Privacy, Confidentiality, and Informed Consent Policy

Authors and Reviewers

Manuscripts must be reviewed with due respect to the authors’ confidentiality. In submitting their manuscripts for review, the authors entrust the editors with the results of their work and creative effort, on which their reputation and career may depend. The authors’ rights may be violated by disclosing confidential details when reviewing their manuscripts. Reviewers also have the right to confidentiality, which must be respected by the editors. Confidentiality may have to be breached if dishonesty or fraud is alleged, but otherwise must be honored.

The editors must not disclose information about manuscripts (including their receipt, content, status in the reviewing process, criticism by reviewers, or ultimate fate) to anyone other than the authors and reviewers.

The editors must make clear to their reviewers that the manuscripts sent for review are privileged communications and property of the authors. Therefore, the reviewers and members of the editorial staff must respect the authors’ rights by not publicly discussing the authors’ work or appropriating their ideas before the manuscript is published. The reviewers must not be allowed to make copies of the manuscript for their files and must be prohibited from sharing it with others, except with the editor’s permission. The reviewers should return or destroy copies of the manuscripts after submitting the reviews. The editors should not keep copies of rejected manuscripts.

Reviewer comments should not be published or otherwise publicized without permission of the reviewer, author, and editor.