This document is a draft. It is not legal advice and it is not in force. It becomes required only when the owner adopts it by a recorded decision in nexus-governance. Until then nothing here blocks anyone’s work.

Open, staged review in five passes: evidence, method, stewardship, copy and claims, release. Articles and data get at least two reviewers. Essays get one reviewer plus the editor. Reviewers are not authors, colleagues or coauthors of the authors.

Late steps show on the public status page.

Reviewers declare conflicts before they read the abstract. Editors and board members step out of any submission they have a conflict with. Authors declare funding and relationships. A reviewer cannot be the author, from the same institution, a coauthor, the desk editor or anyone with a declared conflict.

Manuscripts are confidential until the open review log is published. Reviewers do not upload manuscripts to AI tools and do not share them.

Each pass, result and date is public with the version reviewed. Reviewers choose whether to sign. Notes become public after the decision. Authors see every report.

The editorial board decides in nexus-governance. Options: accept, revise, decline. Decisions are public with reasons. Authors, reviewers and the screening editor do not vote on their own submission.

Appeal within 30 days of a decline on one of three grounds: process error, undeclared conflict, or misread evidence. A panel of three council members with no earlier involvement decides within 30 days.

Reviewers need the Reviewer Charter and the Conflict-of-Interest declaration current before they accept. Editors need the Editor Charter, the declaration and the independence statement before they record a decision.