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Review and edit

Guide for editors

Handling a manuscript from assignment to decision, and the standards we hold each other to.

Apply to an editorial board
  1. Step 1Accept the assignmentWithin 5 days; never your own manuscript
  2. Step 2Invite reviewersAt least three, in small batches
  3. Step 3Run the reviewThe manuscript and the quality of the reports
  4. Step 4DecideAt least two reviews; then within 7 days

Accept the assignment

You handle the peer review of a manuscript in your field: you choose the reviewers, watch the quality of their reports and give the authors a decision with reasons. The office handles the administration with you and answers your questions within two working days.

Accept or decline within 5 days. If you have a competing interest with the authors, decline and say so; the office reassigns the manuscript. You never handle a manuscript you wrote: another editor does, and you see it only as its author. A waiver for your own submission is decided case by case by the publisher, as for anyone. A guest editor may publish at most one paper of their own in their special issue, handled by another editor.

Editorial independence

Invite reviewers

In our database or found by youInternal reviewers are already in our database; external reviewers are people you find and contact directly. Both get a personal link and submit without signing in; reviews are due 21 days after the invitation.
No competing interestsNo personal or professional ties to the authors, and nobody working on the same question.
At least three, in small batchesInvite three first and more only when someone declines. The finder shows each reviewer’s current load and acceptance record, and warns you before you over-invite.

Run the review

  • Is the work original?
  • Is the research question important?
  • Are there ethical concerns?
  • Is earlier research properly acknowledged?

Reminders go to reviewers automatically. Read each report as it arrives and approve it on the Decision page; the reviewer’s certificate is issued on approval. If one is thin or rude, do not pass it on: ask for a replacement and rate the report. A report you have not approved within 3 days may be approved by the office.

Review is single-anonymised: reviewers know who the authors are. Reviewers’ names are never shown to authors. Keep them out of every message.

Decide

A decision needs at least two completed reviews; nobody records a decision before then. It follows within 7 days of the last review. Base it on the reviews and your own reading. The letter should cover:

  • scientific inconsistencies;
  • weaknesses in the methods;
  • the importance of the topic;
  • language problems;
  • the quality and accuracy of figures and tables;
  • how to improve the manuscript.

You answer for the decision and send the letter with the reports. Once the reviews are in, you may reject a manuscript whose originality, clarity or relevance to the journal is in doubt. If you think it should not have passed screening, tell the office instead of inviting reviewers: the office checks each new manuscript against criteria your editor-in-chief sets, and only the office rejects at screening.