The members of Editorial Board of HEM journal are qualified experts in their fields and various key topics observed in the journal. They work at the educational and research institutions and adhere to the Code of Conduct for Journal Editors.

The Editorial Board is reviewed and updated constantly. All inactive members are excluded, and new ones are added. All Members are invited to Editorial Board by an Invitation letter.

Editors-in-Chief and the members of Editorial Board of HEM journal have responsibilities toward the authors who provide the content of the journals, reviewers who comment and give recommendations on the suitability of articles for publication, readers and the scientific community, the owners/publishers of the journals, and the public as a whole.

Editors-in-Chief get some responsibilities and duties across to the members of Editorial Board and keep them updated on changes in the publishing policy of the journal.

The Editors-in-Chief must take into account all opinions and suggestions for improving the editorial policy given by authors, reviewers, members of the Editorial Board, readers, owners/publishers of the journal, representatives of the expert community and the scientific community.

Any researcher can take own initiative to be involved in the Editorial Board of the HEM journal. It is necessary to send an e-mail to the journal’s official mailbox of the Editors-in-Chief and add a resume, where the applicant should indicate education, affiliation, scientific interests, activities, a list of publications, a list of journals in which he/she is an editor or reviewer, a contact e-mail and a link to a personal page at the university. The Editorial Board will review the applicant’s candidacy, and the applicant will be informed about the results by e-mail. New members of the Editorial Board are selected very carefully, taking into account the research authority of the applicants in the fields corresponding to the journal’s key topics, the readiness and opportunities to be active participants in editorial activities.

All members of Editorial Board of HEM are strongly recommended to follow COPE Core practices. They decide which of the articles submitted to the journal will be published. Members of Editorial Board assist in making decision regarding the submitted manuscript.

Editors-in-Chief and the members of Editorial Board should:

• evaluate submitted manuscripts based on its importance, originality, validity, clarity, relevance to the journal’s scope, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy or institutional affiliation;
• maintain and promote consistent ethical policies of the journal and support reducing the academic misconduct;
• ensure the confidentiality of the reviewing process without showing any information about the article to anyone except the authors, reviewers, and publisher;
• work with authors, reviewers, and Editorial Board members to ensure they are sufficiently advised regarding publishing ethics and publishing policies;
• promote compliance with the principles of fairness, impartiality and timeliness in the implementation of the publishing policy of the journal;
• refuse to process the manuscript in case of a conflict of interests due to competitive, joint or other relations with any of the authors, companies, institutions related to the manuscript;
• not use unpublished materials disclosed in the submitted papers in own research without written consent of authors.

Responsibilities of Editors-in-Chief towards members of Editorial Board of HEM journal:

• attract qualified and active scientists who contribute to the development and promotion of the journal as members of the Editorial Board;
• inform Editorial Board members about their expected functions and duties, particularly supporting and promoting the journal; actively encouraging the research community to submit articles for publication and participate in the work of the journal as external reviewers, etc;
• regularly consult Editorial Board members to take into account their ideas about the journal’s publishing policy and tips for improving editorial processes; inform them of any changes in journal policy.

Responsibilities of Editors-in-Chief and the members of Editorial Board of HEM journal towards authors:

• treat all authors honestly, politely, objectively and transparently;
• respect the intellectual property rights of authors;
• ensure timely publication of accepted manuscripts, to familiarize authors with all editorial standards and changes in editorial policy in a timely manner;
• provide instructions and recommendations to authors regarding the preparation and submission of manuscripts;
• regularly review the instructions for authors posted on the journal’s website;
• monitor compliance of authors’ e articles with the journal’s requirements regarding authorship criteria;
• ensure that all manuscripts are reviewed by highly qualified reviewers, create an effective, honest and transparent article review system, constantly work on its improvement;
• be attentive to real or apparent conflicts of interest of all types and forms, between any participants in the publishing and editorial process, ensure their avoidance or due consideration (in cases where they cannot be avoided).

Responsibilities of Editors-in-Chief and the members of Editorial Board of HEM journal towards reviewers:

• adhere to COPE principles in organizing manuscript review and cooperation with reviewers;
• ensure that the experience and scientific interests of the reviewer correspond to the topic of the manuscript that he/she is invited to review;
• if the reviewer refuses the invitation to review the manuscript, politely accept the refusal and hope for cooperation in the near future;
• ensure the independence and transparency of the review process;
• provide any explanations regarding publishing and editorial procedures at the request of reviewers;
• agree with the reviewer on the length of time allocated for reviewing the article, make sure of the reviewer’s ability to perform his/her work qualitatively in the time allocated for this, control the non-admission of the deadlines for reviewing articles announced on the journal’s website;
• respect the opinion of the reviewers;
• encourage reviewers to consider issues of ethics and research misconduct in articles submitted to the journal;
• form and regularly update the pool of external invited reviewers whose scientific interests and academic expertise correspond to the thematic areas of the journal;
• stop further cooperation with those reviewers who at least once provided low-quality reviews, violated the review deadlines, committed violations of publication ethics or publishing policy of the journal.

Responsibilities of Editors-in-Chief and the members of Editorial Board of HEM journal towards readers:

• regularly make efforts to improve the quality of the journal, ensuring compliance with the best global practices of publishing;
• post on the journal’s website only reliable information about the journal, members of the Editorial Board, external reviewers, regarding publication ethics and publishing policy;
• make efforts to encourage the publication of interesting articles of high scientific quality that will attract readers’ attention;
• provide presentation of both printed and online versions of the journal in a reader-friendly format;
• avoid publishing manuscripts containing unreliable or unethical information, direct or hidden conflicts of interest;
• ensure the impartiality and transparency of the article review system;
• ensure the timely release of the journal issues in accordance with the established schedule;
• guarantee constant and free access to the content of articles on the journal’s website;
• guarantee consideration and appropriate response to any complaints and suggestions of readers;
• promote the widest possible distribution of the journal through library aggregators;
• maintain a high quality of the journal’s website content and uninterrupted operation.