Editorial and Publisher Responsibilities

 
 
 
Governance Policy

Editorial and Publisher Responsibilities

PTJI maintains a clear separation of roles between the Editorial Team and the Publisher to ensure editorial independence, ethical integrity, and the long-term sustainability of the journal.

COPE Compliant
Editorial Independence
ICMJE Recommendations
Open Access — CC BY 4.0
 
Pillar 1
Editorial Team

The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board are the guardians of scientific quality and ethical integrity — responsible for independent decision-making, peer review oversight, and upholding scholarly standards.

 
Pillar 2
Publisher

The Publisher provides the operational, legal, and financial framework necessary for PTJI to function sustainably and ethically — while guaranteeing full editorial independence from commercial interests.

1. Editorial Team Responsibilities

Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board

The Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board are primarily responsible for ensuring the quality, integrity, and smooth flow of content through the journal — acting as the primary guardians of its scientific and ethical standards.

 
Section 1A
Integrity and Oversight

The Editorial Team's core duty is to act as the guardian of ethics and quality across all stages of publication:

 
Independent Decision-Making

All acceptance/rejection decisions must be based strictly on a manuscript's scientific merit, originality, and relevance — free from any commercial, political, or personal bias. Decisions are never influenced by advertiser relationships or institutional pressures.

 
Ethical Enforcement

The Editor must maintain and enforce strict ethical policies covering proper authorship, disclosure of competing interests, data sharing requirements, and adherence to human subjects research standards (Declaration of Helsinki, KEPK).

 
Misconduct Handling

Editors must promptly investigate all suspected cases of publication misconduct — including plagiarism, data fabrication, and image manipulation — by consulting COPE guidelines and collaborating with the Publisher and external institutions when necessary.

 
Confidentiality

All submissions, reviewer identities, and editorial communications must be kept strictly confidential throughout the review process and beyond, in accordance with double-blind peer review standards.

 
Conflict of Interest Management

Editors must actively identify and recuse themselves from any manuscript where they have a conflict of interest — including their own submissions, manuscripts from close colleagues, or work funded by their institution.

 
Section 1B
Peer Review Management

The Editorial Team oversees the fairness and effectiveness of the double-blind peer review process:

 
Qualified Reviewers

Select qualified, objective reviewers with relevant expertise, actively avoiding those with a conflict of interest with the authors

 
Constructive Feedback

Ensure all reviewer feedback is constructive and professional; reject or edit any offensive, dismissive, or inappropriate language

 
Process Transparency

Be transparent about the peer review model used (double-blind) and ensure consistency in its application across all manuscripts

 
Timely Processing

Monitor reviewer timelines and communicate decisions to authors promptly, minimizing undue delays in the publication process

 
Section 1C
Strategic Development

The Editorial Team works to enhance the journal's long-term standing and global reach:

Diverse Editorial Board

Build and maintain an Editorial Board that is diverse in terms of geography, expertise, gender, and ethnicity — reflecting the global nature of physical therapy research

Long-Term Journal Strategy

Partner with the Publisher on long-term strategy to boost the journal's reputation, impact factor, and ability to attract top-tier research from the physical therapy and rehabilitation community

Author & Reader Support

Provide clear guidance to authors on submission requirements, ethical standards, and the revision process; ensure the journal remains accessible and welcoming to early-career researchers

2. Publisher Responsibilities

Operational, Legal, and Financial Framework

The Publisher provides the operational, legal, and financial framework necessary for PTJI to function sustainably and ethically — while guaranteeing the Editorial Team's complete freedom from commercial interference.

 
Section 2A
Upholding Editorial Standards

The Publisher's most vital role is to protect the integrity of the journal while providing the resources that enable it to operate:

 
Editorial Independence — Guaranteed

The Publisher must guarantee that the Editors have complete freedom to make all content decisions without interference from commercial, corporate, or financial interests. The Publisher never overrules an editorial decision based on advertiser relationships or revenue considerations.

 
Ethical and Legal Support

Provides essential resources, advice, and guidance to the Editor on complex ethical issues (following COPE guidance) and legal compliance — including data privacy regulations, copyright law, and liability management.

 
Maintaining the Scientific Record

Responsible for accurately and promptly publishing formal post-publication documents — including Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions — as required by the journal's policies and COPE guidelines.

 
Section 2B
Operations and Infrastructure

The Publisher manages the technical, production, and legal components that keep the journal running:

 
Production Quality

Oversee copyediting and typesetting to ensure published articles meet professional standards, are error-free, and clearly formatted

 
Wide Dissemination

Ensure content is widely disseminated and easily discoverable online via open access channels (CC BY 4.0), DOI assignment, and OAI-PMH metadata

 
Author Rights

Manage author rights through copyright or licensing agreements (CC BY 4.0), clearly communicating what authors retain and what they transfer upon publication

 
Indexing & Archiving

Ensure content is properly indexed (Google Scholar, SINTA, Scopus, DOAJ) and permanently archived (Portico, PKP PN/LOCKSS, Garuda) for long-term preservation

 
Section 2C
Journal Growth

The Publisher provides support for the journal's outreach, visibility, and community trust:

Marketing & Promotion

Handle journal marketing and promotion through appropriate channels to increase submissions, readership, and citations from the global physical therapy community

Transparent Policies

Provide clear, publicly available, and up-to-date policies for all stakeholders — authors, reviewers, and editors — covering fees, scope, peer review, and publication ethics

Stakeholder Communication

Maintain open lines of communication with authors regarding submission status, APC policies, and publication timelines, upholding the journal's reputation for reliability

Separation of Roles — Key Principle

PTJI strictly maintains the separation between editorial and publishing functions to prevent any commercial influence over academic content. The table below summarizes the boundary of each party's authority:

Responsibility Area Editorial Team Publisher
Accept / reject manuscripts
 
 Never
Enforce ethical standards
 
 
Publish corrections / retractions
 
 
Typesetting, production, and layout —
 
Database indexing and archiving —
 
Peer reviewer selection
 
 Never
Marketing and journal promotion —
 

Governing Standards & References

COPE Guidelines
ICMJE Recommendations
DOAJ Principles
Editorial Independence
WAME Standards
Scopus & SINTA Indexed