Editorial Independence Policy
SAER Journal · Editorial Policies
SAER Journal ensures that editorial decisions are made independently on the basis of scientific quality, research integrity, the journal's aims and scope, and publication ethics.
The editorial process is protected from commercial, institutional, personal, political, or other inappropriate external influence. Decisions concerning the evaluation and publication of manuscripts are based solely on scientific and ethical criteria.
Policy No. SAER-POL-EI-02 · Version 1.0 · Effective 2026 · Last Updated 14 September 2026 · Responsible Body SAER Journal Editorial Board
1. General Principle
Decisions concerning the evaluation and publication of a manuscript are based on its originality, scientific quality, methodological adequacy, ethical compliance, and contribution to the journal's aims and scope.
An author's identity, institution, academic title, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, political views, or other personal characteristics unrelated to scholarly evaluation must not determine editorial decisions.
2. Editorial Decision-Making Authority
Editorial decisions concerning whether a manuscript is sent for peer review, revised, accepted, or rejected are made by the authorized editors.
Reviewer opinions are an important element of the editorial decision-making process, but reviewer recommendations are not binding on their own. The final decision is made by considering reviewer reports together with editorial assessment, scientific quality, ethical compliance, and the journal's publication policies.
3. Independence from the Publisher and Journal Ownership
The journal owner, publisher, technical service providers, or administrative structure must not intervene in the acceptance or rejection of a specific manuscript for reasons unrelated to scientific criteria.
The role of the publisher or journal owner is limited to supporting the journal's sustainability, technical infrastructure, administrative activities, and general publication policies. Scientific decision-making authority for individual manuscripts belongs to the editorial structure.
4. Independence from Financial and Commercial Influences
Article processing charges, publication fees, advertising revenue, sponsorship, or other financial resources of the journal do not influence editorial decisions.
An author's ability to pay, institutional affiliation, or financial relationship with the journal does not provide an advantage in acceptance; likewise, the absence of a financial or institutional relationship does not create a disadvantage.
5. Role of Sponsors and Funders
The fact that research has been supported by a sponsor or funder is not, by itself, a positive or negative criterion in editorial decision-making.
Where funders or sponsors have a role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing, or the decision to publish, authors are expected to disclose those roles transparently.
Sponsors or funders may not interfere with SAER Journal's reviewer selection, peer-review process, or final publication decision.
6. Conflicts of Interest of Editors
If an editor has a financial, academic, institutional, personal, or other significant conflict of interest concerning a manuscript under consideration, that editor must withdraw from the evaluation and decision-making process.
In such cases, the manuscript is handled independently by another authorized editor who has no relevant conflict of interest.
7. Manuscripts Submitted by Editors and Editorial Board Members
Editors, editorial board members, and other individuals involved in the journal's editorial processes may submit scholarly work to SAER Journal. However, the person concerned may not participate in the preliminary evaluation, reviewer selection, correspondence, or final decision regarding their own manuscript.
Such submissions are handled by an independent editor who has no conflict of interest with the author and are subject to the same scientific and ethical evaluation standards as other manuscripts.
8. Editorial Independence in Special Issues
Special issue editors or guest editors must comply with the journal's scientific and ethical evaluation principles for manuscripts within the issue they oversee.
If a special issue editor has authored a manuscript under consideration, that manuscript is managed by an independent editor.
The existence of a special issue does not suspend the application of the journal's peer-review, conflict-of-interest, or research-integrity policies.
9. Editorial Pressure or Improper Interference
It is unacceptable to pressure editors to accept or reject a particular manuscript for reasons unrelated to scientific evaluation.
If an allegation of improper external interference in the editorial process arises, the matter is reviewed by the journal's authorized editorial structure, and additional measures may be taken where necessary to safeguard the independence of the decision-making process.
10. Scientific and Ethical Responsibility of Editors
Editorial independence does not imply unlimited discretion. Editors are responsible for making decisions in accordance with the journal's published policies, principles of scholarly publishing, research integrity, and fair evaluation.
The reasons for editorial decisions may be explained to authors where appropriate and may be reconsidered within the journal's appeal or complaint procedures.
11. Confidentiality
Unpublished manuscripts, reviewer reports, author correspondence, and other confidential information obtained during editorial decision-making must be used solely for the conduct of the publication process.
Such information may not be used for personal, academic, commercial, or competitive advantage.
12. Changes in Editorial Roles
Changes of editor or changes in the editorial structure should not improperly affect the scientific evaluation of manuscripts already in process.
During role transitions, care is taken to preserve the evaluation history of ongoing submissions and to maintain editorial processes as consistently as possible.
13. Transparency and Accountability
SAER Journal recognizes that editorial independence must be exercised together with transparency and accountability. The journal's editorial structure, principal publication policies, and conflict-of-interest principles are made publicly available.
14. Policy Review and Updating
SAER Journal may review and update this policy as necessary in response to developments in scholarly publishing standards and editorial best practices.
