Authorship Frequency & Issue Diversity
Purpose and Scope
To ensure the International Journal of Process Education remains a platform for diverse perspectives and to avoid the appearance of bias or "journal capture" (where a journal appears dominated by a single research group), the IJPE has established limits on the frequency of authorship within a single issue.
Limits on Lead/Single Authorship
The Lead (First) Author is typically the individual who assumed primary responsibility for the manuscript’s preparation and the underlying research.
- Standard Limit: A single or lead author may publish a maximum of two (2) peer-reviewed research manuscripts per issue.
- Rationale: This ensures that no single voice dominates the discourse of a specific issue and maximizes the space available for other scholars in the Process Education community.
Limits on Co-Authorship
Co-authorship indicates a significant contribution to the work but does not necessarily carry the same administrative weight as lead authorship.
- Standard Limit: An individual may appear as a co-author on a maximum of three (3) manuscripts per issue (this includes their allowed Lead Author submissions, if applicable).
Editors and Board Members as Authors
In niche fields like Process Education, Editors and Board members are often active researchers. To maintain ethical integrity:
- Frequency: Editors and Board members are held to the same frequency limits as regular authors (Max 2 lead / 3 total).
- Recusal (COPE Compliance): If an Editor or Board member submits a manuscript, they must be completely recused from the decision-making process. The submission must be handled by an independent editor who selects independent reviewers.
- Transparency: The published article must carry a disclosure stating: "This article was handled by an independent editor to ensure an unbiased review process; the author [Name] had no role in the peer review decision."