Launching a New Scholarly Journal: A Guide to Key Steps

Starting a new scholarly journal is an exciting endeavor that requires careful planning and adherence to established ethical standards and best practices in scholarly publishing. Based on the provided sources, here are the key steps and guidelines to consider when launching a new journal:

1. Conduct a Feasibility Analysis and Define the Journal Concept

Before launching, it is crucial to conduct a feasibility study. This involves identifying a clear niche and assessing the market. Consider:

Potential Overlap: Evaluate if the proposed journal topic overlaps with existing journals, including those from the same publisher and external competitors. Identifying low overlap can indicate a potential market gap.
Competition: Analyze external competitors, including their publishing models, time to decision, scope, and impact factors.
Market Demand: Assess the demand for open access (OA) publishing in the field and the publishing trends.
Indexing Category: Identify suitable indexing categories (e.g., Substance Abuse SCIE WoS category) and analyze the competition within those categories. A category with few journals but good impact can be advantageous for faster indexing.
Journal Type: Decide on the journal type, such as a mega journal covering multiple fields if appropriate.

2. Define and Publish the Journal's Aims and Scope

Clearly define the journal's direction and scope. This must be done in agreement with the publisher or journal owner. The new aims and scope need to be agreed upon and clearly published in the medium the journal uses to communicate with authors, reviewers, and editors. This is part of the strategic development and scientific positioning of the journal. The journal's name should be unique and not easily confused with another journal, and it should not mislead potential authors or readers about its origin, scope, or affiliations.

3. Establish the Editorial Team and Define Roles

A successful journal requires a strong editorial team.

Key Roles: This team typically includes an Editor-in-Chief (EiC), who is the senior member responsible for the scientific quality and development, Section Editors-in-Chief, and Editorial Board Members (EBMs) who have specialized scientific expertise. Advisory Board Members (ABMs) may also be included.
Selection Criteria: Editors should invite distinguished scientists to join the Editorial Board. Selection criteria often include meeting specific scholarly metrics (e.g., h-index) and obtaining the EiC's approval.
Define Responsibilities: The roles and responsibilities of all editors and editorial board members must be clearly defined. For example, EBMs are responsible for final decisions on manuscripts in their field, can edit Special Issues, and may review manuscripts. ABMs can assist with appeal cases and ethical disputes. EiCs make scientific decisions about the journal's scope, invite board members, suggest Special Issues, and uphold peer review and publication ethics.
Onboarding and Management: Have systems for appointing and managing editorial board members. Provide onboarding materials and calls to establish expectations and relationships. Maintain regular communication to ensure engagement. Journals should provide appropriate training for editors and editorial board members.

4. Develop Comprehensive Policies and Guidelines

Robust, well-described, and publicly documented practices are required, often based on the COPE Core Practices. These policies should be visible on the journal's website and should cover:

Authorship and Contributorship: Include a clear definition of authorship, authors' responsibilities, how contributions should be declared, how non-authors should be acknowledged, and how potential authorship disputes are managed. Journals should adopt and promote an authorship policy appropriate to the field.
Peer Review Process: Describe the peer review model used transparently. Specify who conducts the review (e.g., external experts, editorial board members). Have policies on conflicts of interest, appeals, and disputes in peer review.
Publication Ethics and Misconduct: Outline policies and procedures for handling allegations of research, publication, and review misconduct. This includes policies on plagiarism, data fabrication, and how to handle allegations from whistleblowers.
Conflicts of Interest: Provide clear definitions and processes for handling conflicts of interest for authors, reviewers, editors, journals, and publishers. Mandatory disclosure of funding should be required.
Ethical Oversight: Include clear guidelines regarding the ethical conduct of research. This covers policies on consent to publication (especially for medical case reports), vulnerable populations, research using animals and humans, and handling confidential data. Publication consent forms should be required for any case report where an individual can be identified.
Intellectual Property: Clearly state policies on copyright procedures, publishing licenses (including Open Access), archiving rights for authors, and how to handle plagiarism and duplicate/redundant publication. Policies should explain what versions authors are allowed to archive.
Data and Reproducibility: Include policies on data availability and encourage the use of reporting guidelines and registration of clinical trials and other study designs.
Complaints and Appeals: Have a clearly described process for handling complaints against the journal, staff, editorial board, or publisher. Publish procedures for considering authors' appeals against editorial decisions.
Commercial Issues: Declare policies on advertising, sponsored supplements, author fees, and other revenue sources. Ensure commercial considerations do not affect editorial decisions. Author fee information must be clearly stated on the website, including details about waivers if available.
Post-publication Discussions and Corrections: Have mechanisms in place to correct the literature after publication, including corrections, revisions, and retractions. Allow for post-publication commentary or discussion. Prompt retraction of seriously flawed articles is a responsible action.

5. Create Instructions for Authors and Reviewers

Review and update the journal's Instructions to Authors to ensure they are current and clearly state what is expected of authors, including requirements for ethical conduct and how the journal handles suspected misconduct. Provide a link to resources like COPE Flowcharts. Instructions should not be ambiguous. Develop guidelines for reviewers, clarifying the journal's policies regarding the tone, language quality, content of reviews, and whether reports are edited. Ask reviewers to address ethical aspects of submissions, such as prior publication, plagiarism, ethical approvals, data integrity, and competing interests.

6. Implement Processes for Identifying Ethical Concerns

Develop processes to help identify ethical concerns throughout the editorial workflow. This includes:

Running plagiarism checks.
Confirming ethical approvals and informed consent for studies involving humans or animals.
Verifying data availability and image quality.
Checking for conflicts of interest between editors, authors, and reviewers.
Ensuring copyright compliance.
Evaluating author backgrounds, submission/publication histories, and institutional affiliations.
Checking if manuscripts fit the journal's scope and relevance.

7. Set Up and Manage Journal Infrastructure and Systems

Get to grips with the mechanics of the journal, such as the submission system and timelines for manuscripts. A well-managed infrastructure is essential for success.

Submission System: Electronic submissions systems should include standard communications.
Peer Review Management: Adopt an appropriate peer-review process for your journal and resources, ensuring confidentiality and timeliness. Monitor the process regularly to prevent delays.
Record Keeping: Document deliberations, such as those concerning ethical aspects of research studies.
Online Presence: Ensure the journal website is properly supported, maintained, and uses secure protocols (https). It should clearly identify the publisher or owner, governing body, contact details, publishing frequency, peer review model, aims and scope, and all policies. The website should list the names and affiliations of all editorial board members.
Archiving: Have a clear plan for electronic backup and long-term digital preservation of content.
Transparency: Journal guidelines and processes must be transparent.

8. Consider COPE Membership

Joining organizations like COPE demonstrates an intention to follow the highest standards of publication ethics. COPE membership requires having robust and well described, publicly documented practices for all areas listed in the COPE Core Practices. To apply, journals must agree to adhere to the COPE Core Practices and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, ensuring their website displays the required policies and information.

9. Ensure Editorial Independence and Manage Relationships

The relationship between editors, publishers, and journal owners should be based on the principle of editorial independence. Editorial decisions should be based solely on a paper's importance, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal's remit, rather than financial, political, or personal gain. If the journal is society-owned, the relationship should respect the need for financial support while ensuring efficient and independent journal operation. Ensure the terms of appointment for editors are spelled out in a signed, written agreement, including procedures for handling grievances.

10. Ongoing Management and Development

Launching is just the beginning. Ongoing management involves:

Monitoring publishing and field trends to keep the journal competitive.
Regularly reviewing and updating aims, scope, and structure.
Maintaining engagement with the editorial board.
Ethically promoting the journal and inviting high-quality submissions. Direct marketing should be appropriate and unobtrusive.
Pursuing cases of suspected misconduct even for submissions not intended for publication.
Being willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.

Launching a new scholarly journal is a lot of work, but it can be tremendously exciting. By following these steps and adhering to best practices in publication ethics and transparency, a new journal can establish a strong foundation for success.