisher commits to backing editors legally and procedurally when they act in good faith under policy in disputes, investigations, or appeals.

Editor Rights vs. Editor Responsibilities

Editor Rights
Corresponding Responsibilities
0.1
Editorial Independence & Decision Authority
Editors have autonomous control over acceptance, revisions, or rejection decisions.

Make decisions based on scientific merit, not external pressure, recuse from manuscripts with conflicts of interest.

0.2
Access to Support & Tools
Right to receive technical, legal, procedural support (e.g. plagiarism checking, editing systems).

Use support responsibly, maintain skills, request guidance when needed.

0.3
Full Disclosure & Conflict Awareness

Right to demand transparency from authors, reviewers, and other editors.

Disclose your own conflicts, act impartially, guard against bias.

0.4
Confidential Handling

Right to confidentiality in editorial materials, communications, reviewer reports.

Never share or misuse privileged information, enforce confidentiality among collaborators.

0.5
Protection & Support in Ethical Actions
Right to backing from publisher when enforcing ethics (retraction, correction, rejecting unethical work).

Apply ethical policy in good faith, document decisions, escalate when necessary.

0.6
Right to Performance Review and Recourse
Right to fair evaluation and the ability to respond or appeal.

Engage openly with evaluations, improve based on feedback, adhere to editorial policies.