Field chief editor guidelines

Welcome to Frontiers’ community of editors

These guidelines provide practical information about your role as a field chief editor and the Frontiers tools available to support you. They are designed to help you lead the journal’s editorial direction, support your chief editors and board members, and uphold quality and integrity across the journal’s activities.

If you have any questions, please contact your Field Editorial Office:
field.editorial.office@frontiersin.org
Example: environmentalscience.editorial.office@frontiersin.org

As a field chief editor, you work with the Frontiers team to shape the journal’s direction and support the editorial board. You provide guidance to specialty chief editors, help build strong editorial coverage across the field, and act as an escalation point to support quality and integrity throughout peer review.

In this role, you typically:

• Lead and support the group of specialty chief editors in applying the journal’s editorial model.

• Oversee journal activities and foster collaboration across sections.

• Help plan content across the journal, including Research Topics and annual content planning.

• Provide input that supports the continuous improvement of editorial tools and workflows.

These guidelines outline how you will work with the journal team and where to find tools and support. For complete role requirements, refer to the Terms and Conditions.

A clear scope is the foundation of the journal’s identity and long-term strategy. Whether the journal is new or evolving, it helps to articulate the journal’s purpose in one or two sentences: what scholarly questions does it advance, and for whom?

Working with specialty chief editors and the journal team, you should aim to:

• Define core subject areas and methodological approaches that the journal prioritizes.

• Clarify which contribution types the journal welcomes (for example, original research, methods, negative results, registered reports, or data papers), where relevant to the field.

• Be explicit about what is out of scope to reduce uncertainty for authors and editors.

It is good practice to review the scope at least annually using a mix of quantitative and qualitative inputs, such as:

• submission patterns and acceptance rates by theme

• time to decision and review timelines

• readership and citation indicators

• feedback from editors, authors, and reviewers

This helps identify areas to refine, expand, or phase out over time.

Once the journal scope is established, you will work with the Editorial Office to segment the field into specialty Sections that collectively reflect the journal’s remit.

Specialty sections are the core editorial units of a Frontiers journal. Each section has:

• its own scope and section page

• its own editorial board

• independent editorial decision-making within that section

Some sections may be cross-listed to accept submissions from multiple journals where scopes overlap. The journal through which a manuscript is submitted determines the citation details, publishing fees, and any journal-specific workflow differences.

For each section, you will work with the Editorial Office to identify an appropriate specialty chief editor. These are typically established leaders in the field with prior editorial experience. They are responsible for:

• shaping and maintaining the section scope

• building and supporting a strong board of associate editors

• advising on section development and stepping in where issues arise

• making final decisions on manuscripts recommended for rejection, and on Research Topic proposals, in line with journal policy

It is important to consult with the journal team before inviting colleagues to join as specialty chief editors.

A strong editorial board supports quality, fairness, and efficient peer review. Your input is particularly valuable in identifying expertise gaps and recommending candidates across sections.

You are encouraged to recommend:

• specialty chief editors for sections with vacancies

• associate editors to strengthen section coverage

• community reviewers to build reviewer capacity and reduce delays

When recommending candidates, aim for balanced representation across:

• geography and institution types

• research approaches and sub-specialties

• gender and career stage, where appropriate

Tools and support for identifying candidates are available through Frontiers platforms and the journal team.

Associate editors

Associate Editors help set the scientific and editorial standards within a specialty section. They are typically established experts (often associate professor level or equivalent, depending on the field) with a strong publication record and relevant subject expertise.

Their main activities typically include:

• handling peer review for manuscripts in their expertise area

• inviting and supporting reviewers to strengthen section capacity

Community reviewers

Community reviewers are recognized on the journal website but are not part of the editorial board. Their primary role is to provide thorough peer reviews of submitted manuscripts upon invitation from handling editors.

A strong reviewer pool supports timely peer review and helps ensure manuscripts are assessed by appropriate experts.

Community reviewers are usually established researchers and experts (for example, readers, lecturers, principal investigators, assistant professors, or more senior). In some cases, senior postdoctoral researchers may be suitable, where they bring highly relevant expertise.

Submitting your own work to the journal is welcomed. Your contributions can help establish and reinforce the journal's quality expectations.

Your manuscripts will be assessed according to the same criteria and standards applied to all submissions. If you have questions about your own submissions, contact your journal team.

As field chief editor, you are a visible academic representative for the journal and its mission. If you are attending conferences or community events, let the journal team know. They can support you with materials (for example, flyers or slide templates) and help coordinate meetings with editorial board members and community contacts.

The journal team also welcomes suggestions for events where a Frontiers presence would be valuable for community engagement.

Research Topics are curated collections of articles centered on a focused theme or emerging area. They help convene communities, encourage collaboration, and showcase progress in a specialty area.

As field chief editor, your perspective across the field can help identify timely themes and opportunities for sections. Suggestions for Topics are welcome and can be shared with the journal team or relevant specialty chief editors.

Who can propose a Research Topic?

Any expert in the field may propose a Research Topic. If they are not already an associate editor, they may participate as a guest editor (also known as a Topic Editor) for the duration of the project.

It is recommended that at least two Topic Editors co-lead each Topic. Topic Editors typically:

• invite contributions (while remaining open to unsolicited submissions)

• assess submissions at the abstract stage, where applicable

• oversee peer review for manuscripts in the Topic

What makes Research Topics distinct

Research Topics are designed to support:

• community-led focus on emerging themes

• collaboration between editors, authors, and reviewers

• opportunities for editorial leadership and development

• structured support through a dedicated Topic management platform

Visibility and reach

Each Research Topic has a dedicated homepage where published articles are freely available. Once complete and when eligibility criteria are met, the collection may also be available as a free downloadable eBook.

Editing Research Topic submissions

Submissions to a Research Topic follow the standard Frontiers peer review process. When submitting, authors may indicate which Topic Editor they consider best placed to handle their manuscript. That Topic Editor is typically assigned to oversee the review and may redistribute assignments among the Topic Editor team where appropriate and without conflicts of interest.

If a conflict of interest exists between authors and Topic Editors, or if a Topic Editor is an author on the submission, the manuscript should be handled by an associate editor from the editorial board. In these cases, invitations may be sent to the board to identify an appropriate handling editor.

Specialty chief editors may intervene where needed. Your input and advice as the field chief editor are welcome, particularly when questions arise about scope, standards, or process. Manuscripts in Research Topics must still meet the journal’s scope and quality requirements.

Annual Content Plans provide a structured, collaborative approach to planning section activity across the year. Developed with you, specialty chief editors, and the journal team, they typically:

• identify priority themes and emerging areas

• establish a cadence of Research Topics aligned to section expertise

• set shared expectations for quality and focus across Topics

The journal team can support by sharing curated suggestions aligned with publishing trends and board expertise, while managing administrative tasks so editors can focus on scientific direction and editorial standards.

Frontiers provides connected tools to support editorial oversight, coordination, and planning across the journal. These tools help with manuscript tracking, board management, reviewer discovery, Research Topic oversight, communication, and performance monitoring.

Loop

Loop is a free academic network that helps researchers present their profile, connect with colleagues, and track publications.

As a Topic Editor, Loop can help you:

• Improve discoverability of your work and editorial contributions

• Connect with researchers in and beyond your field

• Keep your publications linked to your profile

Getting started (overview)

• Create or update your profile

• Add a profile photo and affiliation

• Link your ORCID for easier discovery

My Frontiers

My Frontiers is your central workspace for Frontiers activity, including Research Topics and editorial assignments.

In My Frontiers, you can:

• View active and past assignments

• Track tasks and deadlines

• Access your Research Topic workspace

• Send and receive platform messages (including from the Review Forum)

Key areas you may use:

• Dashboard: overview of tasks and activity

• My projects: access your Research Topic and editorial assignments

• Resources: up-to-date guidance for your roles

• Inbox: message history across Frontiers tools

• Certificates: editor certificates (where applicable)

Learn how to get started with My Frontiers.

Review Forum

The Review Forum is where peer review takes place. It enables direct, constructive dialogue between authors, reviewers, and the handling editor to clarify points and improve the manuscript.

Detailed, role-specific instructions for handling manuscripts in the Review Forum are provided separately in the peer review guidelines for Topic Editors.

The Digital Editorial Office

The Digital Editorial Office is a dashboard available to chief editors to support oversight of section and journal activity. It is accessed through My Frontiers using the relevant Manage option for the role you want to view.

The dashboard is designed to help you monitor:

• section development and activity

• submission and Research Topic trends

• editorial board coverage and distribution

• invitation activity across the community

Key areas you may use include:

Advanced tab
A comparative view of sections within the journal, including submissions and Research Topic activity.

Manuscripts
Search and filter manuscripts submitted to the journal, including views for delayed or rejected manuscripts where relevant.

Editorial board
A geographic and distribution overview of associate editors and community reviewers, which can help identify coverage gaps.

Editor list
Details of journal community members and their activity (editing, reviewing, submitting), including contact details where appropriate.

Board invitations
Visibility into who has been invited to join the journal community, when invitations were sent, and by whom.

Research Topic management
An overview of proposed and launched Research Topics. In some cases, additional approval steps may apply depending on section roles and assignments.

Should you have questions regarding any of the following, please see the contact guide below to direct your query to the appropriate party: