Review process

Submissions are subject to the peer-review process including invited papers. Submissions will firstly be filtered by the editorial board before entering the peer review process. For general issues, the editorial board will handle the peer review process, for special issues, the guest editors have the autonomy to choose their preferable reviewers, the editorial board will offer help when the guest editors are in need.

The authors will receive reports from the reviewers (normally 2 blind reviews, peer reviewers need to have completed a PhD in a relevant field and have published at least one peer-reviewed article) with the following decisions: 1) Accept, 2) Accept with minor revision, 3) Accept with major revision, 4) Resubmit, 5) Reject.

  1. Accept the paper without revisions: The paper will be passed directly on to copyediting. The author will receive an email confirming the acceptance of their paper.
  2. Accept the paper with minor revisions: The author will be given one month to complete the revision. The revised paper will be passed to the reviewers. If the revisions are deemed satisfactory, the paper will be passed on to copyediting.
  3. Accept the paper with major revisions: The author will be given three months to complete the revisions. The revised paper will be passed to the reviewers. If the revisions are deemed satisfactory, the paper will be passed on to copyediting.
  4. Resubmit the paper: The author will be given six months to resubmit. The rewritten paper will be passed to the reviewers. If the resubmission is deemed satisfactory, the paper will be passed on to copyediting.
  5. Reject the paper: No resubmission is allowed. The author will receive an email kindly rejecting the paper.