Code of Conduct for Editors

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion refer to efforts to create a more welcoming environment for all people and to foster more diverse, inclusive, and equitable communities. Brill is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in academic communities we serve. We are collaborating closely with other publishers in this respect. This Code originates from those collaborations.

In collaboration with Brill, the editors of journals and book series shall endeavour to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the editorial processes and policies, including, but not limited to, ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusivity within journals’ and book series’ editorial teams, reviewer pools, and authorship bases.

Editors hold a position of power in the peer review process. They commission content, are responsible for rejections and reviewer selection, and have the final decision on what gets published in their journal or series. Therefore, editors have a pivotal role to play with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within journal or book series processes. It is important that this responsibility is clearly set out to editors themselves and made publicly available to support accountability.

Recommendations

1. Expectations regarding editors’ code of conduct in relation to DEI should be clearly set out, with their responsibilities, beyond quality, clearly defined. Some examples of the likely responsibilities of editors are listed below. We recognise that the role of editor varies among journals and book series, and so this list is not intended to be either prescriptive or exhaustive.

• Transparent decision-making process, independently of personal agreement with the arguments forwarded
• Inclusive and diverse representation among reviewers
• Inclusive and diverse representation among editorial board members (where the editor has responsibility for appointing members)
• Respectful and professional conduct
• Transparent appeals process

2. Editors shall evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, or citizenship of the authors.

3. The editorial policies of the journal or series shall encourage transparency and complete, honest reporting, and the editor shall ensure that peer reviewers and authors have a clear understanding of what is expected of them.

4. When nominating potential editorial board members, the editor shall take account of the need for appropriate, inclusive, and diverse representation. When selecting editors, the editor-in-chief and the publisher should endeavour to ensure that the composition of the team is diverse in terms of both expertise and levels of seniority, with members providing balanced representation of different geographical regions, racial/ethnic groups, gender groups, various levels of seniority, and other groups. When selecting peer reviewers, editors should also endeavour to procure those from a diverse pool to ensure a balanced point of view.

5. Editors shall develop, with the guidance of the acquisitions editor, a thorough acquaintance with Brill’s Publication Ethics policy and procedures and shall abide by these in all matters related to the journal or book series and shall expect the same adherence of their editorial boards, authors, and peer reviewers. Brill’s Publication Ethics may be read and downloaded here. Questions and concerns related to publication ethics should be directed to publicationethics@brill.com.

Appeal

For questions and appeal against editorial decisions, please contact the acquisitions editor of the journal or book series.