Recusal Policy

As stated in the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication’s Competing Interests policy, JLSC is committed to transparent and bias-free publications as much as is possible. In this spirit, it is imperative that JLSC Editors and Reviewers recuse themselves when conflicts arise. Conflicts can include, but are not limited to:

• having a spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling, or child who is an author of a manuscript;
• being currently employed by, enrolled at, or appointed to a leadership position in the same institution or organization as an author of a manuscript, or having another form of significant affiliation with that institution or organization;
• having an ongoing, direct research collaboration with an author of a manuscript;
• having a commercial interest that is relevant to the manuscript (either directly or via an immediate family member or domestic partner); or
• having any other relationship that would impact the Editor or Reviewer’s ability to provide an objective opinion of a work.

Questions and statements of recusal should be directed to the JLSC Editor-in-Chief. Questions and statements of recusal from the Editor-in-Chief should be directed to the Editorial Board, which will suggest an alternative method for handling the article. When there is a multiperson Editor-in-Chief team, an individual member of that team may direct questions or statements of recusal to the other member(s) of that team.