Submissions by Editors and the Publisher

Fight Medicine Journal is published by Sears Publishing Company, whose owner is the journal's Editor-in-Chief, and its section editors and editorial board members are expected to submit their own work to it. This policy states how such submissions are handled so that the handling can be checked by readers. It applies to any manuscript on which an author, or a member of the research team named in the manuscript, is the Editor-in-Chief, a section editor, an editorial board member, or an owner, employee or contractor of Sears Publishing Company. It follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics on editors' and publishers' own submissions and on competing interests, and it supplements the Peer Review Policy, which applies to every submission.

Independent handling

Each such manuscript is assigned to a handling editor who is not an author, is not a member of the research team named in the manuscript, has no current institutional, commission, promotional, commercial or collaborative relationship with any of them, and is not the Editor-in-Chief. The handling editor controls reviewer selection, correspondence with reviewers and the decision. The handling editor's name is recorded on the submission and published with the article's declarations.

No access to the editorial record

Authors and research-team members who hold an editorial or publishing role have no access to the submission's editorial record in the journal's management system for the duration of the process. The Editor-in-Chief does not see reviewer identities, reviewer reports or the decision before the authors do. Where the Editor-in-Chief is an author or a research-team member, the journal manager removes the Editor-in-Chief's access to the submission in the system and records that this was done.

Open peer review

Submissions covered by this policy are reviewed under open peer review rather than the double-anonymous model that applies to other submissions, because the identity of the author is known in any case. At least two reviewers are invited who have no relationship with the authors, the research team or the publisher of the kind described in the Peer Review Policy. Reviewers consent to the publication of their names and reports. The reviewer reports, the authors' responses and the handling editor's decision letter are published with the article. The reviewers' competing interests are published with their reports.

Declarations in the published article

The published article states every editorial and publishing role held by an author or research-team member, names the handling editor, states that the review was open, and links to this policy.

Registered protocols and systematic reviews

Where the manuscript is a protocol or a registered review, the registration is made with an independent registry and the protocol is archived outside the publisher before the work begins, so that the pre-specification is time-stamped by a body the publisher does not control. The completed review is published with its data, code and an independent reproduction of its analysis.

Appeals

Appeals of decisions on submissions covered by this policy are not considered by the Editor-in-Chief. They are considered by an editorial board member who was not involved in the decision and who has no relationship with the authors or the research team, and, where needed, by a reviewer not involved in the original review.

Record

The journal keeps a record of each submission handled under this policy: the handling editor, the reviewers, the dates of each step and the decision. The record is available to any reader on request to [email protected].

Policy adopted October 2026.