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LNE6

Legalman

E-6 (Staff Sergeant) · Navy

E1–E3E-4E-5E-6E-7E8–E9
HEADS UP

LN1 is where the legal office is yours to run — the docket, the section, the junior LNs, the attorney's caseload calendar. The chief board is not a future conversation; it is the active mission, and every eEVAL cycle, every docket outcome, and every LN2 you develop is building or eroding the packet the LCPO is going to put in front of the selection board. The LDO (Limited Duty Officer) application window closes earlier than most LN1s expect — know the application deadline, make the honest decision about whether that path fits, and do not let the window pass by default.

The Honest MOS Read
Petty Officer First Class Legalman (LN1, E-6) is the LPO or the lead paralegal — the rank where the legal office's daily operational execution runs off your ownership of the docket, the section, and the people. The JAG officer runs the law. You run the machine that makes a Navy JAG shop function: the caseload calendar, the exhibit management system, the training program, the eEVAL production, and the quality gate that everything passes through before it reaches an attorney's desk. At an NLSO regional command the LN1's courts-martial responsibilities reach their deepest at this rank. You manage the full case file from preferral through record-of-trial completion: exhibit control under RCM 701 discovery compliance, witness coordination under RCM 703, transcript certification after the proceeding closes, and the administrative record package to the convening authority. Government trial counsel depend on LN1s who can track a general courts-martial file across months of pre-trial activity, multiple sessions of testimony, and post-trial administrative processing — without the trial counsel managing the logistics himself. The LN1 who can do that independently is the one who is invited into the trial prep meeting rather than just the filing room. The eEVAL production at LN1 is where your institutional impact on the LN community is most visible and most lasting. The eEVALs you write for LN2s and LN3s — the trait marks you assign, the bullets you draft, the ranking you establish among your peers — directly affect their advancement trajectories. A strong, specific eEVAL bullet based on documented caseload outcomes advances petty officers. A generic eEVAL bullet based on general impressions middling-ranks petty officers who deserved better. The LN1 who builds bullet language from the LN2's actual numbers — cases processed, deadlines hit, LN3s trained to certification — is the LN1 whose section produces selectees. The Chief board conversation is the active mission at LN1, not a future plan. Your LCPO is reading your current eEVAL profile against prior LN1 Chief selectees right now. The inputs the board evaluates are specific: eEVAL trait average and ranking from every cycle, warfare device (SW/EXW/FMF where applicable), ABA paralegal certification status, JPME completion or enrollment, education (associate's or bachelor's degree via VOLED), and command involvement (command sponsor, command PT leader, CPO 365 participant). The LCPO who sees a clear gap in the profile — missing warfare device, no ABA credential, JPME not started — is the LCPO who has the honest conversation at the annual review. The LN1 who hears the honest conversation and acts on it is the one who selects. The one who hears it and waits is the one who wonders two cycles later. The LDO (Limited Duty Officer) path is a real option at LN1 and the decision window is specific. LDO applications (designator 6835 for Legal, if the designator is active, or the general administrative LDO path) require a competitive application through the LDO board, command endorsement, physical, and an educational component. The application deadline falls roughly 18 months before the commission date — meaning the LN1 who wants to commission as an LDO needs to start the process before the halfway point of a typical LN1 tour. The LCPO's honest assessment of whether the LN1's profile is LDO-competitive is more useful than the LN1's own assessment; the board's selectee profiles are published, and the LCPO has seen them. The warrant officer path in the JAG Corps has historically been limited in the Navy; check current availability with the LCPO and the detailer before investing significant planning in it, since the warrant officer program has varied in scope across different budget cycles. The information from the last cycle may not match the current cycle's billet availability.
Career Arc
  • 01Upon advancement to LN1: LPO responsibilities begin or lead paralegal role in a major NLSO section; eEVAL production for LN2s and LN3s now part of the primary accountabilities.
  • 02Year 1 as LN1: courts-martial full case-file management from preferral through record-of-trial; LDO application decision and deadline research; ABA certification complete or in final phase.
  • 03Year 1-2: Chief board packet construction with LCPO guidance — eEVAL profile review, warfare device status, JPME enrollment, education, command involvement. Honest gap assessment.
  • 04Year 2: Chief selection board cycle; packet submitted with LCPO endorsement; all packet elements verified for accuracy before submission deadline.
  • 05If selected for Chief: CPO Academy (Chief Petty Officer Selectee Leadership Course), Chief's mess transition, LCPO role begins in earnest.
  • 06If not selected first cycle: honest assessment of what the board saw vs. what was in the packet; specific improvement plan for the next cycle, not a general 'try harder' plan.
Common Screwups
  • ×Missing a courts-martial docket deadline — a preferral timeline, a discovery response under RCM 701, a record-of-trial certification — as the senior enlisted docket authority. The defense counsel's motion lands the same day, the trial counsel is in the legal officer's office within the hour, and the trace runs to the LN1 who owned the docket. This is a career marker that travels.
  • ×Briefing docket status to the senior JAG officer from memory rather than from the validated case files. The JAG officer takes the brief into a command sync and cites a case status that is wrong — because the LN1's verbal brief was more optimistic than the actual file. When the discrepancy surfaces, the LN1's credibility with the senior JAG officer is the casualty.
  • ×Letting the LDO application window close by default — neither applying nor making the conscious decision not to apply. The LN1 who realizes at LN1 year three that the window closed 18 months ago and she never engaged with the process is the LN1 who carries 'what if' through the rest of the career. Make the decision consciously.
  • ×A fraternization or personal conduct incident at a petty officer in the senior leadership tier of the legal office. The legal office is the command's integrity institution. An LN1 who generates a conduct incident of the type the legal office processes for other commands is a case the goat locker discusses — and in a small rate community, the discussion is not private.

A Day in the Life

  • 0530-0630Command PT. The LN1 who is visibly PT-conscious — not just at standard, but fit — sets the section's standard. The junior LNs watch.
  • 0630-0700Section brief prep: pull the docket flag list, verify the overnight duty log for any emergency legal matters, review the attorney's calendar for the day's priority cases.
  • 0700-0730Brief the senior JAG officer on the day's caseload: open courts-martial docket, NJP scheduling, ADSEP package status, legal assistance appointment load. The brief is off the system output, not memory.
  • 0730-0900Section management: triage the walk-in queue with the LN2, verify the morning's LN3 intake work before the attorneys sit down with clients, review any overnight document submissions.
  • 0900-1100Courts-martial file management if trial-active: exhibit log review, discovery compliance check, witness coordination. ADSEP package senior review and sign-off. eEVAL drafting if the evaluation window is open.
  • 1100-1130If Thursday: run the section training session — a JAGINST update walk-through, a charge sheet drafting exercise, a BIB chapter study session with the LN2s. The session is prepared, not improvised.
  • 1130-1300Lunch, section admin catch-up, mentor conversation with the LN2 working the Chief board prep.
  • 1300-1430Claims processing review, ADSEP pipeline status confirmation, legal officer calendar management for the following week. Review docket flag list for any 48-hour deadlines appearing tomorrow.
  • 1430-1500Chief board packet work if the window is open — reviewing the current eEVAL cycle against the LCPO's input, ABA certification enrollment confirmation, JPME transcript update. This is the block most LN1s sacrifice first and should be the last to go.
  • 1500-1630End-of-day section brief to the senior JAG officer on docket status, any overnight items, tomorrow's schedule. Secure after the brief.

Weekly Cadence

Monday is the JAG officer's weekly sync — the LN1 prepares the full section status brief and sits in the sync as the senior enlisted voice. Tuesday and Wednesday are production days: the section is running its caseload at full output, the LN1 is reviewing work and catching errors before they reach the attorney, and the courts-martial support work is running in parallel with the regular queue. Thursday is training day. Friday is end-of-week reconciliation: docket audit, closed-file documentation, next week's deadline list published to the section. The Chief board calendar overlays the weekly rhythm in the 90 days before the board convenes. The LN1 whose packet is not yet complete is doing packet work in every available slot — not instead of the section work, but in addition to it. The LN1 who builds the packet across the entire evaluation period arrives at the 90-day window with a packet that needs a final review, not a packet that needs to be built. That difference in how the packet was built shows in the quality of the packet. When the NLSO command goes into a major courts-martial cycle — multiple general or special courts-martial running concurrently — the weekly rhythm becomes the daily rhythm, and the daily rhythm becomes the hour-by-hour trial schedule. The LN1 who has built a section where the LN2s can manage the regular caseload independently is the LN1 who can give the courts-martial the full attention it requires without the regular queue degrading.

Key Skills — How to Drill Each

  1. 01
    Run a legal office section — intake queue, docket, evidence management, junior LN training, eEVAL production — with a status brief the senior JAG officer can defend without reconstruction.
    The brief is the measurable output of the entire section's management. Build the brief format with the JAG officer once: open cases by type, docket deadlines by date, pending attorney review items, section training status, personnel readiness. Then build the brief from the system output, not from your memory of the system output. A brief the JAG officer has to correct in front of you is feedback; a brief the JAG officer corrects in the command sync is a problem.
  2. 02
    Manage a courts-martial case file from preferral through record-of-trial completion under RCM 701 discovery compliance.
    Build the case file chronology from the day of preferral: every document, every communication, every deadline, every disclosure. RCM 701 discovery is ongoing — the government's disclosure obligations continue through trial, and a discovery failure is a motion the day after the omission. Review the discovery log weekly when the case is in active pre-trial preparation, and verify the log against the actual file before every session.
  3. 03
    Write eEVAL bullets for LN2s and LN3s from measurable legal-office outcomes.
    At the start of each evaluation period, establish with each rated petty officer the specific outcomes that will be measurable at evaluation time: how many legal assistance intakes, how many ADSEP packages built without defective service, how many LN3s certified on specific procedures, how many courts-martial docket entries maintained without a missed deadline. At evaluation time, write the bullet from the number, not from the impression. 'Processed 62 legal assistance intakes — zero attorney reconstruction required' is a bullet the senior rater defends. 'Expertly managed legal assistance caseload' is filler.
  4. 04
    Mentor an LN2's Chief board packet from concept to submission.
    Start the conversation at the first LN2 evaluation period — not two cycles before the Chief board. The inputs are specific and the timeline is compressed: eEVAL profile analysis against prior LN1 selectee profiles, warfare device status and how to close the gap if applicable, ABA certification timeline, JPME enrollment and completion window, education level relative to selectee profiles. The LCPO's role in the packet is endorser; the LN1's role is builder. The LN2 who arrives at the packet deadline with all elements complete got there because the LN1 managed the timeline.
  5. 05
    Translate a new JAGINST or MILPERSMAN update into section-level procedure changes the junior LNs can execute within one training cycle.
    When a new JAGINST drops, read it the week it publishes — not the week someone asks you about it. Identify the specific procedure changes that affect your section's daily work, draft a one-page summary of what changed and what the new procedure is, and deliver it in the next Thursday training session. The LN who finds out about a procedure change from the junior LN who read it on his own initiative is the LN1 whose section the JAG officer has questions about.

Manuals & References — What Chapters Matter

  • UCMJ and MCM, current editions — full professional fluency
    At LN1 you are the enlisted authority the attorneys test against — not the other way around. The new JAG officer who arrives at the command and asks the LN1 how a specific RCM procedure runs expects the answer without a look-up. That fluency is built over multiple years of caseload work, not from reading the manual the week before the question. Maintain currency by reading every JAGINST update as it publishes and every MCM update as the Executive Order amending it is signed.
  • JAGINST 5800.7 series — JAG Manual, complete
    The procedure source you teach from and enforce compliance against. At LN1 you are responsible for ensuring the section's procedures match the current edition — when an update publishes, you identify the procedure changes, brief the section, and update the SOPs. The JAG Manual is the document the IG cites in a legal office inspection finding; your section's procedures should match it before the inspection, not after.
  • OPNAVINST 1306.2 series — Detailing and Assignment Policy
    The detailing system is the mechanism through which the LN1's next billet is determined — and through which the LN2s and LN3s in your section will PCS. Understanding how the detailing process works, when orders drop, and how to engage the LN community detailer (MyNavy HR / NPC BUPERS-3) is the information the LPO passes to the junior sailors. The LN1 who does not know when the LN2's follow-on orders eligibility window opens is the LPO who is surprised when the petty officer gets orders on 60 days' notice.
  • NAVPERS 18068F — Rate Occupational Standards for LN
    The competency framework the Chief selection board reads your eEVAL against. The occupational standards document defines the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) expected at each paygrade. Your eEVAL bullets should map to specific occupational standards — not in rote language, but in content that demonstrates you meet or exceed them. The selection board uses NAVPERS 18068F as the benchmark; your bullets should reflect that benchmark.
  • Current NAVADMIN on LN advancement quotas and LN Chief selection board cycle
    Pull every NAVADMIN that affects LN advancement — the board precept NAVADMIN, the selection board results NAVADMIN, the advancement cycle eligibility NAVADMIN — as it publishes. The NAVADMIN is the authoritative document; the scuttlebutt in the goat locker about 'what the board is looking for' is not. The LN1 who can quote the current board precept accurately is the LN1 the LCPO sends the junior petty officers to talk to.

Standards — How to Hit Each

  • Chief board packet under construction with the LCPO's eye on every line.
    Schedule a formal Chief board packet review with the LCPO at least once per evaluation cycle — not a casual conversation, a scheduled review of the actual inputs: eEVAL profile printed, warfare device status confirmed, ABA credential documented, JPME transcript attached, education level confirmed. Ask the LCPO directly: 'Where does this packet rank against prior LN1 selectees?' The honest answer is more useful than the supportive one.
  • Zero docket deadline misses across the section during LN1 tenure as LPO.
    The 48-hour advance alert system that worked at LN2 now covers the entire section — every LN2-managed case file has the same flag system, and the LN1's morning review covers the section's docket, not just the LN1's personal cases. The weekly docket review with the senior JAG officer is the external validation; the daily flag list review is the internal quality check.
  • Section eEVAL production that the senior rater can defend at the wardroom board.
    The senior rater — the JAG officer — reviews the LN1's eEVAL bullets for the junior petty officers and assigns the final trait marks. A bullet the JAG officer has to rewrite because it lacks specificity or accuracy is a bullet that cost the petty officer evaluation quality and cost you time. Write the bullet right the first time: specific outcome, specific number, specific quality indicator.
  • ABA-approved paralegal certification completed; junior LNs in the pipeline.
    The standard is not just personal completion — it is that the LN2s and LN3s in your section are enrolled in or actively working toward their own certifications because you built the plan for them. The LN1 who certifies and says nothing to the junior section is building personal credentials. The LN1 who certifies and then spends 30 minutes at the next Thursday training session explaining the certifying body's application process, VOLED funding availability, and exam preparation strategy is building the section's long-term credentialing pipeline.

Technical Mistakes — Concrete Consequences

  • Briefing docket status to the senior JAG officer without validating it against the actual case files.
    The JAG officer cites a case status in the command sync that is inconsistent with what the trial counsel reported directly to the commanding officer. The JAG officer has to correct the record, the CO wants to know why the legal office brief was inaccurate, and the trace runs to the LN1's brief. In a legal office, credibility is the primary operating currency — once the senior JAG officer starts double-checking the LN1's docket briefs, the trust relationship that makes the section run efficiently is damaged.
  • Letting an LN2-managed courts-martial file miss a discovery deadline under RCM 701.
    The defense counsel's discovery motion lands the same day the omission is identified. The trial counsel has to respond. If the motion is granted and evidence is suppressed, the government's case is materially weakened. The JAG officer's post-incident review of the discovery log identifies the last LN1-level review of the file — and the LN1 explains what the section oversight looked like at that point.
  • Conflating the LPO's administrative authority with the attorney's legal authority in client-facing situations.
    A sailor who receives a definitive legal answer from the LN1 rather than the attorney — because the LPN answered the question directly rather than routing it — and acts on it may receive incorrect guidance. When the outcome differs from what the LPN said, the sailor's remedy is through the attorney. The JAG officer's after-action review of that case traces to the last conversation the sailor had in the legal office before acting.
  • Going around the LCPO to the senior JAG officer on a personnel issue.
    In the LN community, which is small enough that LNCMs know LNCs two commands over, a petty officer who routes around the chief is discussed. The LCPO finds out — the goat locker's information network in a small rate is reliable — and the LN1's chief board packet review at the next cycle has a different tone.

Career Decisions at This Rank

  • Chief board: this cycle, next cycle, or reassess.
    The Chief board convenes annually and the selection rate for LN1 to LNC has historically been competitive in a small-rate community. The decision to submit or not submit is not just a question of readiness — it is a question of what the board sees in the packet relative to prior selectees. The LCPO's honest answer to 'is this packet competitive this cycle' is the input that should drive the decision, not the LN1's self-assessment. If the packet is competitive this cycle, submit and prepare for the board. If there is a specific gap — missing warfare device, incomplete ABA credential, low JPME completion — identify whether the gap can be closed before the submission deadline. If it cannot, submit the best packet available and understand what the next cycle needs.
  • LDO application: apply now, apply next cycle, or not pursue.
    The LDO program (designator selection through the annual LDO board) requires a competitive application with command endorsement, physical qualification, education documentation, and eEVAL profile support. The application window opens roughly 12-18 months before the commission date, which means the decision to pursue must happen well before the LN1 is mid-tour. The LCPO's honest assessment of whether the LN1's profile is LDO-board-competitive should happen at the first LN1 evaluation cycle. An LN1 who is competitive for both Chief and LDO should research both paths honestly — the career arc from LDO in the legal community is different from the career arc as an LNC, and neither is universally superior.
  • Shore vs. sea for the next PCS: NLSO senior paralegal vs. ship's legal office LPO.
    The chief board reads both shore and sea assignments as legitimate. The NLSO senior paralegal billet deepens specialization and courts-martial exposure; the ship's legal office LPO billet builds the direct command-team interface and sea duty service that some selection board profiles favor. The detailer drives the actual assignment based on the Navy's needs, but the LN1 who arrives at the detailing conversation with a prepared preference and a rationale that includes 'here is what that billet does for my chief board profile' gets a different kind of detailing conversation than the one who says 'wherever the Navy needs me.'

How the Seat Varies by Unit Type

  • NLSO Regional Command — Senior Paralegal / Section LPO
    The highest operational complexity in the LN community. Courts-martial support at the general courts-martial level, multi-section LN leadership, the senior enlisted interface with the JAG officer corps at department level. If you want the kind of courts-martial case file management experience that makes a chief board packet stand out, this is the billet. The tempo during a major trial is intense; the downtime between major trials allows for deep training delivery.
  • Command Legal Office — Ship LPO (Large Deck / CVN / LHD)
    Sea duty, direct CO access, everything in parallel on a compressed team. The LN1 on a carrier during a major deployment cycle processes every type of legal matter concurrently — deployment-cycle ADSEP, underway NJP, afloat legal assistance, emergency POA requests, claims intake. The sea duty service record and the warfare qualification available afloat add to the chief board profile in ways the shore NLSO billet does not.
  • Recruiting Command Senior Enlisted Legal
    A broadening tour that builds a different kind of leadership experience. Recruiting Command has its own legal office structure and the LN1 who goes there develops administrative law and personnel law experience in a high-visibility command. The tradeoff is less courts-martial exposure and more administrative personnel action processing.
  • Marine Corps Installation Legal Office — LPO
    FMF device available if not already earned, heavier military justice caseload per capita, Marine Corps command culture. The LN1 at a Marine Corps installation LPO seat is often the single most senior enlisted paralegal in the building — the direct interface between the commanding officer's legal officer and every enlisted legal matter at the installation. The experience is broad and the command visibility is high.

What Good Looks Like at This Rank

The good LN1 is the petty officer the senior JAG officer names when an outside command calls asking how a courts-martial docket should be run. Not because the LN1 is performing — because the section's output is documented and the outside command can see it: the trial counsel from the last general courts-martial's post-trial comments, the commanding officer's legal officer's feedback on the ADSEP packages, the inspection record showing zero IG findings attributable to LN1-level procedure lapses. The training output is the second half of the good LN1's profile. The LN2s in the section are writing charge sheets that do not require trial counsel correction. The LN3s are producing ADSEP exhibit packages the LN2 approves rather than rebuilds. The ABA certification pipeline is active — at least one junior LN in the section is enrolled because the LN1 built the plan and provided the VOLED documentation. The LCPO can walk into the legal officer's office and say 'the LN1's section trained two LN3s to full certification this cycle' with a specific date and a specific outcome — not a general observation about the LN1's leadership quality. The Chief board packet is specific, not aspirational. The LCPO reviewing it can identify by line which eEVAL cycle contributed which trait improvement, when the ABA certification was completed, what the JPME enrollment date was, and what the warfare device qualification status is. The LN1 who built that packet deliberately — not in the last six months before the board, but across the entire LN1 evaluation period — is the one who walks into the Chief board cycle with nothing left to add. The chief who selects her says 'I could see the trajectory from the first LN2 cycle.' That is the standard.

Preview — The Next Rank

Chief Petty Officer (LNC, E-7) is not a promotion — it is a transition into a different institutional role. The anchors end the petty officer identity and begin the Chief's mess identity. The goat locker is now your peer group, your accountability institution, and your leadership development platform. The CPO Academy (Chief Petty Officer Selectee Leadership Course) is not a school that teaches you to be a chief; it is the induction into the mess's culture and expectations. The mess is already watching before you pin the anchors. The work changes most visibly in how you interact with the junior petty officers. Where the LN1 manages the LN2 through direct technical supervision, the LNC manages the LN2 through the LPO — which means the chief's primary technical output is the quality of the LPO she chose and trained, not the quality of the LPO's direct work product. The LNC who is still doing the LN1's job at the LN2's level because the LPO cannot be trusted has a development problem, not a workload problem. The eEVAL cycle at LNC covers the entire enlisted section — from LN3 through LN1 — and the chief's name on every evaluation in the section's stack. The selection board's evaluation of a chief's tenure is largely the evaluation of the section the chief produced: did the LN1s advance to chief? Did the LN2s advance to LN1? Did the ABA certification pipeline produce completions? The section's output is the chief's output, and the transition from 'my work' to 'their work that I developed' is the mindset shift the CPO Academy is trying to install.
FAQ

LN E6 — Frequently Asked Questions

Q01What does a E6 LN (Legalman) actually do?
You own the enlisted execution of the legal office — docket management across legal assistance, NJP, administrative separations, courts-martial support, and claims.
Q02What's the most important thing to know as a E6 LN?
LN1 is where the legal office is yours to run — the docket, the section, the junior LNs, the attorney's caseload calendar.
Q03What does a typical day look like for a E6 LN?
Time-blocked day at the E6 LN rank tier: 0530-0630 Command PT. The LN1 who is visibly PT-conscious — not just at standard, but fit — sets the section's standard. The junior LNs watch, 0630-0700 Section brief prep: pull the docket flag list, verify the overnight duty log for any emergency legal matters, review the attorney's calendar for the day's priority cases, 0700-0730 Brief the senior JAG officer on the day's caseload: open courts-martial docket, NJP scheduling, ADSEP package status, legal assistance appointment load. The brief is off the system output, not memory,…
Q04What mistakes get E6 LN soldiers fired or relieved?
Missing a courts-martial docket deadline — a preferral timeline, a discovery response under RCM 701, a record-of-trial certification — as the senior enlisted docket authority. The defense counsel's motion lands the same day, the trial counsel is in the legal officer's office within the hour, and the trace runs to the LN1 who owned the docket. This is a career marker that travels; Briefing docket status to the senior JAG officer from memory rather than from the validated case files.…
Q05What career decisions matter most at the E6 LN rank tier?
Chief board: this cycle, next cycle, or reassess — The Chief board convenes annually and the selection rate for LN1 to LNC has historically been competitive in a small-rate community. The decision to submit or not submit is not just a question of readiness — it is a question of what the board sees in the packet relative to prior selectees. The LCPO's honest answer to 'is this packet competitive this cycle' is the input that should drive the decision, not the LN1's self-assessment. If the packet is competitive this cycle, submit and prepare for the board.…
Q06What's next after E6 for a LN (Legalman) in the Navy?
Chief Petty Officer (LNC, E-7) is not a promotion — it is a transition into a different institutional role.
Q07What manuals and regulations does a E6 LN need to know cold?
UCMJ and MCM, current editions — full professional fluency; you are the LN the attorneys call with the procedure question when the manual is on their credenza, not in their hand.; JAGINST 5800.7 series — full JAG Manual across legal assistance, claims, military justice, and NLSO operations; you teach procedure off this to the junior section.; MILPERSMAN 1910 series — complete administrative separation procedures; you sign and supervise every package that leaves your section.

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Published by the Honest MOS Editorial DeskVerified against DoD/.gov sourcesUpdated May 2026Editorial standards