Editorial Bylaws and Governance

Neural Prosody, LLC · Effective March 2026

These bylaws govern the editorial operations of Neural Prosody, LLC and all journals published under its imprint.

They are reviewed annually and updated as the organization grows. Version in effect: March 2026.

Article I — Purpose and Scope

These bylaws establish the governance structure, editorial roles, decision-making authority, and operational standards of Neural Prosody, LLC (hereafter “the Publisher”) and its affiliated journals. They are intended to ensure that the Publisher’s editorial operations are conducted with transparency, consistency, and integrity, and in accordance with the Publisher’s founding mission to advance open, rigorous, and ethically grounded scholarly publication.

These bylaws apply to all journals published under the Neural Prosody imprint, to all individuals serving in editorial roles, and to all operational decisions bearing upon the integrity of the scholarly record. They are published in full on the Publisher’s website and are incorporated by reference into all journal policies.

Neural Prosody, LLC is a Texas limited liability company. Ultimate institutional authority over the Publisher’s operations and governance rests with Neural Prosody, LLC. Nothing in these bylaws limits the authority of the Publisher to amend its policies, governance structure, or operations in accordance with applicable law and its organizational documents.

Article II — Editorial Roles and Responsibilities

Neural Prosody, LLC currently operates with two defined editorial roles: Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor. Additional roles—including Associate Editors, an Editorial Board, and an Advisory Board—may be established as the Publisher’s portfolio grows. Role definitions, responsibilities, and appointment procedures for any newly established positions will be incorporated into these bylaws upon adoption.

  
    Role
    Core responsibilities
    Decision authority
  
    Editor-in-Chief
    Sets editorial direction and policy; makes all final editorial decisions on manuscript acceptance, rejection, and appeals; oversees peer review process; represents the Publisher in external scholarly communications; appoints and oversees the Managing Editor
    Final authority on all editorial matters, including manuscript decisions, policy interpretation, and appeals
  
    Managing Editor
    Manages day-to-day editorial operations; coordinates peer review assignments and reviewer communications; maintains submission tracking and correspondence; ensures compliance with Author Guidelines and disclosure requirements; supports the Editor-in-Chief in all operational functions
    Operational authority delegated by the Editor-in-Chief; no independent authority over manuscript acceptance or rejection

2.1 Appointment

The Editor-in-Chief is appointed by Neural Prosody, LLC and serves at the discretion of the Publisher. The Managing Editor is appointed by and serves at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief, subject to confirmation by the Publisher. Appointments are not time-limited but are subject to annual review.

2.2 Term and continuity

In the event of a planned or unplanned vacancy in the Editor-in-Chief role, Neural Prosody, LLC will designate an interim Editor-in-Chief to ensure continuity of editorial operations. The Publisher will initiate a search for a permanent Editor-in-Chief within 60 days of a vacancy arising. During any vacancy, the Managing Editor assumes operational responsibilities but does not assume final editorial decision-making authority without explicit designation by the Publisher.

2.3 Future governance expansion

Neural Prosody, LLC anticipates the establishment of an Advisory Board as the Publisher’s portfolio and operations grow. The Advisory Board, when constituted, will provide non-binding strategic and editorial guidance to the Editor-in-Chief and will assume specific conflict-of-interest adjudication responsibilities as described in Article V. The procedures for constituting, appointing, and operating the Advisory Board will be incorporated into these bylaws prior to its establishment.

Article III — Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions at Neural Prosody journals are made solely on the basis of scholarly merit, methodological quality, and fit with the journal’s stated scope. No commercial, financial, personal, or institutional interest of the Publisher or any third party shall influence manuscript acceptance or rejection decisions.

The Editor-in-Chief has full and independent authority over all manuscript decisions. Neural Prosody, LLC, as the institutional publisher, does not direct, override, or interfere with editorial decisions on individual manuscripts. The Publisher may establish or revise editorial policy through these bylaws and affiliated policy documents, but policy is distinct from individual manuscript decisions.

Authors, reviewers, and external parties may not contact the Publisher’s ownership or management to influence editorial decisions. All editorial correspondence must be directed to the editorial office.

Article IV — Editorial Decision-Making

4.1 Manuscript decisions

The Editor-in-Chief holds sole and final authority over all manuscript decisions, including desk rejection, assignment to peer review, post-review decisions, and decisions on revised manuscripts. Decisions are based on the Editor-in-Chief’s assessment of peer review reports, the manuscript’s methodological quality, its adherence to Author Guidelines and disclosure requirements, and its fit with the journal’s scope.

The Editor-in-Chief may delegate operational review tasks to the Managing Editor but retains final decision-making authority on all acceptance and rejection decisions. No manuscript may be accepted for publication without the explicit approval of the Editor-in-Chief.

4.2 Policy decisions

Material changes to journal policies—including changes to the Author Guidelines, AI Use Policy, Peer Review Policy, Open Access and Licensing terms, or these bylaws—are made by the Editor-in-Chief in their capacity as the senior editorial officer of Neural Prosody, LLC. Policy changes are documented, dated, and published on the Publisher’s website. Authors and reviewers are advised to consult current policy documents prior to submission or review.

4.3 Appeals

Authors who wish to appeal an editorial decision may submit a written appeal to the editorial office within 14 days of receiving the decision. Appeals must state the specific grounds for the appeal—whether factual error, procedural irregularity, or demonstrable misinterpretation of the manuscript’s content—and must include any supporting documentation the author considers relevant.

Appeals are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief, who issues a final ruling. The Editor-in-Chief’s ruling on appeal is final and not subject to further review. Disagreement with a reviewer’s assessment or dissatisfaction with the outcome of peer review does not constitute grounds for appeal. Appeals submitted outside the 14-day window will not be considered.

Article V — Conflicts of Interest

5.1 Scope

A conflict of interest exists when a personal, professional, financial, or intellectual relationship between an editorial decision-maker and a manuscript, its authors, or its subject matter could—or could reasonably be perceived to—bias the editorial decision. Neural Prosody applies a broad interpretation of conflict of interest in order to protect the integrity of the review process and the confidence of authors, reviewers, and readers.

5.2 Editor-in-Chief recusal

The Editor-in-Chief must recuse from editorial decision-making on any manuscript for which a conflict of interest exists or may reasonably be perceived to exist, including but not limited to:

Manuscripts authored or co-authored by the Editor-in-Chief
Manuscripts authored by current or recent collaborators, students, mentors, or supervisors
Manuscripts in which the Editor-in-Chief has a financial interest in the outcome
Manuscripts where a personal relationship with an author could reasonably be perceived to affect judgment

When the Editor-in-Chief recuses from a manuscript, decision-making authority for that submission transfers as follows:

Currently, as Neural Prosody operates with a single editorial officer, recusal by the Editor-in-Chief requires the appointment of an external qualified scholar to serve as a guest editor for that submission on an ad hoc basis. The guest editor is selected by the Managing Editor from the Publisher’s reviewer pool or external network, and must have no conflict of interest with the submission. The guest editor’s decision is final for that manuscript.

Upon the establishment of an Advisory Board, conflict-of-interest adjudication will transfer to a designated Advisory Board member with no conflict, in accordance with procedures to be incorporated into these bylaws at that time.

5.3 Reviewer conflicts

Reviewers are required to disclose any conflict of interest prior to accepting a review assignment and must decline the assignment if a conflict exists. Reviewers who identify a conflict after accepting an assignment must notify the editorial office immediately and withdraw from the review. See the Peer Review Policy for full reviewer conflict of interest requirements.

5.4 Disclosure and documentation

All conflict of interest disclosures—by editors, guest editors, and reviewers—are documented in the submission record. The Publisher maintains these records in accordance with its data retention policy. Conflicts of interest that were not disclosed and are discovered after publication will be addressed in accordance with the Publisher’s Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions Policy.

Article VI — Peer Review Standards

All manuscripts published in Neural Prosody journals undergo double-anonymized peer review by at least two independent qualified reviewers. The peer review process is conducted exclusively by human reviewers; AI-assisted technologies are not used in manuscript evaluation at any stage. Full peer review procedures are set out in the Peer Review Policy.

Neural Prosody compensates peer reviewers at a flat rate of $150 USD per reviewed article, paid via PayPal or direct bank transfer upon acceptance of the review by the handling editor. Compensation is not contingent upon the editorial outcome of the reviewed manuscript.

Reviewer identities are held in strict confidence. The Publisher does not disclose reviewer identities to authors, to other reviewers, or to third parties, except where required by law or where the reviewer has explicitly consented to disclosure.

Article VII — Open Access and Publishing Ethics

Neural Prosody is committed to fully open access publication. All content published in Neural Prosody journals is immediately and permanently available without charge to readers. Neural Prosody does not charge article processing fees (APCs) to authors. All published articles are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) unless otherwise specified for a given journal.

Neural Prosody adheres to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and follows COPE guidelines in handling allegations of research misconduct, authorship disputes, duplicate submission, plagiarism, data fabrication, and other publication ethics violations. The Publisher’s specific procedures for investigating and resolving such matters are set out in the Research Ethics Policy and the Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions Policy.

Article VIII — Annual Review and Amendment

8.1 Annual policy review

These bylaws and all associated journal policies are subject to formal review on an annual basis, conducted by the Editor-in-Chief. The annual review considers whether policies remain current, complete, and consistent with the Publisher’s mission and with evolving standards in scholarly publishing, research ethics, and open science. The review is completed by December 31 of each calendar year, with any amendments taking effect on January 1 of the following year unless otherwise specified.

The first annual review under these bylaws is scheduled for December 2026. All policy documents display a “Last reviewed” date reflecting the most recent review cycle.

8.2 Amendment procedure

Amendments to these bylaws may be proposed by the Editor-in-Chief at any time. Material amendments—those that alter editorial decision-making authority, conflict of interest procedures, peer review standards, or open access commitments—are documented with an effective date and version history. Authors and reviewers with active submissions at the time of a material amendment will be notified of any changes that affect their submission.

Minor amendments—including corrections of typographical errors, clarification of existing policy language without substantive change, and updates to contact information or linked resources—may be made at any time without formal review cycle and take effect immediately upon publication.

8.3 Version history

  
    Version
    Effective date
    Summary of changes
  
    1.0
    March 2026
    Initial adoption. Establishes governance structure for Neural Prosody, LLC at founding.

Questions about these bylaws or Neural Prosody’s governance structure?

Contact the editorial office. We are committed to transparency in all aspects of our operations.

Related Policies

These bylaws are read in conjunction with the following Neural Prosody policy documents, all of which are published on the Publisher’s website and incorporated by reference herein:

Peer Review Policy
Author Guidelines (H0 Journal)
AI Use Policy
Research Ethics Policy
Open Access and Licensing Policy
Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions Policy
Privacy Policy
For Reviewers