Editor Resources
Comprehensive guidelines and resources to support you in maintaining excellence in peer review and editorial decision-making for the International Journal of Nutrition.
Essential Editorial Guidelines
Impartial Review
Provide objective, unbiased assessments of all manuscripts. Multiple revision rounds are acceptable to achieve the desired quality. Focus on scientific merit, methodology, and contribution to the field rather than author identity or affiliation.
Scope Alignment
Manuscripts that fall outside the journal's scope should be rejected promptly without full review. This respects authors' time and allows them to redirect submissions to more appropriate venues.
Constructive Feedback
When rejecting manuscripts, clearly state reasons and provide actionable guidance:
- For language issues with good content: suggest language editing services
- For out-of-scope topics: recommend appropriate alternative journals
- For methodological concerns: specify improvements needed
Language Quality Standards
Ensure manuscripts are written in clear, professional English that's understandable to an international audience. Minor language issues can be addressed during revision, but significant language barriers may warrant rejection with editing recommendations.
Ethical Obligations
As an editor, you uphold the integrity of the scientific record. These ethical principles are non-negotiable:
Unbiased Consideration
Judge manuscripts solely on scientific merit, without regard to race, religion, nationality, gender, seniority, or institutional affiliation of authors.
Timely Processing
Process manuscripts with reasonable speed. You have sole responsibility for acceptance or rejection decisions. Manuscripts may be rejected without review if inappropriate for the journal.
Confidentiality
Never disclose manuscript information to anyone except those providing professional advice. After acceptance, you may disclose titles and author names of accepted papers.
Intellectual Independence
Respect authors' intellectual independence. Never use unpublished information from manuscripts in your own research without explicit author consent.
Conflict of Interest
When handling your own manuscripts or those closely related to your research, delegate editorial responsibility to another qualified editor to avoid conflicts of interest.
Error Correction
If presented with evidence of errors in published work, facilitate publication of corrections or retractions as appropriate to maintain scientific integrity.
Best Practices
Reviewer Management
- Honor author requests to exclude specific reviewers when reasonable
- Send PDF versions to reviewers, not editable files
- Request comments in separate documents, not tracked changes
- Select reviewers with appropriate expertise
- Ensure diverse reviewer perspectives
Manuscript Handling
- Verify submissions meet formatting requirements
- Check for plagiarism and ethical compliance
- Ensure adequate statistical analysis
- Confirm appropriate citations and references
- Assess figures and tables for clarity
Communication
- Provide clear, specific feedback to authors
- Be professional and courteous in all correspondence
- Respond promptly to author inquiries
- Explain decisions thoroughly
- Guide authors toward improvement
Decision Making
- Base decisions on scientific merit and reviewer feedback
- Document reasons for all decisions
- Be consistent in applying standards
- Seek additional reviews when needed
- Make final decisions independently
Additional Resources
Questions or Need Support?
Our editorial team is here to assist you with any questions about editorial procedures, manuscript handling, or ethical concerns.
Contact Editorial Office
