Manuscripts submitted will undergo the rigorous double blind peer review process. Reviewers should make an evaluation and provide recommendations to ensure the scientific quality of the manuscript is on par with our standards. The reviewer are requested to provide authentic, constructive comments for the assigned manuscript on time.
Primarily Check
After submission, the Editor-in-Chief will check the manuscript, including the manuscript format, whether research matches the scope of this journal, etc. Then, an associate editor will assign it to at least two expert peer reviewers. Authors could recommend reviewers or avoid reviewers, but publisher reserves the right to adopt them.
Peer review
Once agreeing to review the assigned manuscript, the reviewer will get full access to the entire manuscript (at least 3 weeks are allowed). Both the author and reviewer are kept confidential to each other until the peer review process in completed. The assigned manuscript does not contain any identifying information, including names, affiliations, fundings, acknowledgements, etc.
Review Decision
- Accept: the manuscript will undergo the copyediting and proofreading stages without editorial revision.
- Minor revision: the manuscript only needs minor revision before accepted. It does not need peer review process any more, and after revision (usually 2 weeks), the editorial office will accept it.
- Major revision: the manuscript needs more revision during 4 weeks. It will be assigned to the same or new reviewers for further review until a new review decision.
- Reject: typically on grounds of specialist. The author needs to resubmit a manuscript and undergo a new peer review.
- Production: once a manuscript is accepted, the editorial staff will organize the production of the paper, which entails copyediting, layout editing, proofreading and final production.
The whole submission, peer-review, and editorial processes are maintained through the OJS system. Average number of weeks between article submission & publication is about 8 weeks.
The reviewer could be the journal’s Editorial Board Members or experts in this field. Before becoming the reviewer, editors should assess their own potential conflicts, and the candidates should declare any possible conflicts to ensure to make objective evaluation and comments.
Confidentiality
Manuscripts under peer review should be strictly confidential. Reviewers must not share any details or discuss the research with others. The Editorial Office must not disclose any information about the manuscript to anyone except reviewers, co-authors.