Our Peer Review Policy

Guidelines for Reviewers
Reviewers play an essential role in safeguarding scholarly standards and are expected to:·      
Declare Conflicts: Reveal any personal, financial, or intellectual conflicts of interest and decline the review when necessary.       
Maintain Timeliness: Respond promptly to review invitations and accept only when they can meet the stated deadline, informing the journal of any changes.  
Conduct Reviews Properly: Carefully evaluate manuscripts while maintaining strict confidentiality.·       Report Ethical Issues: Inform the editor of suspected ethical concerns without undertaking independent inquiries.       
Transfer Reviews if Needed: When asked to transfer a review within the publisher’s journal portfolio, note any differences in evaluation criteria if they agree.

Preparing Review Reports
Reports should follow journal requirements and provide balanced, constructive and detailed feedback to support authors. Confidentiality must be preserved, comments should remain professional, recommendations should match feedback and unnecessary citation requests should be avoided.

Responsibilities of Authors
Authors contribute to research integrity by:·      
Declaring Conflicts: Disclosing all personal, financial, or intellectual conflicts of interest.·      
Submitting Revisions on Time: Addressing reviewer comments and returning revised manuscripts within the specified period.
Post-Review Protocols
Reviewers should be willing to reassess revised submissions and promptly notify the journal of any new information affecting their earlier evaluation. Confidentiality obligations continue even after the review process ends.

Peer Review Process for Special Issues
Special issues follow the same rigorous double-blind review as regular submissions, with minor adjustments for thematic focus:·      
Guest Editors: Subject experts may assist with preliminary screening and reviewer selection.·       Evaluation Criteria: Manuscripts are judged on both academic merit and relevance to the theme.·       Coordination: Guest editors work closely with the editorial team to ensure consistency.·      
Final Decisions: The editorial board retains authority over acceptance and publication outcomes.

Editorial Oversight for Special Issues·      
Guest Editors (if applicable): Collaborate with the editorial board to ensure submissions meet requirements.·      
Initial Screening: Manuscripts are reviewed to confirm alignment with the theme and compliance with scope and formatting rules.·      
Editorial Board Role: The board monitors quality and integrity throughout and has the final authority to accept or reject all submissions.

Peer Review Policy for Papers by Guest Editors
To ensure fairness and transparency, strict procedures apply to manuscripts authored by guest editors:
Policy for Papers by Guest Editors

Independent Review·      
Guest editor manuscripts undergo the same double-blind review as other papers.·      
Guest editors are excluded from reviewer selection and editorial decisions regarding their own work.·       An independent editor or editorial board member manages the process.

Submission Limits·      
Articles authored or co-authored by guest editors may not exceed 25% of the content in one issue.·       This ensures diverse contributions and prevents disproportionate representation.