2021-04-21 OMA Agenda - Board of Trustees

Recommendation #14. Elsevier helps fund journal Editors (i.e., Editor and Executive Editor), with increasing support dependent upon the success of the journal (i.e., number of published articles, impact factor, advertisement opportunities). However, it is OMA who will choose and pay the Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor, with its own selection criteria (beyond any contractual agreement via Elsevier). Rationale: Among the surest ways for a journal to fail is if the journal is run by an Editor who has a poor understanding of the applicable science, who has limited experience in publishing, and/or who lacks operational, managerial, and motivational skillsets. It is desirable that journal Editor have substantial experience in publishing in peer review journals. A journal Editor should have a good understanding of the applicable science and be well-known and respected in the academic community. A journal Editor should at least have Associate Editor and Editorial Board experience. Perhaps most importantly, an Editor should have proven operational, managerial, and motivational skillsets necessary to move manuscripts through the process in a timely manner. o Inexperience regarding authorship, peer review, and Editorial positions o Single-minded agendas o Inability to balance compromise versus ethical and scientific lines that should not be crossed. o Lack of time commitment to journal article management o Inability to work well with others Other duties of the Editor should include: o Setting up journal “Instructions to Authors” page, with standardized submission types, descriptions, and criteria o Training Associate Editors and Editorial Board members (reviewers) o Creating/editing default electronic letter templates (Associate Editor invitations, reviewer invitations, response to authors, etc.) o Overseeing manuscript requirements and submission: • Triage of submissions • Submission flow starting from the receipt of a submission • Assigning Associate Editors • Overseeing invited reviewers • Overseeing decisions regarding acceptance • Notification of authors (and preferably reviewers) of whether the article is to be accepted, revised, or rejected o Meeting periodically with Associate Editors o Meeting periodically with the publishing company (Elsevier) Potential pitfalls include Editors with:

8