More about Elsevier and the peer review system
Elsevier provides extensive guidelines on its publishing ethics for editors, reviewers and authors. The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is an essential building block in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. An important role of the publisher is to support the extensive efforts of journal editors, and the often unsung volunteer work undertaken by peer reviewers in maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. It is a tribute to scholarly practice that the system works well and problems are comparatively rare. Elsevier takes its duties of guardianship over the scholarly record very seriously.
Elsevier makes use of editorial advisory boards to ensure that both the review process and final content are fair and accurate. The responsibilities of editors are contained in formal editor contracts or letters of agreement. We also have disclosure policies requiring authors to declare possible conflicts of interest, including all sources of financial and material support for their submitted work in an appendix.
Support for authors includes online submission and article tracking, access to technical and language editors, conferences, web-based forums and newsletters. We believe it is important for authors to have access to content they generate on their own personal or institutions” website. No permission is required for authors to revise and post the final version of their work more widely, provided that the posting contains a link to the home page of the journal in which the article was published, and that the posting is not used for commercial purposes.
Elsevier also has an errors and retraction policy which deals with authors who violate science publishing norms (including duplicate submissions). Guidelines on retracting or withdrawing material from circulation make clear that it is a general principle of scholarly communication that the editor of a learned journal is solely and independently responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal shall be published. In making this decision the editor is guided by the policies of the journal”s editorial board and constrained by legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The goal is to protect the sacred nature of the scholarly archive.
However, very occasionally circumstances may arise where an article is published that must later be retracted or withdrawn completely. Such withdrawal from the scholarly record is not to be undertaken lightly and can only occur under exceptional circumstances.