On 16 August 2010, the International Mathematical Union adopted the text Best Current Practices for Journals, which summarises the rights and duties of the different actors in scientific publishing, from the author to the publisher.
Rights and responsibilities
| Rights | Responsibilities | |
| Authors | – Thorough and impartial peer review – Understanding the selection process – Understanding the reasons why an article is accepted or rejected | – Adhere to high standards of integrity and rigour in their research – Use clear and correct language – The manuscript must not be submitted to more than one journal at the same time – Respond to correspondence from the journal by appointing a spokesperson for all the authors of an article – All authors must have contributed to the publication – In mathematics, it is customary to list authors in alphabetical order |
| Reviewers | – Right to anonymity | – Adhere to the timeline. – Maintain confidentiality. – Do not use research from revised manuscripts for personal gain. – Provide authors with full information regarding the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript. |
| Editorial committee | – Provide a clear, publicly accessible procedure for the submission and review of articles, including the roles of editors and reviewers – Ensure the integrity of the peer-review process – Where an article is rejected before it is even sent to reviewers, this must be done fairly and objectively – Inform authors of the reasons for the acceptance or rejection of their article and provide access to all review reports – Be prepared to impose sanctions in the event of unethical practices | |
| Publishers | – Adhere to the principles of integrity, transparency and timeliness – Publish detailed information about the journal and the peer-review procedures – Ensure access to publications and their indexing – Flexibility regarding payment – Clearly distinguish and separate the peer-review process and editorial decisions from financial considerations – Layout and online publication or print – Clearly set out their copyright policy – Indicate the publication date of articles – Respond to and investigate allegations of plagiarism or any other unethical behaviour |
Recommendations
- The editorial board needs to question the vision of the journal and its processes.
- To ensure a professional manuscript management system throughout the submission, review and publication process. Clear procedures should be established to avoid errors.
- To propose tools to detect and deal with plagiarism in submitted articles.
- The editor and the editorial board determine the quality standards, including the quality of the language.
- Members of the editorial board should be actively involved in the editorial process of the journal. If they are not active, they should be listed as “honorary members”.
- Editorial board members should be aware of and accept their responsibilities and the review processes of the journals.
- Pricing policies should be clearly stated by the publisher.
The IMU is an international non-governmental and non-profit scientific organisation whose objectives are to promote international cooperation in mathematics, to support international scientific conferences and to support all activities that contribute to the development of mathematics.