Peer review Acta Structilia
PROCEDURES FOR SUBMISSION AND PEER REVIEWING OF ARTICLES
1. Contributions for consideration for publications should be submitted through the electronic platform or sent electronically to the Editorial Office.
2. Upon receipt of a contribution, the Assistant Editor(s) will acknowledge receipt to the author, file the article and include it in the inventory.
3. The article will be pre-assessed by the Editorial Committee with regard to format, length and content. This may also take place electronically via email.
4. If the article is approved as complying with the requirements of Acta Structilia, reviewers are appointed to evaluate the article. The Assistant Editor(s) notifies contributors that their articles are sent for peer reviewing. In some cases, the article may be accepted by the Editorial Committee on condition that certain amendments are made to the article. In these cases, the Assistant Editor(s) will return the article to the author and notify him/her/them of the necessary alterations. If the article is rejected by the Editorial Committee, the Assistant Editor(s) will inform the author of the decision and of the reasons for the decision.
5. The Editorial Committee does not approve of articles written in two or more parts. Authors should submit contributions as separate articles.
6. At least two independent reviewers are appointed for each submission, but, since the appointment of reviewers is handled by the Editorial Committee, the latter prefers to appoint three or four reviewers to prevent the review process being stalled, should reviewers be unable to assist.
7. Reviewers are appointed on the basis of their expertise relevant to the submission. Al reviews are double-blind, which means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process.
8. A proforma with refereeing guidelines is supplied to reviewers, but reviewers may use other additional measures of evaluation should they prefer to do so.
9. The anticipated turnover period for an evaluation is three weeks, but the prospective reviewer may negotiate this period if it is inconvenient.
10. If the reviewer fails to deliver the review report within the anticipated timeframe, the Assistant Editor(s) will follow up on the matter and alert the reviewer to the deadline.
11. The Editorial Committee will abide with the outcome of the review reports if two review reports have consensus that the article is publishable; or not publishable; or publishable, subject to certain conditions.
12. Should one reviewer approve of the article for publication, or publication subject to certain amendments, and the other disapproved of it being published, a third reviewer will be appointed and his/her decision will be final.
13. Where a submission is accepted subject to amendments, the author shall be required to submit the revised submission with a report explaining the nature of the revisions that were made.
14. A final submission to Acta Structilia shall provide proof that it has been professionally language edited.
15. Where a submission is accepted for publication, the author(s) will be provided with a document on the house style of Acta Structilia and it will be expected that the author(s) should take responsibility that the submission is compliant with these recommendations. If not, the article will be returned to the author.
16. It remains in the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief to decide whether a revised submission should be sent to the reviewer(s) again for final approval.
17. Where a report from a reviewer is equivocal, uninformative or renders it difficult to reach a clear decision on whether the article should be published or not, it remains in the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief to decide whether clarification or further and better particulars shall be sought from the reviewer, whether another reviewer shall be appointed, or whether the Editorial Committee will decide the matter.
18. All articles will be returned to the authors for final approval before the manuscript is submitted for printing. No alterations to content will be allowed at this stage. Should authors wish to make amendments, the article must be submitted again for reviewing.
19. The Editorial Committee's decision on the publication of an article is final.
