This journal follows a double-blind peer review process. The manuscript will then be sent at least to one in-office and two out-of-office referees for review. The peer review process takes place before publication and is facilitated by the journal.
The editors mediate all interactions between reviewers and authors. The journal owns the reviews and is not published. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the academic quality of the publication process, including final acceptance decisions, approval of Guest Editors and special issue topics, and new Editorial Board members.
Reviewers are expected to observe the Ethics Policy of IJRM and are encouraged to read and observe the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers.
All reviewers are expected to inform the journal of any conflicts of interest or misconduct present in the paper or process of reviewing.
Manuscripts must be treated as confidential documents. The confidentiality of participants in the review process must be protected.
The Editor-in-Chief will assign the manuscript to one of the Editorial Board members, who will send the manuscript to at least two expert reviewers. The reviewers will view an abstract of the manuscript to decide if they will accept to review the manuscript based on the following criteria:
If the reviewers agree with the above conditions, then they will be assigned to review the manuscript.
The reviewers will submit their reports on the manuscripts within two weeks of accepting to review, along with their recommendation of one of the following actions to the Editor:
The Editor-in-Chief will make the final decision based on the Editor’s and reviewers’ recommendations.
Based on the Editor-in-Chief’s decision, the authors have one of three options:
Authors have the right to appeal any editorial decision. This can be done in the following order:
Authors may appeal if they feel that the decision to reject was based on one or more of the following elements:
Appeals requesting a second opinion without sufficient justification will not be considered. Appeals will only be considered from the original submitting author/corresponding author.