Membership
Supporting the journal, separately from its decisions
Membership is an optional relationship with the publisher. It supports open-access publishing and gives members a closer working link to the journals they read.
It is deliberately kept apart from the editorial process, and the boundary between the two is stated below.
The boundary
Membership confers no advantage in review or acceptance
A member’s manuscript is screened, reviewed and decided exactly as any other manuscript is. Editorial decisions remain independent of fees, services, memberships, and roles.
Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request.
Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal.
What membership is for
Membership is a way of supporting the publishing model and staying close to a field, grouped below by what it supports.
Supporting open access
Every article this journal publishes is free to read on the day it appears. Membership contributes to the cost of keeping it that way.
Staying informed
Members receive notice of calls for papers and issue updates for the journals they follow, so announcements reach them directly.
Working with the journal
Members who wish to contribute as reviewers or propose a focused collection have a direct route to the editorial office.
Terms
The current categories, their terms and any associated rates are held by the publisher’s membership office and confirmed there.
Current terms
Membership categories, eligibility and rates are set by the publisher and are confirmed by the membership office before any commitment is made.
Reviewing and editing
Peer reviewers evaluate manuscripts for validity, rigor, and clarity. Reviewing confers no advantage in the review of the reviewer’s own submissions.
Editors provide scholarly stewardship by overseeing peer review and upholding publication ethics. Editors recuse themselves from decisions on their own submissions; those manuscripts are handled independently.