Clinical Practice and Cases in Emergency Medicine(CPC-EM) Peer Review Policy for Interested Section Editors

All interested section editors must meet the requirements to CPC-EM:

• Board certified, or eligible, in emergency medicine.
• Academically affiliated with a university or institution.
• Have at least 1 original research publication listed on his or her CV. All articles pending a final decision must be included.
• A letter of interest and most recent CV must be emailed to Dr. Rick McPheeters, DO, at editor@cpcem.org. The CV will be kept on file at the CPC-EM office.
• The section editor is expected to review 2 to 5 manuscripts per month.
• The section editor will have approximately four weeks from the time assigned to the time the synthesis of the review is submitted to the Decision Editor for a decision. If unable to complete the review within four weeks, the section editor must notify the Editorial Director at editor@cpcem.org.
• Section editors must agree to a 2 year commitment with options to extend.

Requirements for Interested Resident Section Editors

• Have at least two original research publications in his or her area of interest.
• Be actively involved in current research projects.
• Have at least one full academic year remaining in emergency medicine residency (or PEM, IM/EM, or IM/EM/CC) or EM-related fellowship.
• A letter of interest and most recent CV must be emailed to Mark Langdorf, MD, MHPE at editor@westjem.org.
• The Section Editor is expected to review 2 to 5 manuscripts per month.
• The Section Editor will have two weeks from the time they receive at least 2 completed peer-reviews to write a brief synthesis of the reviews and submit to the Decision Editor. If unable to complete the review, the Section Editor must notify the Editorial Director at editor@westjem.org
• Actively recruit submissions of resident and fellow research, case reports and images to both WestJEM and CPC-EM.
• Promote the journal at any conferences attended, including attending research fora and speaking with authors and presenters.
• Share and disseminate WestJEM's social media posts, and encourage other residents and fellows to do the same.
• Attend bi-annual Editorial Board meetings at SAEM and ACEP annual meetings.
• Participate remotely by Zoom or phone with monthly Senior Editor meetings.
• Encourage submissions to WestJEM sponsored research competitions at ACOEP and AAEM annual meetings.
• Be a judge at one of WestJEM's sponsored research competitions.

All interested section editors acknowledge:

• The authors remain confidential and blinded during the review process.
• The section editor may not disclose any details of the review until after an official decision has been made.
• Reviewer comments and critiques are not published with the manuscript.

Role of the Associate and Section Editors

The Associate and Section Editors are responsible for the quality of articles, offer pre-decisions on manuscript topic applicability to the journal emphasis, work with the editorial team to select qualified reviewers and ensure that at least two reviews have been completed, provide a third review and editorial decision given blinded reviews of the manuscript prior to Editor-in-Chief final decision and review all layouts of manuscripts for publication.

Role of the Editor-in-Chief

The Editor-in-Chief (EIC) has final responsibility for the quality, content and decision making on all manuscripts. Specifically, the EIC is responsible for the quality of articles through pre-screening, offers pre-decisions on manuscript topic applicability to the journal emphasis, works with the editorial team to screen and select qualified reviewers, reviews and approves all final manuscript editorial decisions, as well as reviews all layouts of manuscripts prior to publication.