Duties of Editors
1. Role and responsibilities of editors
Editor in chief
The Editor-in-Chief has overall responsibility for the journal's editorial direction, publication quality, editorial independence, and adherence to publication ethics. The Editor-in-Chief shall:
· Editorial leadership and strategy: Establish and periodically review the journal's aims, scope, editorial policies, publication standards, and strategic development priorities.
· Editorial decisions: Make or oversee final publication decisions based on the manuscript's originality, scientific validity, methodological rigor, relevance to maternal and child health, and contribution to the field.
· Peer-review oversight: Ensure that manuscripts undergo fair, rigorous, unbiased, and timely peer review by qualified and independent reviewers.
· Publication ethics and research integrity: Ensure compliance with the journal's ethical policies and relevant guidance from COPE, ICMJE, and other applicable standards, including the appropriate handling of suspected plagiarism, data fabrication, duplicate publication, authorship disputes, and conflicts of interest.
· Editorial independence: Protect editorial decisions from inappropriate commercial, institutional, personal, or other external influences (see our Editorial independence policy).
· Editorial Board management: Appoint or recommend qualified Editorial Board members in accordance with the journal's governance procedures, define their responsibilities, monitor participation, and support their professional development.
· Complaints and appeals: Oversee the fair and transparent resolution of complaints, appeals against editorial decisions, and concerns about research or publication misconduct.
· Journal development and performance: Monitor editorial performance, including submission handling, peer-review timeliness, publication quality, readership, and the journal's academic visibility.
· Communication and representation: Represent the journal in academic and professional communities, collaborate with the publisher and relevant institutions, and promote the journal to researchers and healthcare professionals.
· Scholarly record maintenance: Ensure that corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, and other necessary post-publication actions are handled appropriately to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.
· Editorial meetings and reporting: Lead Editorial Board meetings, communicate strategic priorities, review progress, and coordinate actions to improve the journal.
Editorial board
Editorial Board members support the Editor-in-Chief in maintaining the journal's scientific quality, editorial integrity, and academic development of Indonesian Journal of Medicine (IJM). Depending on their assigned roles and delegated authority, members shall:
· Editorial Recommendations: Evaluate assigned manuscripts and provide objective, evidence-based recommendations regarding their suitability for publication. Assessments should consider originality, scientific validity, methodological rigor, relevance to maternal and child health, and compliance with publication ethics. Final publication decisions shall be made by the Editor-in-Chief or an authorized editor.
· Identifying Reviewers: Identify and recommend qualified, independent peer reviewers with relevant subject expertise and methodological knowledge to ensure a rigorous, fair, and balanced review process.
· Recruiting New Reviewers: Recommend qualified researchers, academics, clinicians, and public health professionals to expand the journal's reviewer pool and strengthen its subject-matter expertise and diversity.
· Manuscript Assessment: Provide timely and constructive assessments of assigned manuscripts, evaluate the quality and relevance of reviewer reports when requested, and advise the Editor-in-Chief on appropriate editorial actions.
· Publication Ethics: Identify and report potential ethical concerns, including plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, data integrity issues, and undisclosed conflicts of interest, to the Editor-in-Chief.
2. Publication decisions
The Editor-in-Chief has sole and independent responsibility (see our "Editorial independence[IA5] " policy) for making final decisions on whether manuscripts submitted to the Indonesian Journal of Medicine (IJM) should be accepted for publication, rejected, or returned for revision. These decisions shall be based on the scientific validity, originality, methodological rigor, significance, and relevance of the work to the journal's scope and its readers. The Editor-in-Chief shall also consider the journal's editorial policies, publication ethics, and applicable legal requirements, including those relating to plagiarism, copyright infringement, and defamation. In making publication decisions, the Editor-in-Chief may consider recommendations from handling editors, Editorial Board members, and peer reviewers. Editorial recommendations and peer-review reports inform the decision-making process but do not replace the final authority of the Editor-in-Chief, who remains responsible for ensuring fair, transparent, and independent editorial decisions.
3. Peer review
The Editor-in-Chief shall ensure that the peer-review process of the Indonesian Journal of Medicine (IJM) is fair, unbiased, transparent, and timely. Research articles should normally be evaluated by at least two external and independent reviewers with appropriate expertise in the relevant subject area. Additional reviewers may be invited when further expert assessment is necessary.
The Editor-in-Chief or authorized handling editor shall select reviewers based on their academic qualifications, subject expertise, methodological competence, and independence. Appropriate measures shall be taken to verify reviewer identities and avoid fraudulent peer-review practices. Potential conflicts of interest disclosed by authors or reviewers, as well as reviewer recommendations for self-citation, shall be carefully assessed to identify possible bias or inappropriate influence on the review process.
Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, respectful, and evidence-based evaluations. The Editor-in-Chief or authorized handling editor may edit reviewer comments for clarity and professionalism or withhold comments from authors when they contain inappropriate, offensive, confidential, or otherwise unsuitable content, in accordance with the journal's peer-review policies. Editorial decisions shall consider the scientific merit of the manuscript and the quality and relevance of reviewer recommendations while maintaining editorial independence and publication integrity.
4. Editorial Board Meetings
Editorial Board members are expected to attend scheduled Editorial Board meetings, actively contribute to discussions on the journal's editorial policies, performance, and strategic development, and provide recommendations to strengthen editorial workflows, peer-review efficiency, publication ethics, and overall publication quality. Members should also participate in evaluating the journal's progress and identifying opportunities for continuous improvement in accordance with the journal's aims and scope.
5. Journal Development and Promotion
Editorial Board members are expected to support the academic development and visibility of the Journal of Maternal and Child Health (JMCH) by encouraging the submission of high-quality manuscripts, promoting the journal and its published research within relevant academic and professional networks, and identifying emerging research topics and priorities in maternal and child health. Members should also contribute recommendations for improving the journal's scientific quality, readership, scholarly impact, and reputation within the academic community.
6. Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest
Editorial Board members shall maintain strict confidentiality regarding submitted manuscripts, peer-review reports, editorial correspondence, and all information obtained through their editorial duties. Such information must not be disclosed to unauthorized individuals or used for personal or professional advantage. Members shall disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that may influence their editorial judgment and shall decline or withdraw from handling or evaluating manuscripts whenever such conflicts could compromise their objectivity, impartiality, or independence. Any identified conflicts of interest must be communicated promptly to the Editor-in-Chief to ensure that appropriate measures are taken in accordance with the journal's editorial policies and publication ethics standards.
7. Timely Communication
Editorial Board members are expected to respond promptly to manuscript assignments, editorial invitations, and communications from the Editor-in-Chief or editorial management team. Members should acknowledge assignments within a reasonable timeframe, communicate their availability, and provide editorial recommendations or feedback within the agreed deadlines. If delays or other circumstances prevent them from fulfilling their responsibilities, they should inform the editorial team as soon as possible to ensure an efficient, timely, and well-coordinated editorial workflow.
8. Fairness and conflict management
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board members shall evaluate manuscripts objectively and impartially, based on their scientific merit, originality, methodological rigor, and relevance to the journal's scope, without discrimination based on the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.
The IJM editorial policies shall promote transparency, accountability, and complete and honest reporting of research findings. Editors shall ensure that authors and peer reviewers clearly understand their respective roles, responsibilities, and expectations throughout the editorial and peer-review processes. All manuscript submissions and editorial communications shall be conducted through the journal's official electronic submission system to ensure proper documentation, traceability, and consistency.
9. Citations and journal metrics
Citation metrics
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board members shall ensure that citation recommendations are based on genuine scholarly relevance and contribute meaningfully to the manuscript's scientific context. Authors shall not be required or pressured to cite articles published in the Indonesian Journal of Medicine (IJM), articles authored by editors or reviewers, or publications associated with products or services in which editors or their associates have a competing interest, unless such citations are scientifically justified. Editors may remove inappropriate, irrelevant, or coercive citation requests from reviewer comments before sharing them with authors. All citation practices shall uphold academic integrity, objectivity, and the principle that references should accurately reflect relevant prior research.
Journal Metrics and Safeguards
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board members shall not manipulate or attempt to artificially influence journal rankings, citation indicators, or other bibliometric measures to enhance the journal's perceived academic standing. Practices such as coercive citation, excessive self-citation, reciprocal citation agreements, and the unnecessary promotion of articles solely to increase citation counts or improve journal metrics are prohibited. The Indonesian Journal of Medicine (IJM) performance shall be evaluated using responsible and transparent approaches that prioritize scientific quality, editorial integrity, research relevance, and the journal's contribution to the scholarly community. Editorial decisions shall remain independent of any pressure to achieve specific citation targets or bibliometric rankings.
10. Confidentiality
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board members of the Indonesian Journal of Medicine (IJM) shall protect the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, and other information obtained during the editorial and peer-review processes. Such information shall not be disclosed to unauthorized individuals unless disclosure has been authorized by the relevant parties or is necessary to address suspected research misconduct or other serious ethical concerns, in accordance with the journal's policies and applicable guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
The identities of reviewers shall remain confidential unless the journal operates an open peer-review system or the reviewers have explicitly agreed to disclose their identities. Editors shall not disclose confidential reviewer information to authors or third parties without appropriate authorization.
Unpublished materials, data, findings, and ideas disclosed in submitted manuscripts shall not be used by editors for their own research or personal advantage without the express written consent of the authors. Editors shall also ensure that confidential information obtained through peer review is not exploited for personal, professional, or financial gain.
Any sharing of confidential information with editors of other journals, research institutions, publishers, or relevant organizations for the investigation of suspected research misconduct shall be limited to what is necessary and handled in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief and publisher, where appropriate, in accordance with COPE guidance and applicable confidentiality and data-protection requirements.
Editors shall also comply with the IJM policy on generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies. Confidential manuscripts, reviewer reports, and editorial correspondence must not be uploaded to or processed through external AI tools that have not been authorized by the journal or that do not provide adequate confidentiality and data protection. Any use of AI-assisted technologies in editorial work must comply with the journal's applicable policies, preserve confidentiality, and not replace the editor's independent professional judgment.
11. Declaration of competing interests
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board members of the Indonesian Journal of Medicine (IJM) shall disclose any actual, potential, or perceived competing interests to the publisher in writing before their appointment and promptly update their declarations whenever new competing interests arise. Such declarations may be published by the journal to promote transparency and maintain trust in the editorial process.
Editors shall not participate in evaluating, handling, or making decisions on manuscripts they have authored or co-authored, manuscripts submitted by family members or close colleagues, or manuscripts involving products, services, organizations, or other interests with which they have a competing interest. Such manuscripts shall be handled independently by an editor without relevant conflicts of interest, and peer review shall be conducted independently of the submitting editor or author and their research group. Where appropriate, a statement describing the independent editorial handling shall be included in the published article.
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board members shall ensure that authors and reviewers disclose their actual or potential competing interests in accordance with the Indonesian Journal of Medicine (IJM) competing interest policy and applicable international standards, including the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). All disclosed interests shall be assessed appropriately to determine whether additional safeguards or changes in editorial handling are necessary to preserve the fairness, objectivity, and integrity of the publication process.
12. Vigilance over the published record
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board members of the Indonesian Journal of Medicine (IJM) shall safeguard the integrity of the scholarly record by identifying, assessing, and appropriately addressing suspected or reported misconduct involving research, publication, peer review, or editorial practices. Such cases shall be handled in collaboration with the publisher and, where appropriate, relevant institutions or professional organizations, in accordance with the IJM publication ethics policies and applicable guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
When allegations of misconduct arise, the Editor-in-Chief or an authorized editor shall assess the available evidence, contact the relevant authors to request an explanation, and provide them with a fair opportunity to respond. Where necessary, further inquiries may be directed to the authors' affiliated institutions, research ethics committees, or other relevant bodies. Editors shall use appropriate tools and procedures to identify potential misconduct, including plagiarism detection systems, while ensuring that findings are assessed carefully and fairly.
When credible evidence of misconduct or significant errors is established, the Editor-in-Chief shall coordinate with the publisher and other relevant parties to determine and implement appropriate corrective actions. These may include the publication of a correction, an expression of concern, a retraction, or another appropriate notice, depending on the nature and severity of the issue. All actions shall be taken promptly, transparently, and in accordance with the IJM policies on research and publication misconduct.
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board members shall remain informed about current policies, ethical guidelines, and procedures relating to research integrity, publication ethics, peer review, and editorial responsibilities. They shall apply these standards consistently to protect the credibility, accuracy, and reliability of the journal's published record.
