EDITORIAL POLICY


Manuscripts submitted to the JMSH via email (jmsh@kdu.ac.lk) are handled by the editorial board members, and other related personnel for an initial screening. Papers are submitted electronically through email, processed by the office staff, and distributed to a co-editor by the editor in chief and editorial staff to monitor the refereeing process, follow its progress, and ensure its timely completion. Papers are assigned to co editors and reviewers based on their field of expertise, as well as a host of other factors such as workload equalisation and conflict-of-interest regulations. If deemed necessary, papers will be sent to other internal or external reviewers based on the requirement.

Papers are handled by the chosen co editor throughout the decision process once they have been assigned. Before making a revision and resubmitting a decision on any article (or in the event of uncertainty), the co editor in charge must contact a second co editor of their choice. They stay in command of the co editorship and are free to make whatever decisions they like, but they can utilise the second coeditor's input to reach a decision or offer feedback in a prospective revision letter.

PEER REVIEW, CONFIDENTIALITY, AND EDITORIAL HANDLING

  1. Co Editors are withdrawn from papers involving current colleagues (regardless of department) or graduate students of the same institution.
  2. Co Editors are withdrawn from editing articles by co authors of recent works or papers published within the last two years.
  3. Coeditors are withdrawn from editing articles concerning untenured students they mentored.
  4. Co Editors are withdrawn from editing manuscripts that involve a family member.
  5. Coeditors must state any other intimate personal or professional relationships (e.g., co author of a current project, a former tenured student with whom the co editor is still in contact, the author's advisee, etc.) that they believe present a conflict of interest.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: EDITOR

  1. Editors are not permitted to consult on papers involving colleagues from the same department, but they are permitted to consult on papers by authors from different departments within the same university.
  2. Editors are barred from consulting on papers featuring untenured students; they advised if the paper was part of the student's dissertation or if the student graduated less than three years ago.
  3. Editors are not allowed to consult on manuscripts that involve a family member.
  4. Editors must disclose any other close personal or professional relationships, even if not listed here (e.g., coauthor of a current project, a former tenured student with whom the editor is still in contact, the author's advisee, etc.) that, in their opinion, create a conflict of interest in consulting on the paper..

It is the Co editor’s obligation to notify the editor in charge of any conflicts. Conflict might also be signalled in the cover letter. Papers that fall into one of these categories are handled by the Editor or a different Co Editor, according to the necessary procedures for refereeing discretion. Papers submitted by a Co Editor are handled by the Editor, while papers submitted by the Editor are handled by a Coeditor, with proper confidentiality mechanisms in place.

Manuscripts go through a double-blind review process. The author's name is disclosed to the referee(s), but the referee(s) is kept secret from the writers. The author of the article being commented on, as well as other referees, review the comments submitted to the Review.

Editor Responsibilities

The Editor is in charge of the journal's content as well as the integrity of any material that is published in it. They have a responsibility to advocate freedom of speech, subject to taking reasonable precautions to ensure that: no work is published that contains any content that is taken from another work; all work produced is original and has not been published in whole or in part previously; and no work is published that includes content from other copyrighted publications for which the author(s) have not secured the required authorization. No work is published that contains defamatory, incorrect, libellous, misleading, obscene, scandalous, unlawful, or otherwise objectionable content that infringes on another person's copyright, right of privacy, or other rights.

Where the Editor has concerns about any of the following criteria, they will obtain legal counsel from the publishers.

The Editor should work hard to raise standards and make sure that the journal is always serving the interests of readers, writers, and reviewers. The editors are responsible for ensuring that each issue and volume has an adequate balance of articles, taking into consideration issues such as numerous submissions from individuals/teams and the subject of papers, among others.

The Editor must always be willing to publish apologies, clarifications, corrections, and retractions when relevant evidence is provided. The Editor encourages discussion on material published in the journal and will usually publish brief comments (as long as they do not include personal attacks and are not abusive, defamatory, incorrect, libellous, misleading, obscene, scandalous, unlawful, or otherwise objectionable content that infringes on another person's copyright, right of privacy, or other rights), while also allowing authors to respond. The journal, on the other hand, is unable to provide a place for in-depth discussion.

Annual data on the number of articles submitted to the journal and the number of submissions approved for publication will be published by the Editor.