Can An Editorial Board Member Publish In The Journal?

Can anybody help: Is it unethical to publish in the journal in which the author is also a member of the editorial board?

Ljiljana Vuckovic-Dekic
Assoc. editor, Journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology (Journal of BUON)
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It seems to me this practice is well within the norm for scholarly journals in general, despite some obvious potential problems. Moreover, it is probably the case that members of the editorial board were selected because they have a close and competent connection to the subject matter of the journal and would otherwise be strong contributors to its pages.

Certainly one wants to avoid both the appearance and the actuality of an unfair advantage given to such a member. Reputable journals, I believe, achieve this by carefully insulating the review process for that member's submission from the influence of that member. This requires the editor to make sure the submitted paper is handled by strong, independent personalities.  This will be easier to achieve in very large journals (for example, a paper Bob Rich submitted to the Journal of Immunology was rejected by the JI when he was the Editor-in-Chief!) with well-established procedures and an extensive network of subeditors, than for small journals.

John Rodgers
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No. I do not think so (as long as the article goes thru the regular peer-review process).

Praveen Roy
Editor-in-Chief, The Internet Journal of Gastroenterology
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I think a blind review approach could also be very helpful in such cases.

Miguel Roig
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I wrote about that topic some time ago and almost everybody agreed that it was OK to publish the article.

I still believe that it is a huge conflict of interest for small journals. In small journals, it is really hard to keep the process completely blind. When you work in a small journal, chances are that the peer-reviewers will be able to identify a paper from one of the editors or any important person in that specific field. Small journals usually like small towns, everybody knows each other.

Hope it helps.

Rodolfo Soca
Former General Director, 16 de Abril (Cuban Journal of Medical Students)
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Thank you all for the comments. I have other comments to add.

1. The fact that there may be perceived (or appearances of) impropriety, it may be advisable for editor-authors to be aware of such appearances and consider publishing widely and not in a single journal where they may have influence;

2. While the research team I am involved in has published in the journals we are affiliated with, and others we are not affiliated in, we find that we are often tempted to contribute to the "growth" and we imagine "prestige" of these journals by submitting our research to the local-regional journals we are affiliated with. We may have an over-exaggerated sense of importance, but having published elsewhere, we believed readers may also believe that our small journals are good, but are associating them with our team. We may be cheating ourselves. One thing we have been clear about is that we have not been part of the decision to review and publish the manuscripts. The problem though is that we are not sure if our peers do believe they are indebted to us and must publish our papers. How we would have loved it if we were to say: We do not care as much whether you accept our manuscript or not, and if we get a rejection, we will be happy to send it elsewhere.

Adamson Muula

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I also agree.
In our journal, especially for the articles published by editors, we designate an independent 'academic editor' who conducts and completes the review process. The manuscript is accepted or rejected based on the decision of the 'academic editor". This is documented as a note at the end of the published article if it is accepted. As applicable to many areas including the business world, conflict of interest cannot be nullified completely even if the article is published in other journal. The quality of the final publication should be the proof of the high standards expected in our field.

Vinod B Shidham
Co-editor-in-chief & Executive editor, CytoJournal
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In addition, our online review system uses double blind peer-review process. However, there is no alternative to high, ethical standards and commitments by any group including its leader(s).

Vinod B Shidham
Co-editor-in-chief & Executive editor, CytoJournal
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I do not see any reason as to why not, I agree with John that the editorial board of a journal comprises people with closely related research interest, if they will not publish, who else will.

One has to however ensure that editorial ethics are not sacrificed in publishing such articles, double blind review is one way, handling editor is second, and most importantly a conflict of interest or some sort of statement stating that the author is also an editorial board member need be included so as to let the readers know.

Manoj Pandey
Editor-in-Chief, World Journal of Surgical Oncology
Sectional Editor, Indian Journal of Surgery
Editorial Secretary, Indian Association of Surgical Oncology
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In addition to all the above points, there is the consideration that usually editorial board members of a regional journal like to publish their research in the same journal, as they believe that their observations are most relevant to their region from the point of view of epidemiology and would therefore be of greater utility to their community.

Hence, they should be allowed to publish albeit with one or two safeguards as suggested about the conflict of interest note and measures to isolate the peer review process from the relevant editorial board members. An additional undertaking from the editorial board member—about acknowledging the conflict of interest involved and assuring to continue working as an editorial board member even if the article is rejected—would relieve some of the anxieties of the chief editor during decision making. The last point is important as, during my tenure as chief editor, one of the editorial board members was once so furious with a rejection that he resigned in protest, and I had to bring up all my guts to explain to this very senior colleague that there is nothing personal in this rejection and how it was based on pure credentials for publication.

Uday Khopkar
Chief Edior, Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology
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I wish to express my gratitude to all WAME colleagues—their help was invaluable for resolving my dilemmas regarding CoI.

Ljiljana Vuckovic-Dekic
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Not at all, so long as the review process is sufficiently blinded. In fact, we encourage our editorial board members to solicit and submit contributions to the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (JPEN).

Bridget E Struble
Publications Manager, American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.)
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As far as the matter is concerned, it is the ethical issue, too, as the member of the editorial board could be the most influential person in the review process. So, if such a situation occurs, then the person should mention this conflict of interest in the editorial board meeting. Someone else should ensure a proper review process by adopting double blind/triple blind strategies. Moreover, the conflict of interest may be mentioned inside the publication.

Muhammad K Shahzad
Editor, International Journal for Agro Veterinary and Medical Sciences (IJAVMS)
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I agree completely with Bridget E Struble!

It is OK to publish in the journal of which you are an editorial board member. In fact, you do not need to declare any conflict of interests at all.

Daniel Limonta
Associated Editor, Journal of Infection in Developing Countries (JIDC)
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The original issue seemed to me to have been posed in the context of the chief-editor, not the author who happened also to be editor. I agree that the author-editor doesn't have a conflict of interest above and beyond that conflict posed by and inherent in the normal pressure and desire to publish; but the chief editor still has a conflict of interest; she or he wants to retain the benefit of the having the editor on board, while ensuring that the potential loss of that benefit does not color the review process. It is the journal who might need to declare a potential conflict of interest. What is the harm in publishing a disclaimer to this effect (much as in the US we have to publish the fact that articles are "advertisements": "the journal declares that author X of this paper is on the editorial board of the journal, and that the review process for this paper has been insulated from this relationship as much as possible")?

John Rodgers
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So what!! In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with publishing a paper if the author is on the editorial board. The only thing is—the work should be genuinely done by the person. And I think every person in society is his/her own judge.

Farrukh Saleem
Editorial Associate, Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences
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We agree, because we feel papers from editorial board members are better prepared and, sometimes, a few good papers (which are supposed to equal those of higher-rated journals) are sacrificed for a better impression of the journal. A proper review process should leave no question of biasness/conflicts of interest!