PEER REVIEW PROCESS

All submitted manuscripts will be double-blind reviewed by an expert in the field. After author(s) submitted the manuscripts, the manuscripts first will be checked for an initial screening to assure that the manuscripts fit with our technical guideline and the aim and scope of the journal. After passed initial screening, the manuscript will be sent out for peer review.

The expected time from submission to the first decision is a month. However, due to technical manners, the duration length can be out of the deadline.

Ensuring Blind Review

To ensure the integrity of the blind peer-review for submission to this press, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors and reviewers from being known to each other. This involves the authors, editors, and reviewers (who upload documents as part of their review) checking to see if the following steps have been taken with regard to the text and the file properties:

The authors of the document should have replaced their names from the text, with "Author" and year used in the references and footnotes, article title, etc.

Checklist for ensuring a blind review

  1. Title (remove any identifying information)
  2. Cite papers published by the Author in the text as follows: (Author, 2019)
  3. Use the third person to refer to work the Authors have previously undertaken, e.g. replace any phrases like “as we have shown before” with “… has been shown before (Author, 2019)”.
  4. Do not eliminate essential self-references or other references but limit self-references only to papers that are relevant for those reviewing the submitted paper.
  5. For blinding in the reference list: (Author 2019) Details omitted for double-blind reviewing.
  6. Footnotes (remove any identifying information)
  7. Make sure figures and tables, including figure and table labels and captions, don't contain any affiliation related identifiers
  8. Remove references to funding sources
  9. Do not include acknowledgments
  10. Remove any identifying information from file names
  11. Ensure document properties are also anonymized.

Ensuring document properties are anonymized

To ensure the integrity of anonymous peer-review, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors and reviewers from being known to each other. This involves the authors, editors, and reviewers (who upload documents as part of their review) checking to see if the following steps have been taken with regard to the text and the file properties:

  • The authors of the document have deleted their names from the text, with "Author" and year used in the references and footnotes, instead of the authors' name, article title, etc.
  • The authors of the document have removed personal information from the file properties by taking the following steps:
    • Microsoft Word for Windows:
      • Go to File
      • Select Info
      • Click on Check for Issues
      • Click on Inspect Document
      • In the Document Inspector dialog box, select the check boxes to choose the type of hidden content that you want inspected.
      • Click Remove All
      • Click Close
      • Save the document
    • Microsoft Word for MacOS:
      • Go to Tools
      • Click Protect Document
      • Select Remove personal information for this file on save
      • Click OK and save the file
    • PDF:
      • Go to File
      • Select Properties
      • Remove any name in the author field
      • Click OK
      • Save the document