1. Introduction and Objectives

To eliminate any potential conflict of interest and ensure absolute transparency and fairness in the peer-review process, the Iraqi Journal of Agricultural Research (IJAR) strictly adheres to a rigorous and completely segregated mechanism when handling manuscripts authored or co-authored by the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, or any active member of the Editorial Board.

This policy aims to prevent any actual or perceived bias, ensuring that these submissions are treated with the same stringent scientific standards applied to external authors.

 

2. Scope of Application

This policy applies to any manuscript submitted to the journal where any of the following parties is a principal author, corresponding author, or co-author:

• The Editor-in-Chief.
• The Managing Editor.
• Internal and External Editorial Board Members.

 

3. Operational Procedures and Peer-Review via OJS

First: Role Segregation and Access Restrictions

 

• Automated Restriction: As soon as a manuscript is submitted through the editor’s account in their capacity as an "Author" in the OJS system, the system automatically revokes all administrative and editorial privileges for that specific submission from their account.

 

• Process Confidentiality: The editor (acting as an author) is strictly prohibited from accessing the review progress, internal editorial discussions, or system logs related to their manuscript.

 

Second: Appointment of an "Independent Handling Editor"

 

• The Journal Manager (System Administrator) shall assign the manuscript to a Guest Editor or an Independent Editorial Board Member who has no personal, academic, or institutional conflict of interest with the author.

 

• The Independent Handling Editor shall manage the entire workflow via OJS (including selecting reviewers, conducting correspondence, and making decisions) without any consultation or involvement of the authoring editor.

 

Third: Peer-Review Mechanism (Double-Blind)

 

• The manuscript shall undergo a strict Double-Blind Peer Review process. The authors’ names and affiliations will be completely removed from the manuscript before being sent to reviewers, and the reviewers’ identities will remain anonymous to the authors.
• External reviewers specializing in the precise agricultural field will be selected. Reviewers must be from outside the academic institution of the authoring editor to ensure absolute neutrality.

4. Final Editorial Decision

 

• The Independent Handling Editor holds sole authority to make the final decision (Accept, Revise, or Reject) based entirely on the peer reviewers' reports and recommendations.
• Neither the Editor-in-Chief nor the concerned board member shall interfere in this decision. If accepted, the decision is routed directly to the technical layout department for publication scheduling.

 

5. Transparency and Disclosure Upon Publication

If the manuscript is accepted and published, a clear and explicit statement must be included in the final version of the article (both printed and online) under the heading "Conflict of Interest and Transparency":

"This manuscript was submitted by [Author's Name], who holds the position of [Editor-in-Chief / Editorial Board Member] for the Iraqi Journal of Agricultural Research. To ensure scientific integrity, the author was completely blinded and excluded from the manuscript management system. The evaluation process was independently managed by a Guest Editor utilizing a double-blind peer-review process with external reviewers."

 

6. Annual Publication Limits (Quota Restriction)

To safeguard the journal's academic reputation and maintain compliance with international indexing standards (such as Scopus and Web of Science):

 

• The total percentage of accepted manuscripts authored or co-authored by all editorial board members combined shall not exceed 10% of the total papers published in any single issue or annual volume of the journal.