Peer Review Policy

This journal operates a single anonymized review process. The editors and reviewers have access to the identities of the authors, but the identities of the editors and reviewers are not revealed to the authors.
 
Peer Review Process

The whole processing of the manuscript can be referred as below: 


 
Initial Check
After the submission steps completed, the submission will go through similarity check by Editorial Office. Then the Academic Editors will check if the manuscript meets the general criteria for publication. If yes, it will be sent to reviewers. Otherwise, it will be rejected and returned to the authors.
 
Peer Review
The check-passed manuscript is sent to at least two reviewers, who are requested to complete their review comments . Typically, two or three available review reports are required for each manuscript in peer review. In these review reports, reviewers are expected to provide with a recommended decision together with specific suggestions and comments.
 
All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Academic Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of articles. The Academic Editor's decision is final. 

Academic Editors are not involved in decisions about papers that they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the academic editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups.
 
Academic Editor Decision
The Academic Editor will make an overall editorial decision after carefully evaluate the recommendations of all the reviewers. 
  • Author Revision: The manuscript is sent to authors for Minor Revision/ Major Revision based on reviewers' comments;
  • Additional reviewers added: Further review needed;
  • Accept: The manuscript can be accepted in its current form;
  • Reject: The manuscript has serious flaws, and/or is lack of novelty or significant contribution;
  • Reject and Encourage Resubmission: The authors are encouraged to re-submit after conducting additional experiments and modifications.

Author Revision
Based on the review reports and the decision by Academic Editor, the decision (Minor Revision/ Major Revision) will be provided to the authors. 
  • Minor Revision: The paper can be accepted after addressing all the revisions provided by the reviewers.
  • Major Revisions: It depends on the revised version whether the manuscript could be accepted or not. Usually, the revised version will be re-evaluated by the previous reviewer(s).

Production and Publication
Once accepted, the manuscript will go through the production procedure including copy-editing, English editing, proofreading, final corrections, conversion, and finally publishing on the website.

Appeal Process

Authors may appeal decisions if they strongly believe there have been errors or misunderstandings on the part of the editor or reviewers. All appeals will be carefully considered by the editors.
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