PEER REVIEW PROCESS
- The author submits the paper to the FORTHEM Journal through an online system.
- The Editor-in-Chief checks that the paper is appropriate, meets the aims and scope of the FORTHEM Journal and is prepared in line with the technical requirements of the journal. If not, the paper may be rejected without being reviewed. If yes, the Editor-in-Chief assigns an editor responsible for handling the peer review process.
- An associate editor checks the paper's structure and language to ensure it includes the required sections and is well written. If not, the paper may be returned to the author for improvement. During this stage, the editor checks the paper through the iThenticate plagiarism detection service. The aforementioned steps usually take up to 7 days.
- The editor sends invitations to appropriate reviewers and publishes the preprint on the FORTHEM Journal website. Reviewers consider the invitation against their own expertise, conflicts of interest and availability. When they accept the invitation, they have 3 weeks for review. At this stage of the review process, at least 2 reviewers are assigned, who agree to submit a review. The reviews are open.
- The reviewer may reject the paper after the first read of the paper if major problems are found at this stage. Otherwise, he or she will prepare a descriptive review. Each review contains detailed remarks for the author(s) and recommendation for:
- acceptance;
- minor revision;
- major revision;
- rejection.
The review is publicly available to all readers.
- The editor considers all the returned reviews. If the reviews differ widely, the editor may invite an additional reviewer for the third opinion before making a decision. The post-review decision is made by the assigned editor and editor-in-chief collectively. When the final decision is known, the editor sends information to the author, including any relevant reviewer comments. The decision is also published on the preprint. This step usually takes up to 30 days.
- If the paper is accepted, the final version is published in the FORTHEM Journal. If the article is rejected or sent back for either major or minor revision, the editor includes comments from the reviewers to help the author improve the article. If the paper was sent back for major revision, the reviewers should expect to receive a new version if they agreed to take part in further participation. Minor changes might be done by the associate editor.
