Ethical Obligations of Editors and Reviewers

1. Editors should give unbiased consideration to all manuscripts offered for publication, judging each on it's merits without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex, seniority, or institutional affiliation. An editor may, however, take into account relationships between a manuscript immediately under consideration, and others previously or concurrently offered by the same author.
2. An editor should consider manuscripts submitted for consideration with all reasonable speed.
3. The sole responsibility for acceptance or rejection of a manuscript rests with the editor. Responsible and prudent exercise of this duty may require that the editor seek advice from reviewers chosen for their expertise and good judgement. However manuscripts may be rejected without review if considered inappropriate for the journal.
4. The editor should not disclose any information about a manuscript under consideration to anyone other than those from whom professional advice is sought. An editor who solicits, or otherwise arranges beforehand, the submission of manuscripts, may need to disclose to a prospective author the fact that a relevant manuscript by another author has been received or is in preparation.
5. An editor should respect the intellectual independence of authors.
6. Editorial responsibility and authority for any manuscript authored by an editor and submitted to said editor's journal should be delegated to some other qualified person.
7. Unpublished information or interpretations disclosed in a submitted manuscript should not be used in an editor's own research except with the consent of the author.
8. If an editor is presented with convincing evidence that the main substance or conclusions of a report published in an editors journal are erroneous, the editor should facilitate publication of an appropriate report pointing out the error and if possible correcting it. The report may be written by the person who discovered the error, or by the original author.
9. An author may request that the editor not use certain reviewers in consideration of a manuscript. However, the editor may decide to use one or more of these reviewers if the editor feels their opinions are important in the fair consideration of a manuscript. This might be the case, for example, when a manuscript seriously disagrees with the previous work of a potential reviewer.
10. Reviewers should explain and support their judgments adequately so that editors and authors may understand the basis of their comments.

Ethical Obligations of Authors

1. An author's central obligation is to present an accurate account of the topic under discussion or research performed.
2. An author should recognize that journal space is a precious resource and therefore has an obligation to use it wisely and economically.
3. A primary research report should contain sufficient detail and reference to public resources to allow the author's peers to repeat the work.
4. An author should cite all publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
5. Any unusual hazards inherent in the chemicals or procedures used in an investigation should be clearly identified in any manuscript reporting the work.
6. An author should identify the source of all information quoted or offered, except that which is common knowledge. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence or discussion, should not be used or reported in the author's work without the explicit permission from the person with whom the information originated. Information obtained during the course of confidential services (such as reviewing a manuscript) should be treated similarly.
7. Sometimes the work of another person may justify criticism, even severe criticism. When appropriate such criticism may be offered in published papers. However, in no case is personal criticism considered to be appropriate.
8. The co-authors of a paper should be all those persons who have made significant contributions to the work reported and who share responsibility and accountability for the results. Other contributions should be indicated in 'Acknowledgements' at the end of the manuscript (see Information for Contributors). The author who submits the manuscript accepts the responsibility of having included all persons appropriate and none inappropriate.
9. The author should reveal to the editor any potential conflict of interest, including financial interest, in a company that may be affected by publication of a manuscript.