Peer Review Process
The following is the review process that every manuscript submitted to the journal undergoes during the course of the peer-review process.
The entire review process is performed using the online submission. Once a manuscript is submitted, the manuscript is assigned to an Editor most appropriate to handle it based on the subject of the manuscript and the availability of the Editors. The editor first evaluates all manuscripts. It is rare but entirely feasible for an exceptional manuscript to be accepted at this stage. Those rejected at this stage are insufficiently original, have poor grammar or English language, or are outside the aims and scope of the journal. Should the Editor decide to not assign reviewers but instead reject the submission, he/she is required to provide comments to be returned to the author.
If the Editor determines that the submitted manuscript is of sufficient quality and falls within the scope of the journal, he/she assigns the manuscript to a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 external reviewers for peer-review. The reviewers submit their reports on the manuscripts along with their recommendation of one of the following actions to the Editor:
When all reviewers have submitted their reports, the Editor can make one of the following editorial recommendations:
If the Editor recommends “Publish” the manuscript is accepted for publication.
If the Editor recommends “Consider after Minor Changes,” the authors are notified to prepare and submit a final copy of their manuscript with the required minor changes suggested by the reviewers. Only the Editor reviews the revised manuscript after the minor changes have been made by the authors. Once the Editor is satisfied with the final manuscript, the manuscript can be accepted.
If the Editor recommends “Consider after Major Changes,” the recommendation is communicated to the authors. The authors are expected to revise their manuscripts in accordance with the changes recommended by the reviewers and to submit their revised manuscript in a timely manner. Once the revised manuscript is submitted, the Editor can then make an editorial recommendation which can be “Publish” or “Consider after Minor Changes” or “Reject.”
If the Editor recommends rejecting the manuscript, the rejection is immediate. Also, if two of the reviewers recommend rejecting the manuscript, the rejection is immediate.
The Editors have the authority in rejecting any manuscript because of inappropriateness of its subject, lack of quality, or incorrectness of its results.
The peer-review process is single blinded, i.e., the reviewers know who the authors of the manuscript are, but the authors do not have access to the information of who the peer-reviewers are.