Manuscript Review Policy
All manuscript are first read by the Editor. If the Editor has doubts that a manuscript would receive a favourable review, the Deputy Editor (or a member of the Editorial Board with relevant expertise) is asked to read the work. If they both agree that the paper does not fit the concerns of the journal or that reviewers are unlikely to recommend publication then authors are informed that the manuscript can not be accepted for publication. Every effort is made to do this quickly - typically within one week of manuscript receipt.
Where a paper is sent for review it will be sent to two referees. At least one of these must be on the Editorial Board of the journal.
On the basis of advice from these referees, the Editor will make a decision as to whether the manuscript might be published. Typically there are three options: (1) Publish at once, (2) Revise and re-submit, or (3) Rejected for publication. An invitation to revise involves no promise of subsequent publication - although, of course, this does imply a basically favourable reaction from referees and, therefore, publication should be within the authors reach.
Communication practices
All communication with authors is mediated by the Editor to ensure the anonymity of both reviewer and author. The Editor undertakes to discharge these duties according to the intent of both parties. However, authors may be protected from comments that the Editor judges to be offensive rather than critical.
Direct communication between reviewers themselves is permissible but should be mediated by the Editor in order to protect anonymity.
In making decisions, t he Editor may take note of comments and advice made by reviewers that are not intended to be shared with authors.
Where these mediated exchanges do not result in con census regarding the fate of a submission, the Editor may call on a member of the editorial board to break this deadlock. The Editor must then weigh the balance of opinion and make a final judgment as to publication.
Resubmission
On re-submission, the manuscript is read by the Editor and sent to both referees with a commentary from the Editor regarding his impression of how far revisions have met their concerns. Based on their reaction to this new manuscript a decision to publish may be made. If there are continued reservations the author may be asked to revise once more or may call in a third opinion as described above..
Papers submitted to Special Issues enjoy a similar level of scrutiny although in this case, one referee will be allocated by the Guest Editor of that issue.