Review Policies
 

Overview

Peer review represents a vital element of maintaining high standards in scholarly publishing. Manuscripts submitted for publication in Mesford are subjected to double-blind peer-review (identities of both reviewers and authors are not revealed to each other throughout the review).

Confidentiality and Anonymity

Manuscript received for review must be treated as confidential document. They must not be shared or discussed with others, unless authorized by the Editor. Unpublished information or material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal gain.

Reviewers identity remain anonymous throughout review procedure. All articles undergo through double blind review procedure. To help preserve the integrity of this process reviewers do not need to mention their names within the text of review.

Conflict of Interest

Reviewers should inform the Editors or editorial office if they have a conflict of interest in carrying out a review of a manuscript submitted by any author/contributor of the manuscript. The editorial office will check as far as possible before invitation, however we appreciate the cooperation of reviewers in this matter. Reviewers who are invited to assess a manuscript they previously reviewed for another journal should not consider this as a conflict of interest in itself. In this case, reviewers should feel free to let us know if the manuscript has been improved or not compared to the previous version.

Self-Disqualification

Reviewers who recognize that they are not qualified to review a particular manuscript due to lack of familiarity with the relevant research in the area, the methodology, or the statistical procedures should refrain from accepting the invitation to review or should provide a review that specifies the areas in which they claim expertise.

Respect for Intellectual Property

Throughout the editorial review of manuscripts submitted for publication in Mesford journals, care is taken to ensure respect for intellectual property. If the review process reveals the possibility of plagiarism, inappropriate use of materials protected by copyright, or other abridgment of intellectual property (including trademark and patent), these matters will be brought to the attention of the authors and, in appropriate cases, to the Editorial office.

Publication Decisions

The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision regarding the disposition of manuscripts after weighing comments from the reviewers. Ultimately, the outcome of the review process should not be based on a score of positive and negative comments from reviewers, but rather on the editor’s informed, objective appraisal of the likelihood that the manuscript will contribute reliable and valid new information to the discipline. To arrive at a fair recommendation, the editor’s recommendations should be informed by comments provided by reviewers, which are integrated with the editor’s own consideration of all aspects of the manuscript.

  • The editor should support reviewer’s recommendations by providing comments to be conveyed to authors regarding specific strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript, including suggestions for improvement of the manuscript or for the authors’ future research endeavors.
  • The editor should monitor the quality and tone of the reviews prepared by the reviewers. If the comments contain confidential information or these are written in a language not suitable for scholarly communication then the Editor can edit the comments.
  • In a reviewer’s decision, the editor should not consider a review that is weak or faulty in logic and uninformative in detail.
  • If the quality or the content of the reviews obtained is inadequate to fully inform a publication decision, the editor may seek additional reviews.

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