The Journal of Clinical Trials relies on the active contribution of its editorial team to uphold the highest standards of quality, ethics, and objectivity in clinical research publishing. Editors play a pivotal role in ensuring that each submission is evaluated fairly, reviewed rigorously, and published with scientific merit and clinical relevance.

This page outlines the responsibilities, workflows, and ethical expectations for Section Editors, Associate Editors, and Guest Editors managing content for the journal.

✦ Editorial Responsibilities

1. Manuscript Assessment

• Conduct an initial editorial review to assess scope, novelty, and adherence to journal formatting.
• Reject manuscripts that are clearly unsuitable or unethical without sending them for external review.
• Recommend whether the manuscript should proceed to peer review or be returned for revision.

2. Reviewer Assignment

• Select qualified and impartial reviewers based on expertise, availability, and past performance.
• Ensure that reviewers have no conflicts of interest with the authors or content.
• Maintain diversity and inclusion in reviewer selection.

3. Peer Review Oversight

• Monitor the progress and quality of reviews to ensure timely and constructive feedback.
• Facilitate discussions between reviewers if discrepancies in evaluations arise.
• Make evidence-based decisions based on reviewer feedback, scientific merit, and journal standards.

4. Editorial Decisions

• Recommend one of the following: Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Reject.
• Provide clear, concise, and respectful feedback to authors summarizing reviewer input and editorial judgment.
• Ensure decisions are free from bias and are based solely on the content of the submission.

5. Ethical Oversight

• Uphold the journal’s policies on plagiarism, data fabrication, duplicate publication, and unethical authorship practices.
• Refer any suspected misconduct to the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Ethics Committee for further investigation.
• Ensure that manuscripts involving human or animal subjects include appropriate ethical approvals.

✦ Confidentiality & Conflict of Interest

• Editors must treat all submissions as confidential and not disclose details outside the review process.
• Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where they have a personal, financial, or academic conflict of interest.
• All editorial actions must be transparent and documented within the journal management system.

⚙️ Editorial Workflow Summary

1. Initial Screening – Assess scope and basic requirements.
2. Assign Reviewers – Invite 2–3 expert reviewers.
3. Review Monitoring – Ensure timely completion and quality of reviews.
4. Editorial Decision – Based on reviewers' comments and personal assessment.
5. Communication – Provide decision letters and guidance to authors.
6. Final Approval – Coordinate with Editor-in-Chief for acceptance and publication.

✳️ Expectations for Guest Editors (Special Issues)

• Propose a special issue theme and outline its relevance.
• Identify and invite authors and reviewers for special issue content.
• Ensure that all submissions meet the same peer review standards as regular issues.
• Provide a short editorial overview to introduce the special issue upon publication.

⚖️ Maintaining Journal Integrity

• Promote transparency, reproducibility, and open science practices.
• Encourage authors to follow CONSORT, SPIRIT, PRISMA, and related reporting guidelines where applicable.
• Maintain records of all editorial communications and decisions for auditing purposes.

✉️ Editorial Support & Contact

For any editorial concerns, ethical dilemmas, or support needs, please contact editor.clinicaltrials@sciconxjournals.com

Thank you for your commitment to scholarly excellence and for contributing your expertise to the Journal of Clinical Trials.