Bylaws, Policies & Procedures of MedJEM

Definitions:

• The Mediterranean Journal of Emergency Medicine & Acute Care (MedJEM) is a periodic peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal published by the Mediterranean Academy of Emergency Medicine (MAEM), a regional international chapter of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM).
• MedJEM aims to serve the patient, the medical provider and the specialty of emergency medicine (EM) and acute care.
• MedJEM focuses on the advancement of emergency medicine & acute care in the Mediterranean region and internationally in nations where the field and the specialty of EM remain in an early or middle phase of development.
• MedJEM provides double, sometimes triple blind peer review for all submitted manuscripts.
• All published articles are accessible open-source and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  
  

Structure:

• Board of Trustees
• Advisory Council
• Editorial Review & Decision Board
• Technical Review & Publication Board

Board of Trustees (BOT):

This is the governing body of the journal.

1. BOT members must be members of the MAEM &/or AAEM.
2. BOT members will meet no less than once every 6 months.
3. BOT members are expected to attend two annual meetings that will be prescheduled at the following annual conferences: MAEMC/MEMC (Mediterranean Academy of Emergency Medicine Congress/Mediterranean Emergency Medicine Congress) or AAEM congress. BOT members must attend in-person one of the two meetings. They can otherwise delegate an official representative from their organization who is deemed knowledgeable and current regarding MedJEM by the chair of the BOT.
4. Appointment to the BOT is by invitation only. Members will include:
1. MedJEM founders – They are eligible to serve as lifetime members of the BOT.
2. MedJEM sponsoring societies, institutions & other bodies who have officially adopted MedJEM as their official medical journal.

One representative of every body that is invited to support MedJEM.

Voting Authority:

1. Fifty percent of the voting authority will be proportionately assigned based on financial contributions to the development of MedJEM. This will be reviewed and calculated annually at the BOT meeting.
2. The other 50% will be assigned and divided equally between the BOT members
3. BOT members may be appointed by more than 1 sponsoring body to represent them in the MedJEM BOT. Voting authority will then accordingly be additive.
4. Decisions pertaining to operations are passed through a simple majority. Amendments to the bylaws or BOT require a two third majority or more.

Appointment to the BOT is a privilege and will be reviewed annually. Failure to provide presence and contribution to the BOT may result in termination of appointment and/or termination of the agreement between MedJEM & the sponsoring body.

The Executive Committee of the BOT will consist of a chair, vice-chair, secretary and treasurer. The election of the executive committee will be held once every 3 years.

The Board of Trustees will need to approve all major journal decisions – including:

• Editor-in-Chief & Deputy Editor Selection
• Journal Mission & Vision Statement, Bylaws, Policies & Strategies
• Terms of periodic, scheduled or emergency reviews of its leadership
• MOUs, Contracts & Agreements
• Budgets & Financial reports

Advisory Council:

• Members of this board provide guidance and ideas to the editors and promote the journal.
• They can help direct contributors and contributions to MedJEM.
• However, they do not have a primary role in the reviewing process and article selection.
• They have no meeting or organizational membership requirement.
• The BOT reviews Advisory Council membership every 3 years.

Policies & Procedures:

• Membership in AAEM &/or MAEM is required for more than 50% of the Associate Editors.
• A minimum of 80% of the Editorial Board must have their primary academic affiliation in nations where EM is in an early or middle phase of development.
• Nations where EM is considered in an advanced phase of development include but are not limited to:
• USA
• Canada
• Australia
• United Kingdom

Meetings:

• BOT members: will meet no less than once every 6 months. They are expected to attend two annual meetings that will be prescheduled at the following annual conferences: MAEMC/MEMC or AAEM congress. BOT members must attend in-person one of the two meetings. They can otherwise delegate an official representative from their organization who is deemed knowledgeable and current regarding MedJEM by the chair of the BOT.
• Editor-in-Chief: will meet in-person with the BOT no less than once every 6 months. She/he is expected to attend the two annual BOT meetings that will be prescheduled at the following annual conferences: MAEMC/MEMC or AAEM congress.
• Deputy Editors: will meet no less than once every 12 months. They are expected to attend in-person the annual prescheduled meeting alternating at the following conferences: MAEMC & MEMC.
• Associate Editors: are invited to meet once per year.
• Advisory Council, Reviewers & Section Editors as well as members of the Technical Review & Publication Board: have no meeting attendance requirements.

Sponsoring Bodies:

• Includes organizations, societies, institutions or other bodies of relevance to the field of Emergency Medicine & acute care
• List includes but is not limited to:
• MAEM (Founder): Lisa Moreno, MD, FAAEM
• American University of Beirut (AUB): Eveline Hitti, MD, FAAEM
• GREAT Italy: Salvatore DiSomma, MD
• LAEM: Amin Kazzi, MD, FAAEM, MAAEM
• LSEM: Amin Kazzi, MD, FAAEM, MAAEM
• MENATOX: Ziad Kazzi, MD, FAAEM
• University of California, Irvine (UCI): Shahram Lotfipour, MD, FAAEM
• WestJEM: Mark Langdorf, MD, MHPE, FAAEM