Managing Editing
What are the three main responsibilities of a Managing Editor when a manuscript is received?
Confirm guidelines, check plagiarism, and scan for AI overuse.
What are the four main responsibilities of an Associate Editor?
Read the article, check fit for journal, send manuscript to reviewers, and determine accept or reject after reviews.
What are four qualities that make an excellent peer review?
Timeliness, clarity, helpfulness, and comprehensiveness.
What are the three overarching questions a reviewer should ask about a manuscript's research methodology?
(1) Are they filling a gap in the literature? (2) Does it align with the journal's mission? (3) Does their approach to collecting, analyzing, and discussing data answer the research questions?
What is the primary role of the Editor-in-Chief in the peer review process?
The Editor-in-Chief gives final approval on all publication decisions — accept, reject, or revise/resubmit — after reviews are submitted.
What are the four elements that Managing Editors must check under journal guidelines?
manuscript templates/formatting, references, font and pages, disclosures/conflicts of interest, language, positionality statement, figures/tables/images.
How many subject matter experts does the Associate Editor typically send a manuscript to for review?
2 appropriate subject matter experts.
What are four conflict-of-interest reasons that should cause a reviewer to recuse themselves?
family/personal ties to authors, recent collaborators, institutional overlap, financial stakes, competitive conflicts, prior knowledge, perceived bias.
What four elements should be checked when evaluating a study's sampling and population?
Target population, sampling method, sample size (with power calculation), and inclusion/exclusion criteria.
At what step in the BCPHR editorial process does the Editor-in-Chief get involved?
once reviews are submitted, the Editor-in-Chief approves the final decision before it is communicated to the author.
– What happens to articles that do not meet submission guidelines during the Managing Editor's review?
Noncompliant articles are desk rejected.
True or false:An Associate Editor can also serve as a reviewer for articles assigned to them.
True
What three decisions can a reviewer recommend after completing their review?
Accept, reject, or revise/resubmit.
When evaluating data analysis, what five elements should a reviewer consider?
Approach, software/tools used, reporting of results (including confidence intervals/effect sizes), statistical assumptions, and bias/confounding variables.
In cases where reviewers disagree about a manuscript, who can be called upon to make a final recommendation?
The Associate Editor and/or the Editor-in-Chief can be called on to make a decision when there is disagreement among reviewers.
What are the different article types accepted at BCPHR?
Original Research Article, Commentary/Op-Ed, Blog, Atypical Article, Cover Letter, Review Article, Electronic Media, Research Letter, Poster, Supplements.
What must the Associate Editor assess to determine a manuscript's "fit for journal" at BCPHR?
Whether it covers issues of public health, health equity, and/or social justice.
According to the BCPHR rubric, what rating scale does Scholastica use for reviewer "overview questions"?
A 1–5 star overall rating, visible only to editors.
What does "transportability" refer to in the context of qualitative research methodology?
For qualitative research, the concern is with transportability — applicability to other contexts — rather than replicability.
After an Editor-in-Chief or associate editor approves a revise/resubmit decision and the author returns their revised paper, who reviews it for proper incorporation of changes?
The Associate Editor or Editor-in-Chief reviews the revised paper to ensure reviewer feedback has been properly incorporated, then either offers publication or rejects.
At what step of the editorial process does the Managing Editor review the manuscript for submission protocol compliance?
Step 2, after the submission of the article.
After reviews are submitted, who makes the final publication decision that the Associate Editor is involved in?
The Editor-in-Chief must approve decisions; the Associate Editor communicates the decision to the author.
Under what condition should a reviewer recommend rejection rather than revise/resubmit?
When there are fundamental flaws in study design, methodology, or analysis that would require more than 2 rounds of revisions to resolve.
What does it mean when a reviewer warns that authors are "doing too much" in the interpretation of results?
The authors are going beyond what the data actually shows — over-interpreting or making claims not supported by their findings.
Beyond approving publication decisions, what two additional actions can the Editor-in-Chief take when reviews are inconclusive or insufficient?
The Editor-in-Chief can be called upon to make a recommendation when reviews are inconclusive, and can also step in when there is disagreement between reviewers — either making a final call or sending the manuscript out for additional review.