Responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief

Operational and Procedural Responsibilities

• Final Editorial Decision-Making: The procedural duties of the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) entail rendering final acceptance or rejection decisions on submitted research outputs, guided objectively by peer reviewers’ evaluation reports and editorial recommendations.
• Digital Infrastructure and Long-Term Preservation: The EiC is responsible for ensuring a secure digital ecosystem for the journal. This includes overseeing the mandatory implementation of secure encryption protocols (HTTPS), selecting a distinct, non-misleading journal title, and formulating robust long-term archiving strategies within certified repositories recognized by the Keepers Registry (such as CLOCKSS and Portico).
• Research Integrity and Whistleblower Protection: The EiC is mandated to initiate confidential investigation protocols immediately upon any suspicion of scientific or research misconduct, while ensuring the absolute anonymity and protection of whistleblowers.
• Post-Publication Amendments: The EiC holds the operational authority to issue corrective notices, including scientific errata/corrigenda, temporary Expressions of Concern, and permanent Retraction Notices, executed in systematic coordination with Crossref Crossmark.
• Funding Oversight and Policy Compliance: Responsibilities include vetting all sponsorship and funding agreements to ensure they are completely free from restrictive clauses that limit open data access or compromise the academic freedom of researchers. All operational policies must demonstrate seamless alignment with the updated core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the strict indexation criteria of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).