Complaints should be directly emailed to the editor-in-chief (or one of the other main editors) and will be dealt with confidentially.

Complaints are coordinated by the editors of the journal, with the opportunity for escalation (to the whole of the editorial board, and if necessary the whole of the advisory board) if they cannot be resolved.

• All complaints will be reviewed initially by the editor-in-chief and the other editors.
• In the case that this initial response is felt to be insufficient, the complaint can be escalated to the wider editorial and advisory boards. The response of the boards, communicated by the editor-in-chief, will be final.
• If a complainant remains dissatisfied after what the editor-in-chief considers a definitive reply, the complainant can complain to Committee on Publication Ethics. COPE publishes a code of practice for editors of scientific, technical, and medical journals. It will facilitate the resolution of disputes with member editors, journals and publishers but only once a journal’s own complaints procedures have been exhausted. (Although the journal is not yet a member of COPE, we would still follow their advice and guidelines.)

Complaint timeframes

• All complaints will be formally acknowledged within three working days.
• If possible, a full response will be made within two weeks. If this is not possible, an interim response will be given within two weeks. Further interim responses will be provided until the complaint is resolved.
• Where we consider a complaint to be vexatious or the result of a coordinated campaign, we reserve the right to reply outside of the suggested time frames, and on some occasions we may not respond to all complainants individually.
• Insults, threats and harassment, whether directly or indirectly on social media, for example, will not be tolerated.

Appeals

If you believe that your article has been rejected unfairly, please submit an appeal to the editor. Appeals must be submitted within 30 days of the rejection decision.

Appeals should address specific points of the reviewers’ and/or editors’ comments, and decisions will only be reversed if the editors are convinced that the decision was a serious mistake, or if the reviewers made errors of fact or showed evidence of bias. Appeals against editorial fit or the journal not being the right journal for the article are unlikely to be considered. If it is thought that the appeal is warranted, the article, reviewers’ comments, and author’s response will be reviewed internally by the main editorial team. The editors will decide whether to invite a resubmission, send it to another external reviewer, or uphold the original decision. In all cases, the editor’s decision is final.