Editorial Governance

Description 

JFU is published by the Department of Physics, Universitas Andalas. This policy defines editorial authority, independence, appointments, conflicts, oversight, and accountability for the journal’s management. 

The journal’s governance must support reliable editorial processes while maintaining separation between academic decisions and financial, institutional, personal, or promotional interests. 

Policy 

  1. The publisher’s identity, journal ownership, editorial leadership, aims and scope, contact information, access model, publication frequency, fees, and material business practices will be stated clearly on the website. 
  2. The Editor-in-Chief has authority over editorial decisions, subject to JFU’s published policies on ethics, conflicts, appeals, and correction of the record. 
  3. Acceptance decisions are based on scholarly merit, methodological soundness, ethical compliance, relevance to scope, and reporting quality. They are not influenced by APC payment, waiver requests, institutional affiliation, sponsorship, or personal relationships. 
  4. Editorial roles must have written responsibilities, appointment procedures, terms, renewal arrangements, performance expectations, and removal criteria approved by the publisher. 
  5. Editorial Board membership must be current, consensual, relevant to JFU’s scope, and reviewed at least annually. Affiliations and areas of expertise must be kept accurate. 
  6. Editors, Board members, reviewers, and staff must protect confidentiality, disclose conflicts, and complete appropriate orientation or training for their roles. 
  7. APC and waiver administration must be separated from academic decision-making. An editor involved in a decision must not be informed of a waiver request unless operationally necessary after the academic decision. 
  8. Special issues and guest-edited collections are subject to the same peer-review, conflict, misconduct, correction, licensing, and data standards as regular issues. 
  9. Revenue sources, sponsorship, advertising, and direct marketing must not influence editorial decisions and must be disclosed when relevant. 
  10. Personal information collected through the journal platform will be used only for legitimate journal operations and handled under the journal’s Privacy Notice and applicable institutional requirements. 
  11. Technical Operational Steps 
  12. The publisher maintains an approved governance document showing ownership, reporting lines, editorial authority, administrative responsibility, and escalation routes. 
  13. Editors and Board members receive written role descriptions and sign confidentiality, conflict-of-interest, editorial-independence, and responsible-conduct declarations. 
  14. The Editor-in-Chief reviews the Board at least annually for active participation, expertise, diversity of discipline and institution, current affiliation, and unresolved conflicts. 
  15. Submissions involving an editor or close institutional colleague are reassigned to an independent editor, and the conflicted person’s access is restricted. 
  16. Administrative staff process APCs and waivers separately from the editorial record. The academic decision is completed without regard to payment status. 
  17. A special issue requires a written proposal, scope, timetable, named responsible editor, guest-editor declarations, reviewer controls, and oversight by the Editor-in-Chief. 
  18. Complaints concerning governance or editorial independence follow the Complaints and Appeals Policy. Alleged misconduct follows the Misconduct Policy. 
  19. Significant changes in ownership, publisher, Editor-in-Chief, business model, publication frequency, or editorial process are dated and disclosed on the website. 
  20. The policy set is reviewed at least every two years and whenever relevant standards, law, institutional requirements, or journal operations materially change.