Editorial Workflow
Manuscripts should be submitted online (PDF format).
The submission of a paper implies the author’s assurance that:
The paper has not been published, or submitted for publication elsewhere;
The authors agree to automatically transfer the copyright to the publisher, upon acceptance of the paper;
The manuscript will not be submitted elsewhere while under consideration for publication in this journal.
Once a manuscript is submitted for publication, the manuscript is checked (by iThenticate software and manually) to ensure that it is suitable to go through the normal peer review process. The handling editor manages the peer-review process for the manuscripts. The peer-review process is single blinded: 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 handling editor can decide, after inspecting the submitted manuscript, that it should be rejected without further processing. Otherwise, the handling editor assigns the manuscript to at least two independent external reviewers with expertise in the subject of the manuscript. The reviewers submit their reports on the manuscripts along with their recommendation of one of the following actions to the handling editor: accept submission, minor revisions, major revisions or decline submission. When all reviewers have submitted their reports, the handling editor can make one of the following editorial recommendations: accept submission, minor revisions, major revisions or decline submission.
Reviewers must not be affiliated with the same institution as any of the authors, must not have co-authored with any of the authors in the past five years, and must declare any other potential conflict of interest before accepting a review invitation. A handling editor who has a conflict of interest with any of the authors must decline to handle the manuscript. Manuscripts submitted by members of the Editorial Board are handled by another editor with no conflict of interest, and the submitting editor is excluded from all stages of the decision. Authors may suggest potential reviewers at submission; the handling editor is not obliged to use them and verifies the independence of any suggested reviewer before inviting them.
If the handling editor recommends: accept submission, the Editor-in-Chief is notified so that they can inspect the manuscript and the review reports. The editor-in-chief can either override the Handling Editor’s recommendation in which case the manuscript is rejected or approve the Handling Editor’s recommendation in which case the manuscript is accepted for publication.
If the handling editor recommends: minor revisions, the authors are notified to prepare and submit a final copy of their manuscript with the required minor revisions suggested by the reviewers. The handling editor reviews the revised manuscript after the minor revision have been made by the authors. Once the handling editor is satisfied with the final manuscript, the handling editor recommends: accept submission.
If the handling editor recommends: major revisions, 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 handling editor assigns the revised manuscript to the original reviewers. Along with their review reports on the revised manuscript, the reviewers make a recommendation which can be: accept submission, minor revisions, major revisions or decline submission. Then, the handling editor can make an editorial recommendation which can be accept submission, minor revisions, major revisions or decline submission. If the handling editor recommends rejecting the manuscript, the rejection is immediate.
The editorial workflow gives the handling editor the authority to reject any manuscript because of inappropriateness of its subject, lack of quality, or incorrectness of its results, however, only the Editor-in-Chief can approve a manuscript for publication, whereas handling editors recommend manuscripts for acceptance to the Editor-in-Chief. Recommendation of acceptance has to be approved by the Editor-in-Chief first before publication. The handling editor cannot assign himself/herself as a reviewer of the manuscript. This is to ensure a high-quality, fair, and unbiased peer-review process of every manuscript submitted to the journal.