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Editorial Board Function

The Editorial Board is made up of a team of individuals that work directly with the Editor in Chief and the Managing Editor to develop the journal and promote new initiatives. Members of the Board may also take responsibility for key activities linked to the journal, for example the Book review editor or Section Editor (such as Section Editor for Systematic Reviews).

Editorial Board members are chosen for their expertise in key areas related to the journal and/or chosen for their international presence in the field. Excellent long standing reviewers can also be asked to join the Editorial Board. They are also from the same expert field as the journal topic.

The Editorial Board is chaired by a Chairperson, usually the Editor in Chief. Other Editorial board members could also be appointed as Chairpersons. When there are meetings, either face to face, teleconferences or Skype, the Chairperson would manage the agenda and the meeting of the Editorial Board.

The Editor in Chief and the Managing Editor report directly to the Editorial Board. A journal's Editorial Board undergoes a complete renewal after a set period of four years. This will involve removing some individuals, inviting others, and renewing some existing members for another term. The Editor's position is unpaid.

The Editorial Board has a regular communication forum twice a year, in June and December, before each issue is published, either face to face in person (depending on their country of origin, funding availability, etc.) or communicating by teleconference or Skype type events.

The Editorial Board members subscribe to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and are dedicated to following the COPE Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing and the COPE's Core Practices.

The role of the Editorial Board is:

  • to offer expertise in their specialist area
  • to review submitted manuscripts
  • to advise on journal policy and scope
  • to work with the Editor in Chief and the Managing Editor to ensure ongoing development of the journal
  • to identify topics for Special Issues of the journal or recommend a Conference which would promote the journal, which they might also help to organize and/or guest edit
  • to attract new and established authors and article submissions
  • to attract new reviewers from their field or outside their field
  • to provide second opinions on papers (i.e. where there is a conflict between reviewers)
  • to endorse and promote the journal among peers
  • to submit some of their own work for consideration, ensuring that they adhere to the Conflict of Interest Policy and stating their relationship to the journal. This is very important as the journal cannot be seen to publish only papers from members of the Editorial Board.

In accordance with the journal policy, Editorial Board members are requested:
  • to register an ORCID id at http://www.orcid.org for name disambiguation and
  • to register a Web of Science Reviewer recognition account (formerly Publons http://www.publons.com) to document their standing on the Editorial Board of ESNBU and also to receive acknowledgement for their reviews when such are performed.
Both services are free.