Toward a Bill of Rights for Manuscript Submitters

The journal peer-review system has a profound effect on scholarly careers, and yet, it is "far from perfect" (Miller, 2006: 425). Over 10 years ago, Harrison (2002) proposed that we should adopt a bill of rights for manuscript submitters to assure a fair and just peer-review process. Harrison's ideas remain relevant and important, but little has been done to recognize his call for a bill of rights. In response, I propose that it is time to formally recognize a set of basic rights manuscript submitters should be granted during peer review. I explore the basis for five such rights and analyze the forces that are likely to make abiding by these rights difficult in practice. There is much to be done in our journals and in the Academy to shore up protections granted to manuscript submitters during peer review. I additionally consider the following: Where do we go from here?