Operating Charter

Operations of the journal and comitology

The JIMIS journal has a number of different posts and committees: publication director, editor-in-chief, editorial board, scientific committee and reading committee.

Publication Director

The Publication Director is the person who represents the journal's owner. This person is the Director of the CNRS ESPACE laboratory, which publishes the journal. His role is to ensure the sustainability of the journal's economic model. His term of office corresponds to his term of office as unit director.

Editor-in-chief

The Editor-in-Chief's main role is to coordinate the journal through his scientific leadership. He is responsible for organising the editorial boards. He is responsible for developing and promoting the journal.

The Editor-in-Chief is appointed for a renewable five-year term.

Editorial Board

The JIMIS Editorial Board is composed of:

  • editor-in-chief

  • editorial secretary

  • associate editors for each of the journal's scientific areas, who are specialists in the various fields that make up the journal's scientific scope.

It is responsible for:

  • providing scientific leadership for the journal

  • ensuring the quality of publications and compliance with the journal's charters and ethical commitments

  • proposing and integrating special issues, particularly in the scientific areas identified by JIMIS

In more detail, the role of the JIMIS Editorial Board is to determine the journal's actual editorial line, to assist the Editor-in-Chief in evaluating proposals for articles and to provide scientific leadership. The Editor-in-Chief appoints guest editors for calls for contributions to special thematic issues, ensures that expert appraisals run smoothly and decides which proposed articles will be published in accordance with the reviewers' instructions. They are trained by the Editor-in-Chief and are familiar with the JIMIS online article monitoring and evaluation tool set up by the CCSD to support authors in the process of submitting, evaluating and publishing articles for the journal.

The Editorial Board meets every two months (with members required to attend at least four meetings a year). Meetings are usually conducted by videoconference.

Members of the Editorial Board are actively involved in the collective life of the journal, proposing special issues and events and promoting the journal within their laboratories/universities and more widely.

The JIMIS editorial board applies a rigorous evaluation system based on constructive and caring relationships, while asserting its right to reject any article or dossier that does not meet the journal’s scientific criteria or is too far removed from its editorial line.

Members of the Editorial Board are appointed for a renewable five-year term. At the end of their term of office, they decide whether or not they wish to continue on the Editorial Board. Vacancies are filled by application or by proposal from a member of the Board and after approval by the entire Editorial Board.

Scientific Committee

The Scientific Committee is made up of internationally renowned French and foreign scientists whose work relates to the themes covered by the journal's editorial line. In conjunction with the Editorial Board, it is responsible for the strategic direction of the journal and for publicising its activities and calls for papers internationally. It is also asked to evaluate articles submitted to the journal in its areas of speciality.

The composition of the Scientific Committee is reviewed every five years, following the appointment of a new Editorial Board.

The Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editors are invited to join the Scientific Committee at the end of their term of office.

Review Committee

A long list of reviewers makes up the Review Committee, which is very dynamic, considering:

  • frequent special issues on specific scientific subjects

  • articles on cross-disciplinary subjects, combining a variety of disciplines

For each article submitted, two experts are chosen by the Editorial Board. One of the reviewers is chosen as a priority from among the existing committee members, depending on the subject area or methodology of the article submitted. The other expert is chosen among specialists in the scientific field covered by the article.

The journal's operating charter is voted on after each renewal of the Editorial Board. The operating charter may be amended or modified at the request of a member of the Editorial Board, subject to a favourable vote by the Editorial Board and the Publication Director. 

Guest Editors

Special volumes are very often proposed by specialists in the field who, in coordination with the associate editors, lead this scientific publication project. Their names, as well as the theme covered in the issue, appear in the articles in the volume in question.

Members' commitment

All members of the journal, whether editorial or scientific committee members or reviewers, undertake to respect their missions and responsibilities. Members of the Editorial Board undertake to attend at least four meetings per year. Members of the Scientific Committee undertake to attend at least one meeting of this committee per year. All members will contribute to the collective effort needed to promote interdisciplinary research.