The invisible work of editors: Why editorial synthesis deserves a name

A peer reviewer evaluates a manuscript. An editor must do something different: bring the reviews together, weigh competing assessments, consider the journal’s standards, and reach a defensible decision. That essential work has a name: editorial synthesis. In this first Research Report presented through our Dual Dissemination format, Leslie H. Nicoll examines editorial synthesis as Layer 4 of the Journal Systems Framework. The Research Report investigates how structured, AI-assisted synthesis can support editorial judgment across five manuscript cases. The accompanying essay explains why this often-unseen work deserves greater attention in editorial scholarship and education.