I – The Peer-Review Process

The peer-review process can be broadly summarized into 8 steps

1. Submission of Paper

The corresponding or submitting author submits the paper to the journal. For USA contributors, this is usually via an online system. For international scholars/contributors, ACSE JOURNAL accepts submissions by email or online, which is indicated on the submission information.

 

2. Editorial Office Assessment

The journal checks the paper’s composition and arrangement against the journal’s Author Guidelines to make sure it includes the required sections and stylizations. The quality of the paper is not assessed at this point.

 

3. Appraisal by the Editor-in-Chief

The Editor-in-Chief checks that the paper is appropriate for the journal and is sufficiently original and interesting. If not, the paper may be rejected without being reviewed any further.

 

4. Invitation to Reviewers

The Editor-in-Chief sends invitations to individuals he or she believes would be appropriate reviewers. As responses are received, further invitations are issued, if necessary, until the required number of acceptances is obtained – commonly this is 3, but can vary sometimes according to the paper’s content and availability of reviewers.

 

5. Review is Conducted

The reviewer sets time aside to read the paper several times. The first read is used to form an initial impression of the work. If major problems are found at this stage, the reviewer may feel comfortable rejecting the paper without further work. Otherwise, they will read the paper several more times, taking notes so as to build a detailed point-by-point review. The review is then submitted to the journal, with a recommendation to accept or reject it or else with a request for revision (usually flagged as either major or minor) before it is reconsidered.

 

6.Journal Evaluates the Reviews

The Editor-in-Chief considers all the returned reviews before making an overall decision. If the reviews differ widely, the Editor-in-Chief may invite an additional reviewer so as to get an extra opinion before making a decision

 

7. The Decision is Communicated

The Editor-in-Chief sends a decision email to the author including any relevant reviewer comments. The comments are anonymous as IJAMACT operates the blind review process. If the article is rejected or sent back for either major or minor revision, the Editor-in-Chief may include constructive comments from the reviewers to help the author improve the article. At this point, reviewers should also be sent an email or letter letting them know the outcome of their review. If the paper was sent back for revision, the reviewers should expect to receive a new version, unless they have opted out of further participation. However, where only minor changes were requested this follow-up review might be done by the Editor-in-Chief.

 

8. Copyright Agreement for publication

When finally accepted, the author is notified to submit a final copy of his work along with a signed copyright agreement plus other formalities if needed. The paper is then sent to production and scheduled for publication.

 

II – PEER-REVIEW POLICY

The journal has adopted a double-blind reviewing policy, where both the referee and author remain anonymous throughout the process. Please remove all identifying features from the main document itself, ensuring that the Authors’ identity is not revealed. However, this does not preclude Authors from citing their own works. However, Authors must cite their works in a manner that does not make explicit their identity.
Acceptable: “Karim (2013) has indicated that . . .”
Acceptable: “Some scholars have indicated that . . . (e.g., Karim, 2013; Karim & Mahbub, 2018)”

The journal operates a double-blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the Editor-in-Chief for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the final decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor-in-Chief’s decision is final.

 

1. Double-Blind Peer Review

The journal uses a double-blind review, which means the identities of the authors are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa.  To facilitate this, please include the following separately:
Title page (with author details): This should include the title, authors’ names, affiliations, acknowledgments, and any Declaration of Interest statement, and a complete address for the corresponding author including an e-mail address.
Main document (without author details): The main body of the paper (including the references, figures, tables, and any acknowledgments) should not include any identifying information, such as the authors’ names or affiliations.

Both the reviewer and the author are anonymous in this model. Some advantages of this model are listed below.

  • Author anonymity limits reviewer bias, for example, based on an author’s gender, country of origin, academic status, or previous publication history.
  • Articles written by prestigious or renowned authors are considered on the basis of the content of their papers, rather than their reputation.
  • Bear in mind that despite the above, reviewers can often identify the author through their writing style, subject matter, or self-citation – it is exceedingly difficult to guarantee total author anonymity. The reviewers of ACSE JOURNAL exemplify best practices in a given review situation.

 

2. Final Check-List Before Submission

Please ensure that:

  • The manuscript has been ‘spell-checked and ‘grammar checked.
  • Note that submitted manuscripts will not go through language-focused copy editing with the journal prior to or after acceptance; language-focused copy editing is the responsibility of the authors prior to submission.
  • Please prepare the manuscript for blind review; whenever possible, please use author names and references. for self-citations but make sure that you use the third person to discuss the work (see “Review Policy” above).
  • All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa.
  • Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet).
  • A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare.
  • Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed.

 

3. Submission Declaration

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright holder. In instances where authors prepare multiple submissions using the same dataset or use partially overlapping variables in two or more articles, this needs to be declared upfront in the letter to the editor. Masked reference(s) to previous studies based on the same dataset need to be included in the manuscript itself so the reader can understand the novelty of the new study in relation to the previous articles. Please consult the APA manual on piecemeal publications. In cases where the manuscript is part of a larger project (e.g., prospective longitudinal study, an intervention study with numerous arms, etc.) in which other partly overlapping publications already exist, or are planned in parallel to the submitted manuscript, need to be declared in the accompanying letter to the Editor-in-Chief. Authors are asked to be upfront declaring such manuscripts. A manuscript may be returned if the degree of overlap is found to be too large.

 

4. Similarity Check Process

ACSE JOURNALS is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and takes all possible measures against any publication malpractices. All authors submitting their works to the journal for publication as original articles attest that the submitted works represent their authors’ contributions and have not been copied or plagiarized in whole or in part from other works. The Similarity Check process can be broadly employed by the use of Turnitin software, although these steps can vary slightly between ACSE Journals.
For example, per the Journal “Code of Ethics” authors are expected to adhere to the guidelines outlined: Journal may consider submitted manuscripts for possible publication only if the following two conditions are satisfactory: (1) a maximum overall acceptable similarity index must be less than 30 % (< 30% in total), excluding the citations and references and the bibliography. (2) a maximum acceptable similarity index from any single source must be less than 5 % ( < 5% per source).