After the submission, the manuscript is checked for its suitability to go through the peer-review process.
If the manuscript doesn’t fulfil sufficient quality to go through the normal peer-review process, or the subject of the manuscript is not appropriate for the journal’s scope, the manuscript will be rejected with no further processing.
If the submitted manuscript is with sufficient quality and falls within the scope of the journal, the Editor will send the manuscript to two external reviewers who have common areas of interests with the manuscript’s authors. The Editor cannot assign himself/herself as an external reviewer of the manuscript.
The peer-review process is single blinded; that is, 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.
The reviewers need to submit their reports on the manuscripts along with their recommendation for one of the following actions to the Editor:
- Publish Unaltered
- Consider after Minor Changes
- Consider after Major Changes
- Reject: Manuscript is flawed or not sufficiently novel
When all reviewers have submitted their reports, the Editor can make one of the following editorial recommendations:
- Publish Unaltered
- Consider after Minor Changes
- Consider after Major Changes
- Reject
If the Editor recommends “Publish Unaltered,” the manuscript will undergo a final check by the journal’s editorial office in order to ensure that the manuscript and its review process adhere to the journal’s guidelines and policies. Once this is done, the authors will be notified of the manuscript’s acceptance.
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. 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 authors are expected to revise their manuscript in accordance with that recommendation and to submit their revised manuscript in a timely manner. Once the revised manuscript is submitted, the original reviewers are asked to review it. Along with their review reports on the revised manuscript, the reviewers make a recommendation which can be “Publish Unaltered,” “Consider after Minor Changes,” “Consider after Major Changes,” or “Reject.” Then, the Editor can make an editorial recommendation which can be “Publish Unaltered,” “Consider after Minor Changes,” or “Reject.”
If the Editor recommends rejecting the manuscript, the rejection is immediate. Also, if the majority of the reviewers recommend rejecting the manuscript, the rejection is immediate.