Constitution

The Journal of Theoretical, Computational and Applied Mechanics (“the Journal”) is an overlay [1] peer-reviewed scholarly journal committed to publication of high quality and original scientific content in the broad area of solid mechanics. It is run by researchers (“the Community”) for the Community and grounded on the following open-science principles:

Diamond Open Access [2], which guarantees that the articles are freely available under a Creative Commons BY licence.
Traditional single-blind or open peer review [3], to strictly select accepted articles on the basis of scientific merits.
Principles of reproducible science [4].
Principles of ethical publication COPE [5].

Governance structure

The Board of the Journal (“the Board”) is composed of

the Editorial Board (Associate Editors),
the Scientific Advisory Board,
the Technical Board (Technical Editors).

An individual may at any given time be a member of at most one of these boards.

Role of the Board

The Board is the owner of the Journal title and metadata on published articles. Neither the Board, nor any individual member of it, can transfer (their share of) ownership of the Journal title or metadata to a third party. The ownership has no monetary value. The Board is responsible for making the strategic decisions necessary to implement the mission of the Journal. Any decision, unless otherwise mentioned in this Constitution, requires a simple majority vote among the members of the Board. With a two-thirds majority of the votes, the Board is authorized to approve and modify the Constitution. Similarly, with a two-thirds majority of the votes, the Board may terminate the office of any of its members at any given time, or veto any new appointment. Any member of the Board may call for a vote for termination or veto. Any such decision must respect the constitution of the Journal, in particular the commitment to Diamond Open Access. The Board also appoints (elects) Associate Editors when needed.

Role of the Editorial Board

The Associate Editors of the Editorial Board represent the Community. They handle submissions assigned to them by the authors, following the Editorial Policy. The Associate Editor seeks for, at least, two appropriate reviewers for the evaluation of a submitted article. The Associate Editors will only be charged of the expertise of the submitted articles through the thorough peer review process. The Editorial Board validates the decision of rejection or acceptance of articles of each associate editor. The Associate Editor may resort to the help of the Scientific Advisory Board in search of appropriate reviewers and to the help of the Technical Editors in technical questions.

Role of the Scientific Advisory Board

The Scientific Advisory Board consists of members of the Community. It sets the scientific strategy of the Journal by participating to the appointment (electing) Associate Editors and providing, on an annual basis, feedback on current activities as well as future directions of the Journal. The Scientific Advisory board supervises that the constitution is respected in the operation of the Journal. In particular, they may notify the Board of any failure to comply with the open science principles listed in the first paragraph of the Constitution. Members of the Scientific Advisory Board do not make decisions on the submitted articles.

Role of the Technical Board

The Technical Board is composed of Technical Editors. The Technical Editors of the Technical Board are responsible for the day-to-day management of the Journal including the publication of accepted articles. The Technical Editors are also the first contact point regarding difficulties encountered in the editorial process.

Appointment procedure and terms

Editorial Board

There should be at least eight (8) Associate Editors at any given time in the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board will verify the balance between different research directions within the scope of the Journal, along with a geographical provenance, gender, and senior/junior balance insofar as feasible. New Associate Editors should be appointed by the Board at the occasion of an increased workload on the Associate Editors, upon the resignation or non-renewal of the term of one or several Editors, or to maintain the balanced coverage of research directions within the scope of the Journal. Associate Editors serve a four (4)-year term, which is renewable by mutual consent of the Scientific Advisory Board and the involved Associate Editor. Associate Editors may resign at any time provided (i) this resignation is announced three months in advance and (ii) the assigned paper reviews are completed.

Scientific Advisory Board

There should be at least twenty (20) active members in the Scientific Advisory Board at any given time. New members in the Scientific Advisory Board should be appointed to keep the number of active members at least at its minimum level and to ensure a wide range of contacts with the Community. Such appointments are done by a simple majority vote of the Board. The maximum number of appointments per year is limited to four (4), except if the number of active members is less than the lower limit (20). The appointment to the Scientific Advisory Board is for ten (10) years. Members of the Advisory Board can at any time resign from their position, or choose to become inactive, provided this is announced with a three-month notice to the Board. A member who cannot be reached after three reminders via emails, and despite the best efforts of the Board, will be listed as a member to be replaced during the following year.

Technical Board

At any given time, there should be at least three (3) Technical Editors in the Technical Board. A new Technical Editor is appointed by the Board. Technical Editors are appointed for a term of four (4) years. The appointment is renewable under the same voting rules as for a new appointment. Technical Editors can resign at any time provided (i) this resignation is announced six (6) months in advance and (ii) all the technical duties are fulfilled. New Technical Editors should be appointed by the Board (i) at the occasion of an increased workload on the Associate Editors, (ii) upon the resignation or (iii) non-renewal of the term of one or several Technical Editors.

[1] In the overlay publication model, preprints and accepted articles are stored on Open Archives which guarantees free access.

[2] The Diamond Open Access publication model does not induce any cost for readers and authors.

[4] Information and resources related to research reproducibility: reproduciblescience.org

[5] COPE: COmmittee on Publication Ethics