Editorial Policies

The Journal of Diabetes, Metabolism and Endocrinology maintains editorial policies designed to ensure rigorous peer review, transparent editorial decision-making, publication integrity, accurate scholarly communication, and timely publication. The journal's editorial practices are guided by internationally recognized principles, including relevant recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and publication-ethics principles developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The journal also seeks to maintain the standards of editorial quality, transparency, and publishing practices expected of internationally recognized abstracting and indexing services, including Scopus.

The journal's editorial processes are independent of commercial interests, advertising, sponsorship, or publication fees. ICMJE emphasizes that editors are ultimately responsible for the selection of journal content and that peer-review systems should ensure appropriate reviewer selection and proper assessment of reviewer comments.

1. Editorial Independence

The Editorial Office maintains independence in all scholarly and editorial decisions. Manuscripts are evaluated according to scientific quality, originality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, relevance, and suitability for the journal.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by:

• Article processing charges or other publication fees.
• Advertising or sponsorship.
• Commercial relationships.
• Personal relationships.
• Institutional pressure.
• Author nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, academic status, or institutional affiliation.

Editors must exercise independent academic judgment and disclose and appropriately manage conflicts of interest.

2. Manuscript Submission and Administrative Screening

All manuscripts undergo an initial administrative and editorial screening before being assigned for peer review.

The Editorial Office verifies, where applicable:

• Manuscript completeness.
• Article type and journal scope.
• Author and affiliation information.
• ORCID information.
• Ethical approval and informed-consent information.
• Conflict-of-interest disclosures.
• Funding information.
• References and DOI information.
• Required cover letter and supporting documents.
• Similarity/plagiarism screening documentation.
• Compliance with the journal's submission requirements.

Incomplete submissions may be returned to authors for correction before further editorial assessment.

3. Initial Editorial Assessment

An editor evaluates whether the manuscript is appropriate for the journal and meets minimum standards for scientific and ethical consideration.

A manuscript may be declined without external peer review when it:

• Falls outside the journal's scope.
• Lacks sufficient scientific merit.
• Contains major methodological deficiencies.
• Fails to meet essential ethical requirements.
• Has substantial originality or publication-integrity concerns.
• Does not meet the journal's basic submission standards.

This preliminary decision does not constitute a judgment on the authors or their academic qualifications.

4. Managing the Peer-Review Process

The journal operates a single-blind peer-review process, under which reviewer identities are normally kept confidential from authors.

Editors are responsible for:

• Selecting reviewers with appropriate expertise.
• Assessing reviewer conflicts of interest.
• Providing reviewers with the manuscript and relevant supplementary material.
• Monitoring review deadlines.
• Evaluating the quality and relevance of reviewer reports.
• Seeking additional reviewers where necessary.
• Ensuring that reviewer comments are appropriately communicated to authors.
• Making the final editorial decision based on the complete record.

ICMJE states that journals should have systems for selecting appropriate reviewers and that editors should ensure reviewers have access to relevant material and that their comments are assessed in the context of declared relationships and activities.

The Editor is not required to follow a reviewer's recommendation and may request additional expert assessment when reviewer opinions conflict or when important scientific or ethical questions remain unresolved.

5. Reviewer Selection and Management

Reviewers are selected according to subject expertise, methodological competence, publication experience, availability, and independence.

Reviewers are expected to:

• Maintain confidentiality.
• Provide objective and constructive assessments.
• Declare conflicts of interest.
• Avoid personal or discriminatory criticism.
• Identify significant methodological or ethical concerns.
• Complete reviews within the agreed timeframe.

Reviewers must not use unpublished information obtained during peer review for personal or professional advantage. ICMJE specifically requires confidentiality and cautions against inappropriate use of unpublished manuscript information.

6. Editorial Decision-Making

Following peer review, the assigned editor evaluates the manuscript, reviewer reports, author responses, and any relevant ethical or scientific concerns.

Possible decisions include:

• Accept
• Minor Revision
• Major Revision
• Reject

The number of reviews alone does not determine the decision. Editors consider the substantive quality and consistency of the evidence and reviewer assessments.

The Editor-in-Chief retains final responsibility for the journal's published content.

7. Revision and Re-Review

When revisions are requested, authors should provide a point-by-point response explaining how reviewer and editorial comments have been addressed.

The revised manuscript may:

• Be assessed directly by the handling editor.
• Be returned to the original reviewers.
• Be sent to additional reviewers.
• Require further revision.

Editors should distinguish between essential scientific corrections and discretionary editorial recommendations.

8. Editorial Assistance with Submissions

The Editorial Office may provide reasonable administrative and technical assistance to authors during the submission process.

Such assistance may include:

• Clarifying submission requirements.
• Identifying missing documents.
• Advising on manuscript formatting.
• Assisting with technical submission problems.
• Requesting corrections to incomplete author information.
• Clarifying ethical or declaration requirements.
• Communicating reviewer or editorial queries.

Editorial assistance does not guarantee acceptance and must not influence the scientific evaluation of a manuscript.

The Editorial Office should not substantially rewrite an author's scientific argument or alter research findings on behalf of the authors.

9. Copyediting and Language Review

Accepted manuscripts may undergo editorial and production checks for:

• Grammar and spelling.
• Academic language.
• Formatting consistency.
• Headings and section structure.
• References.
• Tables and figures.
• Terminology and abbreviations.
• Journal style requirements.

Copyediting should improve clarity and consistency without changing the scientific meaning, interpretation, or conclusions of the work.

Authors remain responsible for confirming the accuracy of the final content.

10. Proofreading and Author Proof Approval

Before publication, accepted manuscripts undergo a proofreading and typesetting stage.

Page proofs may be provided to the corresponding author for final verification. Authors should carefully check:

• Author names and affiliations.
• Article title.
• Abstract.
• Tables and figures.
• References.
• Mathematical or scientific notation.
• Funding and conflict-of-interest statements.
• Other publication metadata.

Proof corrections should generally be limited to typographical, formatting, factual, or production errors. Substantial changes to the scientific content after acceptance may require additional editorial assessment.

11. Compiling and Publishing Journal Issues

The Editorial and Production Offices are responsible for compiling accepted articles into the journal's scheduled issues or publication sequence.

Issue compilation may consider:

• Article type.
• Subject relevance.
• Editorial balance.
• Publication priority.
• Completion of peer review and production.
• Availability of final proofs and required documentation.

Compilation of an issue does not alter the editorial decision already made regarding an individual manuscript.

For continuously published articles, individual articles may be published online as soon as the editorial and production process has been completed, according to the journal's publication model.

12. Article Metadata and Online Publication

Before publication, the journal verifies important article metadata, including where applicable:

• Article title.
• Author names.
• Affiliations.
• ORCID identifiers.
• Abstract.
• Keywords.
• References.
• DOI.
• Publication date.
• Article type.
• Funding and disclosure information.

Accurate metadata supports discoverability, indexing, citation tracking, and long-term scholarly preservation.

13. DOI and Reference Integrity

The Editorial and Production Teams should make reasonable efforts to ensure that:

• DOIs are accurately recorded.
• Reference details are consistent.
• Links are functional where applicable.
• Article metadata is correctly associated with the published work.

Authors remain responsible for the scholarly accuracy of their references, while the journal performs appropriate editorial and production checks.

14. Corrections and Version Control

The journal maintains procedures for correcting the scholarly record after publication.

Depending on the nature of an error, the journal may publish:

• Correction.
• Erratum.
• Editorial clarification.
• Expression of Concern.
• Retraction.

Corrections should clearly identify the affected article and explain the nature of the change while preserving an appropriate record of the publication history.

ICMJE includes corrections and version control among its publishing and editorial responsibilities.

15. Research Misconduct and Publication Ethics

The journal takes allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously.

Potential concerns may include:

• Plagiarism.
• Duplicate or redundant publication.
• Fabrication or falsification.
• Image manipulation.
• Citation manipulation.
• Authorship disputes.
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest.
• Peer-review manipulation.
• Ethical approval violations.
• Inappropriate use of patient information.

Where credible concerns arise, the Editorial Office may investigate the matter and request explanations or supporting documentation from authors, institutions, reviewers, or other relevant parties.

The journal follows applicable COPE principles and flowcharts when addressing publication-ethics concerns.

16. Authorship and Contributorship

The journal expects authorship to reflect genuine intellectual contribution and accountability.

ICMJE recommends that authors satisfy the established authorship criteria, including substantial contribution, participation in drafting or critical revision, final approval, and accountability for the work.

Editors do not ordinarily determine authorship disputes independently. Where authorship cannot be resolved among the authors, the relevant institution(s) may be asked to investigate.

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission require appropriate explanation and agreement from the affected authors.

17. Conflicts of Interest

Editors, reviewers, authors, and Editorial Office personnel should disclose relevant financial and non-financial relationships or activities.

An editor should recuse themselves from a manuscript when a relationship or activity could compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, impartiality.

ICMJE recommends disclosure and appropriate management of conflicts for authors, reviewers, editors, and journal staff.

18. Ethical Review of Human and Animal Research

The journal requires appropriate ethical oversight for research involving human participants, identifiable patient information, or animals, where applicable.

Editors may request:

• Ethics committee/IRB approval.
• Approval numbers.
• Informed-consent information.
• Clinical trial registration.
• Animal ethics documentation.
• Additional supporting evidence.

Protection of research participants and confidentiality must be maintained throughout the publication process.

19. Clinical Trials and Reporting Standards

Editors may request appropriate clinical-trial registration information and adherence to recognized reporting standards according to study design.

Authors are encouraged to use applicable reporting guidelines to improve transparency, completeness, and reproducibility of published research.

20. Artificial Intelligence in Editorial Work

The journal recognizes that AI-assisted technologies are increasingly used in scholarly publishing.

Editors and editorial staff must protect confidential manuscript information and should not enter unpublished manuscripts, reviewer reports, or other confidential material into external AI systems unless appropriate confidentiality and data-protection safeguards are in place.

AI tools must not replace editorial judgment. Editors remain responsible for decisions concerning manuscript quality, ethics, peer review, and publication.

The current ICMJE Recommendations specifically address responsible AI use by authors, reviewers, and editors.

21. Appeals and Complaints

Authors may appeal an editorial decision when they believe that a significant factual error, procedural problem, or serious misunderstanding affected the decision.

Appeals should provide a clear and substantive explanation. Disagreement with an editorial decision alone does not necessarily constitute grounds for reversal.

Complaints concerning editorial conduct, peer review, publication ethics, or journal procedures will be handled confidentially and fairly according to applicable journal policies and publication-ethics principles.

22. Editorial Board Governance

Editorial Board members are expected to:

• Maintain confidentiality.
• Declare conflicts of interest.
• Support rigorous peer review.
• Promote research integrity.
• Avoid preferential treatment.
• Contribute appropriate scholarly expertise.
• Follow the journal's editorial and ethical policies.

Editorial Board membership does not provide automatic acceptance, expedited publication, or preferential treatment of submitted manuscripts.

23. Transparency and Journal Quality

The journal seeks to maintain transparent and consistent editorial practices concerning:

• Peer-review procedures.
• Editorial responsibilities.
• Authorship.
• Conflicts of interest.
• Publication ethics.
• Corrections and retractions.
• Fees.
• Advertising.
• AI use.
• Editorial decision-making.

These practices are designed to support the quality, integrity, discoverability, and long-term credibility of the journal.

24. Indexing and Abstracting Standards

The journal aims to maintain editorial and publishing practices consistent with internationally recognized standards relevant to scholarly indexing and abstracting.

In relation to Scopus, the journal recognizes the importance of consistent peer review, transparent editorial governance, scholarly quality, regular publication, appropriate journal information, and responsible publishing practices. Scopus independently evaluates journals according to its own content-selection and re-evaluation procedures; inclusion should therefore not be represented as guaranteed or automatic.

25. Publication Schedule and Timeliness

The Editorial Office monitors the publication workflow to minimize unnecessary delays while preserving the integrity of peer review.

The workflow may include:

Submission → Editorial Screening → Reviewer Selection → Peer Review → Editorial Decision → Revision → Acceptance → Copyediting → Typesetting → Proofreading → Final Publication

Editors should communicate promptly with authors and reviewers when action is required.

26. Editorial Record and Archiving

The journal maintains appropriate editorial and publication records, including manuscript decisions, reviewer reports, author correspondence, publication versions, and relevant ethical documentation, subject to applicable privacy and data-retention requirements.

Published articles should remain accessible as part of the permanent scholarly record, with corrections, retractions, or other post-publication notices clearly associated with the original publication.

27. Commitment to Responsible Scholarly Publishing

The Journal of Diabetes, Metabolism and Endocrinology is committed to maintaining a publication environment based on editorial independence, rigorous peer review, confidentiality, transparency, research integrity, ethical oversight, accurate reporting, and responsible scholarly communication.

The journal's editorial policies are informed by the current ICMJE Recommendations, relevant COPE publication-ethics guidance, and internationally recognized principles of scholarly publishing. ICMJE's current recommendations were updated in January 2026 and cover peer review, editorial responsibilities, scientific misconduct, corrections, fees, advertising, electronic publishing, clinical trials, and AI in publishing.

These policies may be periodically reviewed and updated to reflect developments in medical publishing, research ethics, technology, indexing requirements, and international standards.