Peer Review Process

Submission of Paper

The corresponding or submitting author submits the paper to the journal via an online system.

Editorial Office Assessment

The Editorial Office checks that the paper adheres to the requirements described in the journal’s Author Guidelines and conducts plagiarism checks.

Editor-in-Chief

The Editor-in-Chief assesses the paper, considering its scope, originality, and merits. The Editor-in-Chief may reject the paper at this stage.

Invitation to Reviewers

The Editor-in-Chief sends invitations to individuals believed to be appropriate reviewers. As responses are received, further invitations are issued, if necessary, until the required number of reviewers is secured – commonly this is 2. The journal uses a double-blind peer review model.

Response to Invitations

Potential reviewers consider the invitation against their own expertise, conflicts of interest, and availability. They then accept or decline the invitation to review. If possible, when declining, they might also suggest alternative reviewers.

Review

The reviewer carefully evaluates the paper and provides constructive feedback on its quality, accuracy, originality, and contribution to the field of research. The review is then submitted to the journal, along with the reviewer's recommendation (e.g., to revise, accept, or reject the paper).

Journal Evaluates the Reviews

The editor considers all the returned reviews before making a decision. If the reviews differ widely, the editor may invite an additional reviewer to get an extra opinion before making a decision.

The Decision

The editor sends a decision email to the author including any relevant reviewer comments.

Final Steps

If accepted, the paper is sent to the Technical Editor.
If the article is rejected or sent back for either major or minor revision, the editor includes constructive comments from the reviewers to help the author improve the article. When the paper returns from review, the reviewers are sent a new version of the paper, unless they have opted out of further participation. However, where only minor changes were requested, this follow-up review might be done by the editor. Based on the reviewers' responses, the editor makes the final decision on accepting or rejecting the paper.