JERN’s standards support rigorous and trustworthy scholarship.

Peer review and editorial decisions

JERN uses single-blind peer review. Reviewers know the authors’ identities, but authors do not know the reviewers’ identities. Editors first assess whether a manuscript fits the journal’s scope and meets threshold standards for scientific contribution, rigor, ethics, transparency, and presentation.

Manuscripts selected for external review are evaluated by specialists with relevant expertise. Reviewers advise the editors, but editorial decisions remain the responsibility of the journal.

Editorial independence and confidentiality

Editorial decisions are made independently of commercial considerations. Editors and Editorial Board members do not participate in decisions involving their own work or any circumstance that creates a competing interest. Such submissions are assigned to an independent handling editor.

Editors and reviewers must treat submitted manuscripts, correspondence, and review materials as confidential. Unpublished information may not be used for personal, professional, or competitive advantage.

Research ethics

Research involving human participants, animals, identifiable data, or other regulated materials must comply with applicable ethical and legal standards. Authors must identify the approving body, provide relevant approval information, and describe consent procedures when applicable.

Authors must report material protocol deviations and ethical limitations that affect interpretation of the work.

Authorship and contributorship

Authorship is limited to individuals who made substantial scholarly contributions, participated in drafting or critical revision, approved the submitted version, and accept accountability for the work. Contributor roles should be reported using the CRediT taxonomy when appropriate.

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must be explained and approved by all affected authors. The journal may decline changes that cannot be justified transparently.

Originality and prior publication

Submitted manuscripts must not be under consideration by another journal. Authors must disclose closely related manuscripts, overlapping publications, and prior dissemination that could affect editorial evaluation.

JERN does not permit plagiarism, fabricated or falsified material, inappropriate image manipulation, duplicate publication, or misleading fragmentation of a single study across multiple reports.

Competing interests and funding

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose financial, professional, personal, or intellectual relationships that could reasonably be perceived to influence the work or its evaluation.

Authors must identify all funding sources and explain the role of funders in the study and publication process.

Data, code, and materials

Authors should make the evidence supporting their claims available whenever ethical, legal, and practical constraints permit. Manuscripts must include an availability statement explaining where data, code, materials, and preregistrations can be accessed or why access is restricted.

When materials cannot be shared publicly, authors should describe the restriction and any process through which qualified researchers may request access.

Reporting standards

Methods and analyses must be described in sufficient detail to permit informed evaluation and, where feasible, replication. Authors should use established reporting guidelines appropriate to the study design and distinguish clearly between confirmatory and exploratory analyses.

Claims must remain proportionate to the design, measurement, analysis, and evidence. Limitations and plausible alternative explanations should be addressed directly.

Preprints and prior dissemination

JERN welcomes manuscripts previously deposited on recognized preprint servers. Authors must disclose the preprint at submission and provide its persistent identifier. Posting a preprint does not constitute prior publication.

Generative AI and automated tools

Generative AI systems cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, attribution, confidentiality, and integrity of submitted work.

Material use of generative AI tools in research, analysis, or manuscript preparation must be disclosed when it is relevant to evaluating the work. Authors must not upload confidential manuscript, participant, reviewer, or editorial information to an external AI system unless they have authorization and an appropriate basis for doing so.

Misconduct, corrections, and retractions

When credible concerns arise, JERN may request data, analysis files, approvals, correspondence, or other documentation needed to evaluate the matter. The journal may contact authors’ institutions, funders, or other responsible bodies when independent investigation is warranted.

Editorial action may include rejection, suspension of review, correction of the published record, an expression of concern, or retraction. Corrections will describe the error and its effect on the article. Retractions may be issued when findings are unreliable or publication integrity has been materially compromised.

Appeals and complaints

Authors may appeal an editorial decision when they identify a substantive error in the review or decision process. Appeals must be specific, evidence-based, and submitted through the journal’s editorial contact. An appeal is not a second round of ordinary revision.

Complaints concerning process, conduct, or competing interests will be reviewed by an editor who is not directly implicated in the matter whenever possible.

Open access, copyright, and publication charges

Published articles are freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Authors retain copyright and grant ERN Press the right of first publication.

During the inaugural publication program, JERN is offering a reduced article processing charge of US$750. The charge is payable only after acceptance. JERN does not charge a submission fee. The inaugural rate may be revised for future submissions, and any change will be displayed clearly before submission.

Privacy

Personal information collected through journal registration, submission, review, and correspondence is used only for the editorial and publishing purposes of JERN. Access is limited to individuals who require the information to perform those functions, subject to applicable legal and operational requirements.

For the complete policy, see the JERN Privacy Statement.