Excerpt from the P.I.E. Guidelines for E.B. Members – Independence from outside influence

1    All decisions made by the editorial team must be free from bias and influence, whether it is political, financial, ideological, or otherwise.

2    An editor should base their decision making process on the quality of the written content alone and be fully accountable for whichever course of action they decide to take. An environment where commercial considerations and editorial decisions are separate is the ideal to engender ethical conduct.

3   Editorial board members should be aware of pricing procedure and aim to promote cost-effective distribution of their material to the widest possible audience. This must be met under the overall banner of maintaining independence from fiscal obligations.

4    Any sponsorship or outside funding should be fully and clearly disclosed to the reader within the published article.

5    No agreement, whereby a sponsor or funding agent can censor elements within the written content which they consider to be derogatory to their agenda, should be entered unless the information is of a classified nature and has potential security risks. Such an action undermines the integrity of the work immediately, regardless of whether any attempts of censorship are made.

6    Editors should endeavour to receive written confirmation of their editorial independence from the publisher’s owner prior to taking a position. The only circumstance whereby editorial staff should be released from their role is through gross misconduct, and never for printing material deemed inconvenient by the publisher for political, financial, or ideological reasons.

7    Editors should never pressurise authors into citing publications for any other reason than the relevance or scholarly quality of the content.