Fungal Diversity
Guidance for editors supporting rigorous fungal research
Editors Guidelines
Editors play a critical role in maintaining the technical rigor and integrity of JFD. These guidelines outline expectations for handling submissions, selecting reviewers, and delivering fair, timely decisions.
Core Editorial Responsibilities
Scope Screening
Confirm that submissions align with the journal focus on fungal diversity, taxonomy, ecology, and applications.
Reviewer Selection
Invite reviewers with the right technical expertise and avoid conflicts of interest to ensure balanced evaluation.
Decision Guidance
Provide clear recommendations based on reviewer reports, focusing on scientific rigor and relevance.
Communication
Maintain professional and constructive communication with authors and the editorial office.
Editorial Workflow
Initial Check
- Assess novelty and relevance
- Confirm ethical statements
- Check basic structure and clarity
- Recommend review or reject
- Provide brief rationale
Review Coordination
- Select qualified reviewers
- Monitor review timelines
- Ensure constructive feedback
- Clarify reviewer conflicts
- Summarize key issues
Decision Support
- Review author responses
- Assess revisions objectively
- Recommend accept or reject
- Highlight required changes
- Support final decision notice
Quality Standards
Editors should ensure that manuscripts report key collection metadata, taxonomic context, and validation methods with enough detail for reproducibility. Data availability statements and conflict disclosures must be present before acceptance.
When evaluating revisions, focus on whether the authors have addressed technical concerns and clarified limitations. Encourage transparent discussion of uncertainties and practical constraints. Check for voucher specimens or sequence accessions when relevant and request clarifications if missing.
Ethics and Confidentiality
Confidentiality: Treat all manuscripts and reviewer comments as confidential. Do not use unpublished data or ideas for personal advantage.
Integrity checks: Flag potential plagiarism, ethical concerns, or data issues to the editorial office for investigation.
Balanced decisions: Ensure that decisions are evidence based and free of bias, with clear justification for authors.
Time Commitment
Editors are expected to accept or decline assignments promptly and to provide recommendations within the requested timeframe. If a manuscript is outside your expertise or you have a conflict, notify the editorial office quickly so the review can proceed without delays. Assignments are balanced to avoid overload. Communicate planned absences so assignments can be adjusted. Rapid communication helps keep author expectations aligned overall.
Serve as an Editor
Interested in joining the editorial team? Contact us to discuss your expertise and availability.
