EDITOR RESPONSIBILITIES TOWARD READERS AND THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY

• Evaluating all manuscripts considered for publication to make certain that each provides the evidence readers need to evaluate the authors’ conclusions and that authors’ conclusions reflect the evidence provided in the manuscript
• Providing literature references and author contact information so interested readers may pursue further discourse
• Identifying individual and group authorship clearly and developing processes to ensure that authorship criteria are met to the best of the editor’s knowledge
• Requiring all authors to review and accept responsibility for the content of the final draft of each paper or for those areas to which they have contributed
• Maintaining the journal’s internal integrity (e.g., correcting errors; clearly identifying and differentiating types of content, such as reports of original data, opinion pieces [e.g., editorials and letters to the editor], corrections/errata, retractions, supplemental data, and promotional material or advertising; and identifying published material with proper references)
• Ensuring that all involved in the publication process understand that it is inappropriate to manipulate citations by, for example, demanding that authors cite papers in the journal
• Disclosing sources (e.g., authorship, journal ownership, and funding)
• Creating mechanisms to determine if the journal is providing what readers need and want (e.g., reader surveys
• Providing a mechanism for a further discussion on the scientific merits of a paper, such as by publishing letters to the editor, inviting commentaries, article blogs, or soliciting other forms of public discourse
• Working with the publisher to attract the best manuscripts and research that will be of interest to readers