Editorial Board Policy

The Journal of Algebra Combinatorics Discrete Structures and Applications is committed to transparent, accountable, and ethical editorial governance. This policy defines the structure, responsibilities, appointment terms, conflict-of-interest obligations, multi-board participation rules, and ethical standards governing all members of the Editorial Board, as well as the procedure for prospective scholars wishing to join the Editorial Board.

This policy is informed by and aligned with the COPE Core Practices, the COPE Guidelines on Editorial Board Participation, and the COPE Short Guide to Ethical Editing for New Editors. Prior to assuming editorial duties, every appointed board member is required to review, complete, and sign the journal's official Editorial Board Appointment Agreement and Conflict-of-Interest Declaration Form (PDF).

Editorial Board Structure, Roles and Decision Authority

The journal defines clear responsibilities and decision-making boundaries for each tier of editorial involvement:

  • Editor-in-Chief (EiC): Holds overall scholarly and ethical responsibility for the journal's editorial direction, policies, and final publication decisions. Under the journal's OJS workflow, the Editor-in-Chief initially receives submitted manuscripts as Journal Editor, conducts formal initial editorial screening (assessing scope, originality, methodological suitability, mathematical rigor, and plagiarism screening in accordance with the Peer Review Policy), and assigns qualified manuscripts to the appropriate Section Editor according to subject expertise. The Editor-in-Chief supervises the Editorial Board and oversees conflict-of-interest disclosures, appeals, and research integrity investigations.
  • Associate Editors: Assist the Editor-in-Chief in editorial governance, strategic development, and periodic evaluations of Editorial Board members. When formally authorized by the Editor-in-Chief, the three Associate Editors conduct initial editorial screening of new submissions. Furthermore, in cases where the Editor-in-Chief has a conflict of interest regarding a submitted manuscript (or upon formal written delegation), an authorized independent Associate Editor independently assumes full editorial responsibility and renders the final editorial decision.
  • Section Editors: Manage the peer-review workflow for manuscripts assigned by the Editor-in-Chief within their specialized subject domains. Section Editors select and invite qualified, independent expert reviewers who must be external to the Editorial Board. In accordance with the journal's Peer Review Policy, at least two independent external reviewer reports are required prior to an ordinary final decision on scholarly merit. Section Editors ensure that reviewers do not transfer review invitations to colleagues without prior editorial permission, monitor reviewer performance, and report any ethical concerns or delays to the Editor-in-Chief. Editorial recommendations submitted by Section Editors through OJS (Accept, Revisions Required, or Decline) constitute formal recommendations only; they are subject to the approval of the Editor-in-Chief (or the authorized independent decision-making Associate Editor in conflict-of-interest cases) and do not by themselves constitute the final publication decision.
  • Managing Editor: Coordinates administrative and operational aspects of the OJS editorial workflow, facilitates editorial correspondence, monitors turnaround timelines, and maintains official editorial records. Administrative coordination does not confer authority to make final scholarly publication decisions.
  • Production Editor: Assumes operational responsibility for manuscripts following formal scholarly acceptance by the Editor-in-Chief. The Production Editor oversees the copyediting stage in OJS, ensuring grammatical accuracy, typographical precision, mathematical typesetting integrity (LaTeX notation, formulas, and numbering), and compliance with the journal's house style. The Production Editor coordinates author proofreading, verifies bibliographic metadata, Crossref DOIs, and ORCID iDs, ensures that only authorized typographical corrections are applied without altering accepted scientific content, and conducts final pre-publication quality assurance of PDF galleys and issue pagination. Production and copyediting coordination is strictly operational and does not confer authority to reverse, alter, or make substantive scholarly publication decisions.

Appointment Term, Expected Contributions and Renewal

Appointments to the Editorial Board are honorary academic services made for a fixed initial term of three (3) years. All appointments are formalized through a signed written agreement (Editorial Board Appointment Agreement) specifying the start and end dates, editorial role, and assigned subject area.

At every level of board involvement, editors are provided with clearly defined expectations regarding:

  • Volume and Quality of Editorial Handling: Fulfilling the expected annual number and quality of manuscript evaluations, reviews, and reasoned editorial recommendations or decisions (commensurate with submission flow and editorial tier) in a timely and thorough manner;
  • Reviewer Identification and Recruitment: Identifying qualified external referees and actively recruiting competent new reviewers to the journal's reviewer database;
  • Scholarly and Strategic Initiatives: Advising on or guest-editing approved special issues or thematic collections, contributing occasional scholarly commentaries or editorials, and participating in board consultations and journal development initiatives;
  • Timely Communication: Acknowledging editorial assignments within five (5) working days and notifying the Editor-in-Chief promptly of any temporary unavailability, leave, or sabbatical.

Renewal of an editorial appointment is not automatic. Prior to the conclusion of a three-year term, the Associate Editors and the Editor-in-Chief evaluate the member's active contributions, responsiveness, adherence to editorial policies, and compliance with publication ethics. Renewal is not limited to a single term: subject to the continuing disciplinary needs of the journal and a positive performance review, appointments may be renewed for successive three-year terms (multiple consecutive terms) by mutual written agreement.

Professional Conduct, Impartiality and Prohibition of Undercover Reviews

Editorial Board members must perform all duties fairly, impartially, and diligently in strict accordance with the journal's policies, the COPE Core Practices, the COPE Short Guide to Ethical Editing, and the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers:

  • Objective Merits-Based Assessment: Decisions and recommendations to accept or reject a manuscript must be based strictly on the paper's scholarly importance, originality, mathematical correctness, clarity, and relevance to the journal's remit, without bias regarding author nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, race, religion, or personal beliefs.
  • Prohibition of Coercive Citation: The journal enforces zero tolerance for coercive citation. Editors must never require or pressure authors to cite the editor's own work, the work of associates, or articles published in the journal without a clear, legitimate scholarly justification.
  • Protection of Unpublished Material: Unpublished manuscript content, mathematical proofs, constructions, and confidential editorial data must never be used for personal, academic, or financial advantage.
  • Prohibition of Undercover or Anonymous Board Reviews: In accordance with COPE guidelines and the journal's external reviewer mandate, if an editor exceptionally contributes a direct scholarly evaluation of an assigned manuscript, they must do so transparently under their own name on the editorial record and never under the guise of an anonymous additional referee. Editorial Board members shall under no circumstances submit review reports disguised as anonymous external reviewers.

Conflict-of-Interest Disclosures and Mandatory Audit Logging

Potential and serving Editorial Board members must provide a comprehensive declaration of actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest prior to appointment (via Appendix A of the Editorial Board Appointment Agreement) and update their disclosures promptly whenever material changes arise during their tenure. Mandatory disclosures include:

  • Primary and secondary institutional affiliations, academic employment, or commercial consultancies;
  • Recent co-authorship or active research collaborations with authors within the preceding 3 to 5 years;
  • Direct mentor–student, doctoral supervisory, or close personal and familial relationships;
  • Financial, commercial, patent, funding, or competing academic interests;
  • All other commitments and roles involving other scholarly journals, book series, and scientific societies or associations that produce publications (including concurrent editorships, advisory board memberships, and membership on publication oversight committees).

An editor who has a relevant conflict of interest regarding a submitted manuscript must not participate in initial editorial screening, reviewer selection, evaluation of referee reports, editorial deliberations, recommendations, or final publication decisions. If a conflict of interest is identified after accepting an assignment, the editor must disclose it immediately and recuse themselves so the manuscript can be reassigned to an independent editor. All conflict-of-interest disclosures, assignment acceptances or refusals, recusals, and reassignments are formally recorded and audited in the journal's OJS editorial management system.

Participation in Multiple Editorial Boards and Competing Commitments

Participating in the editorial boards of multiple journals that have similar aims and scope and compete for the same scholarly content carries the potential to generate conflicts of interest or conflicts of roles, commitments, and loyalties. In alignment with the COPE Guidelines on Editorial Board Participation, the journal enforces the following rules:

  • Prohibition on Competing Decision Authority: An editor may not simultaneously hold final decision-making authority over editorial content, policy, or strategy at two or more journals that directly compete for the same manuscripts.
  • Prohibition on Competing Guest Editorships: An editor shall not accept an invitation from a competing journal to serve as a guest editor for a scholarly initiative, thematic collection, or special issue that could legitimately be published in the journal.
  • Prevention of Field Monopolization: An editor shall not assume final decision-making authority for manuscript acceptance in a specific subject area across multiple major journals in the same field in a manner that establishes the individual as a primary gatekeeper of published scholarly material and restricts diversity of scientific opinion and thought.
  • Workload and Capacity Limits: Where an editor handles or reviews manuscripts for more than one journal, the aggregate expected workload must not overburden the editor or reduce their capacity to evaluate manuscripts for the journal in a thorough and timely manner.
  • Non-Permissible Conflicts and Removal: Irreconcilable or unresolved conflicts of interest, commitment, or loyalty arising from multiple editorial board positions will preclude a candidate from joining the Editorial Board or result in an existing editor's removal under Clause 11.3 of the Editorial Board Appointment Agreement.

Handling Submissions Authored by Editorial Board Members

While Editorial Board members are not denied the ability to publish their original research in the journal, stringent procedural safeguards are enforced to prevent any exploitation of position or appearance of impropriety:

  • Equal Scholarly Standards: Submissions authored or co-authored by an Editorial Board member are subjected to the exact same rigorous external peer-review standards as submissions from external authors, including at least two independent external reviewer reports.
  • Complete Dashboard Firewall: The author-editor has zero access to the OJS editorial workflow, reviewer identities, referee reports, or confidential editorial deliberations concerning their submission.
  • Editor-in-Chief Recusal Hierarchy: If the author or conflicted party is the Editor-in-Chief, editorial responsibility and final decision-making authority are assumed entirely by an authorized independent Associate Editor who has no conflict of interest. In the event that all three Associate Editors have a conflict of interest, an independent Section Editor manages the peer-review process and another authorized independent editor renders the final decision. The Editor-in-Chief does not participate in, influence, or access the process or final decision in any manner.
  • Published Transparency Disclosure: In accordance with COPE ethical editing guidelines, when a manuscript authored or co-authored by an Editorial Board member is accepted and published, the published article includes a transparent editorial note confirming that the peer-review and decision-making process was handled independently of the author-editor.

Confidentiality and Use of Generative AI by Editors

All submitted manuscripts, abstracts, reviewer identities, referee reports, and editorial correspondence are strictly confidential. Editors must comply with the journal's Data, AI and Research Integrity Policy:

  • Prohibition on Substantive AI Generation: Editors must not use generative artificial intelligence or AI-assisted technologies to generate, draft, or substantially formulate editorial decisions, recommendations, evaluations, or other substantive assessments of submitted manuscripts.
  • Permissible Limited Use: Limited use of AI-assisted tools for routine language editing or administrative assistance is permitted only where confidentiality is fully maintained, no unpublished manuscript content or confidential information is disclosed to an AI system, and the editor's independent scholarly judgment is not delegated.
  • Absolute Upload Ban: Under no circumstances may an editor upload a submitted manuscript, any part of a manuscript, an abstract, a peer-review report, editorial correspondence, or any other confidential editorial material to an external AI tool or platform.

Research Integrity, Editorial Independence, Handover and Termination

Editorial assessments are made independently of commercial, financial, institutional, or political influence. The publisher (iPeak Academy) provides the publishing infrastructure and operational support for the journal but does not interfere with editorial decisions on individual manuscripts, in accordance with the COPE Guidelines for Transparent Relationships Between Journals and Society Owners. Any operational disagreements or editorial grievances are resolved through transparent written consultation in line with COPE Core Practices.

Duty to Uphold Research Integrity: Editors play an essential role in preserving the integrity of the scholarly record. In accordance with the COPE Flowcharts and Corrections, Retractions and Appeals Policy, editors must pursue suspected cases of research or publication misconduct (including plagiarism, data fabrication, redundant publication, citation manipulation, or guest/ghost authorship disputes) even in submissions that are rejected and not intended for publication. All ethical complaints (including anonymous complaints) and formal author appeals must be handled politely, fairly, objectively, and confidentially, providing affected parties an opportunity to respond to factual evidence. Editors must support the prompt publication of corrections, clarifications, expressions of concern, or retractions whenever needed to safeguard the academic record.

Resignation, Handover and Continuity of Acceptance Decisions: An Editorial Board member may resign by providing thirty (30) days advance written notice to allow the orderly handover and reassignment of pending manuscripts. During any editorial transition or handover, an incoming editor (including an incoming Editor-in-Chief) shall not overturn a previous editor's formal manuscript acceptance decision unless serious ethical or scientific problems—such as plagiarism, data fabrication, or severe misconduct—are identified.

Early Termination of Appointment: As specified in Clause 11.3 of the Editorial Board Appointment Agreement, the journal may terminate an editorial appointment prior to term expiry for serious cause, including: (a) material breach of confidentiality or data protection rules; (b) research misconduct or academic integrity violations; (c) repeated failure to respond to editorial correspondence, persistent inactivity, or unexcused delays; (d) unresolved conflicts of interest or loyalty arising from multiple editorial appointments; (e) violation of the journal's generative AI restrictions; or (f) any conduct materially detrimental to the journal's scholarly reputation and editorial integrity.

Joining the Editorial Board (Applications and Recruitment)

The journal welcomes expressions of interest from established researchers who wish to contribute to the journal as Section Editors or Editorial Board members within the fields of algebra, combinatorics, discrete structures, coding theory, cryptography, and related mathematical applications.

Recruitment Criteria and COPE Assessment: When recruiting editors at any level, the Associate Editors and the Editor-in-Chief evaluate candidates based on scholarly standing, publication record in reputable mathematics venues, peer-review experience, commitment to COPE publication ethics, and subject-area needs. In accordance with COPE recruitment guidelines, the evaluation specifically considers:

  • Whether the candidate's concurrent editorial positions represent—or could reasonably be perceived as—a conflict of interest or loyalty;
  • Whether the candidate's aggregate manuscript handling and reviewing workload across journals would overburden the candidate or compromise timely, thorough editorial handling;
  • Whether the appointment would concentrate final decision-making authority in a specific subfield across multiple major journals in a manner that limits diversity of scholarly perspectives.

How to Apply: Qualified scholars interested in joining the Editorial Board may submit an application to the Editorial Office at info [at] jacodesmath.com with the subject line "Editorial Board Application – [Full Name]", including:

  • A current academic Curriculum Vitae (CV) including a complete list of publications and a verified ORCID iD;
  • A brief statement indicating the candidate's primary research specialization, relevant MSC 2020 subject codes, and the editorial role of interest;
  • A preliminary disclosure of all current editorial board memberships, guest editorships, book series roles, and scientific society publication committee memberships, prepared using the journal's Editorial Board Appointment Agreement and Conflict-of-Interest Declaration Form (PDF).

Applications are reviewed jointly by the Associate Editors and the Editor-in-Chief. Successful candidates receive a formal letter of appointment from the Editor-in-Chief and countersign the three-year Editorial Board Appointment Agreement prior to onboarding in OJS.

References

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Guidelines: Editorial Board Participation. Version 1, July 2021. https://doi.org/10.24318/F3lRGybw

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Guidelines: A Short Guide to Ethical Editing for New Editors. Version 3, May 2019. https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.8

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Version 2, September 2017. https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.9

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Retraction Guidelines. https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.4

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Editorial Independence. https://doi.org/10.24318/wTjdlHE5

Editorial Board Appointment Agreement and Conflict-of-Interest Declaration Form. https://jacodesmath.com/editor-api/generate-editorial-agreement-pdf.php

Contact

Questions regarding Editorial Board governance, conflict-of-interest disclosures, or Editorial Board applications should be directed to the editorial office at info [at] jacodesmath.com.