A sponsor editor will be chosen by the author of a submitted manuscript to chaperone it through the review process. The sponsor editor should be an individual, or a team, that has some understanding of the topics covered in the manuscript and could advocate for the author. Accepting this role implies that you will fulfill it in an ethical manner without compromising the integrity of honest and dispassionate scholarship. You must not have any expectation of personal gain in the publication of the manuscript. There must not be any conflict of interest involving the author or the manuscript. The role of editor includes vetting the manuscript as being original work present in a scholarly manner. If it is not, it is to be rejected outright or returned to the author with a list of deficiencies to be corrected.
If the author has requested the blinded-review process and you feel the work is worthy of peer-review, you will choose two or more experts to act as referees. Send them the manuscript along with the OPUSeJ Referee Guidelines. Keep the identity of the author confidential. Check that the manuscript is free of author identifiers.
The referees may return recommendations of outright rejection. Or the referees may return the manuscript with a list of flaws requiring mandatory revision or minor suggestions for improvement. These opinions are to be communicated to the author. You will arbitrate any differences between author and reviewers. Once you receive a version that you feel satisfies the reviewer’s requirements, the manuscript is ready for publication. When the final disposition of the manuscript is decided, forward it to OPUSeJ. Preserve a record of the communications between you, the author and reviewers, for any future reference, and send a summary of this record to OPUSeJ.
If the author has requested the open-review process, you will vet the initial submission and return it to the author to correct any major deficiencies. Once you have a version that is suitable, send it to the editor as recommended for posting it as a discussion paper. Once posted, you will moderate reader commentary. After a sufficient time, as determined by you, the author is expected to produce a revision that takes the reviews into consideration. If you feel that this version is ready for publication, forward it to OPUSeJ.
The sponsor editor is free to act alone but the resources of OPUSeJ editors are available. Comments and referee opinions gathered by OPUSeJ will be sent to the sponsor editor as deemed necessary.
OPUSeJ would like to acknowledge the role of the sponsor editor by posting their name with the publication of the final version, unless they wish to remain anonymous.