Editorial Policy

1. Maintain confidentiality

1) The KJEB operates a double-blind review system to maintain the confidentiality of the identity of authors and reviewers.
2) Editors cannot use the ideas, unpublished data, or information in submitted manuscripts for their research or profit without the authors’ consent.
3) The editorial board keeps all communications with authors and reviewers confidential. Communications can only be shared when requested by the Research Ethics Committee to investigate violations of research ethics.

2. Transparency of conflicts of interest

1) The potential conflicts of interest of the editorial board are disclosed within the KOSEB and posted on the society’s or journal’s home pages. The editorial board carefully considers potential conflicts of interest when appointing new editors.
2) The editorial board cannot be involved in publishing papers that include them, their family, or colleagues as authors. Also, the editorial board cannot be involved in reviewing or publishing papers related to products or services in which they are interested.

3. Fairness

1) The editorial board must not attempt to artificially increase KJEB’s influence in the academic field. The editorial board cannot force authors to cite unrelated papers published by the KJEB and must not inappropriately or intentionally cite KJEB papers.
2) The editorial board strives to evaluate the academic value and completeness of submitted manuscripts regardless of the author’s gender, affiliation, or position. To this end, the editorial board appoints editors and reviewers, considering potential conflicts of interest and areas of expertise.

4. Close supervision of paper publication

1) The editorial board monitors whether submitted manuscripts have been properly and fairly reviewed. The editorial board checks whether there are conflicts of interest or ethical issues in the reviewers’ comments and whether the manuscript review has been conducted faithfully.
2) The editorial board works to protect the integrity of papers published by the KJEB by reviewing and taking action on reported or suspected research ethics misconduct. The Korean Society of Environmental Biology organizes and operates a Research Ethics Committee to prevent damage to other papers by publishing papers with ethical issues.

5. Repository and guardian of research achievements

1) Published papers are stored in the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, and KJEB databases for the permanent storage of research contents.
2) A digital object identifier (DOI) is assigned to published papers so that authors and readers can easily and accurately access papers stored in the database.
3) In preparation for loss or damage to the database, printed copies of all issues of KJEB are kept at the National Assembly Library and the National Library of Korea.
4) Authors and readers are allowed to archive PDF versions of published papers for the active sharing of research achievements.