Editorial Independence and Journal Governance

The Journal of Leadership in Sport and Management (JLSM) is committed to editorial independence, transparent governance, and the separation of editorial decision-making from financial, personal, institutional, or other inappropriate influences.

Editorial decisions are based on the scholarly quality, methodological validity, ethical integrity, relevance, and suitability of submitted work for the journal.

Editorial Authority

The Editor-in-Chief has overall responsibility for the journal’s editorial standards and editorial decision-making.

The Editor-in-Chief may delegate responsibility for individual manuscripts to appropriately qualified editors. Editors may seek advice from reviewers, Editorial Board members, statistical or methodological experts, or other specialists where appropriate.

External peer reviewers provide expert recommendations, but responsibility for the final editorial decision remains with the authorised editor.

Independence of Editorial Decisions

Decisions to accept, revise, or reject manuscripts must not be determined by commercial considerations, personal relationships, institutional interests, political considerations, or the professional status of authors.

Authors are assessed without discrimination on the basis of characteristics unrelated to the scholarly evaluation of their work.

The journal’s publisher must not interfere with individual decisions concerning the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts.

Role of the Publisher

The publisher is responsible for supporting the journal’s organisational and publishing infrastructure and for maintaining conditions that allow the editorial process to operate effectively.

The publisher respects the editorial independence of the Editor-in-Chief and the editorial team.

Where the same individual holds more than one role within the journal’s organisational structure, safeguards must be applied to ensure that decisions concerning individual manuscripts remain subject to the journal’s declared editorial and conflict-of-interest procedures.

Editorial Board

The Editorial Board supports the scholarly development, disciplinary scope, and editorial standards of JLSM.

Members may advise on journal strategy, subject coverage, editorial policies, peer-review standards, and developments within the journal’s fields of interest. They may also participate in manuscript handling or peer review when appropriately qualified and free from relevant conflicts of interest.

Membership of the Editorial Board does not guarantee publication in JLSM and does not provide preferential treatment to Board members or their collaborators.

Manuscripts Submitted by Editors or Board Members

Editors, Editorial Board members, and other individuals involved in the journal may submit scholarly work to JLSM.

Such submissions must be handled independently. An editor who is an author or has another relevant conflict of interest must have no access to or involvement in reviewer selection, peer-review deliberations, or the editorial decision concerning that manuscript.

Responsibility will be assigned to another suitably qualified editor without a relevant conflict of interest.

The same scholarly and peer-review standards apply to these submissions as to comparable manuscripts from other authors.

Conflicts of Interest in Editorial Handling

Editors must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from handling manuscripts when their independence could reasonably be questioned.

Potential conflicts may arise from recent collaboration, institutional relationships, financial interests, personal relationships, academic competition, supervisory relationships, or other circumstances relevant to the manuscript.

Where necessary, responsibility for the manuscript will be transferred to an independent editor.

Confidentiality

Editors and Editorial Board members must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts, peer-review reports, author correspondence, and other non-public information obtained through the editorial process.

Such information must not be used for personal, professional, academic, financial, or competitive advantage.

Accountability

JLSM recognises that editorial independence must be accompanied by accountability.

Editorial decisions may be reconsidered under the journal’s Complaints and Appeals Policy where a substantial scientific, factual, ethical, or procedural concern is raised.

Concerns involving the Editor-in-Chief will be handled independently in accordance with that policy.

Changes in Editorial Governance

JLSM will maintain accurate and current information about its Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board on the journal website.

Material changes to journal ownership, publishing responsibility, editorial leadership, or governance will be reflected transparently in the journal’s public information where relevant.