Excerpt from the P.I.E. Guidelines for E.B. Members – Responsibility

1    Editorial members of any publication must respect the personal privacy of the individuals involved whilst gathering data, only publishing the information that is considered to be in the public’s interest.

2    Editorial board members should not invade the privacy of individuals unless they are public figures and the intrusions are related to theirpublic activity.

3    All editorial board members who are registered members of PIE should act according to the guidelines of ethical editorial conduct and comply with the basic rules of the publishing sector. They must advise their staff under and around them to support the guidelines as well and follow them accordingly.

4    Editors are responsible for all of the data published within the articles they accept for publication. They must ensure that all the articles are of the utmost quality, grammatically and politically correct, and informative in nature.

5    All members of the editorial board must comply with ethical standards; they must be willing to take action as soon as they are aware of misconduct or ethical problems. Articles must be evaluated with objectivity.

6    Detailed guidelines should be made available to all authors, clearly stipulating the expected modes of behaviour and quality of authorship. This must include the stipulation of a full report listing all financial contributors along with an in depth analysis as to their involvement. This information should be made clear in the published material to eliminate any question of bias.

7    Editors have the responsibility of accurately and truthfully recording the contributions made by separate authors on a collaborative project, insisting on statements from each individual. Under no circumstance should gift or ghost authorship be encouraged, and any changes made to the document must always follow the notification and agreement of all authors and contributors involved. Disputes should be forwarded to PIE for objective arbitration (see below).

8    Peer review procedures should be clearly outlined to both authors and reviewers. All chosen reviewers must be checked for any conflicting interests and be suitably qualified with the skills required to review to the relevant standard.

9    Documentation relating to all of the above should be signed and up to date. Any uncertainties should be relayed to the Editor in chief immediately.