Peer Review and Editorial Process

Peer Review and Editorial Procedure

Peer review is an essential part of the publication process and it ensures that RISFE maintains the highest quality standards for its published papers. All manuscripts submitted to our journals are strictly and thoroughly peer-reviewed by experts.

Immediately after submission, the journal’s Managing Editor will perform a technical pre-check of the manuscript. A suitable academic editor will be notified of the submission and invited to perform an editorial pre-check and recommend reviewers. Academic editors can decide to continue with the peer review process, reject a manuscript, or request revisions before peer-review. In the case of continuing the peer review process, the Editorial Office will organize the peer review, which is performed by independent experts, and collect at least two review reports per manuscript. We ask authors for sufficient revisions (with a second round of peer review, when necessary) before a final decision is made. The final decision is made by an academic editor (usually the Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Board Member of a journal or the Guest Editor of a Special Issue). Accepted manuscripts are then copy-edited and English-edited internally.

 

Reviewers’ Profile and Responsibilities

The role of the reviewer is vital and bears a great responsibility in ensuring the integrity of the scholarly record. Every reviewer is expected to perform manuscript evaluation in a timely, transparent, and ethical manner, following the COPE guidelines https://publicationethics.org/files/cope-ethical-guidelines-peer-reviewers-v2_0.pdf.

Reviewers should meet the following criteria:

  • Hold no conflicts of interest with any of the authors;
  • Should not come from the same institution as the authors;
  • Should not have published together with the authors in the last three years;
  • Have relevant experience and have a proven publication record in the field of the submitted paper (Scopus, ORCID);
  • Are experienced scholars in the field of the submitted paper;
  • Hold an official and recognized academic affiliation.

 

RISFE strives for a rigorous peer review to ensure a thorough evaluation of each manuscript—this is a fundamental task for our reviewers. Reviewers who accept to review a manuscript are expected to:

  • Have the necessary expertise to judge the scientific quality of the manuscript;
  • Provide quality review reports and remain responsive throughout the peer review process;
  • Maintain standards of professionalism and ethics.

 

Reviewer Board

The Reviewer Board (RB) consists of experienced researchers whose main responsibility is to regularly and actively support journals by providing high quality, rigorous, and transparent review reports for submitted manuscripts within their area of expertise. The initial term is for 1 year which can then be renewed or terminated. Membership involves the same responsibilities and benefits as regular reviewers, with the addition of:

  1. Reviewer Board Members must review a minimum of 4 manuscripts per year. Should the reviewer be unable to provide a report when invited, they are expected to suggest alternative potential reviewers (the proposed candidates must meet the reviewers’ requirements from section Reviewers’ Profile and Responsibilities).
  2. Reviewer Board  Members are entitled to receive an RB certificate.
  3. Reviewer Board Members are announced on the journal website.

 

Volunteer Reviewers

RISFE is actively looking for volunteers to review manuscripts. The members of RISFE’s Reviewer Board and Volunteer Reviewers can actively offer to review manuscripts in one or more of RISFE.

To become part of this program, you must fulfil the criteria outlined in section Reviewers’ Profile and Responsibilities.

To become a member of this program, please apply here: Your application will be reviewed by our internal staff, who will check if your background suits the scope of the journal as well as any potential ethical issues. Should you pass our internal check, your application will be approved.

Active Volunteer Reviewers may be promoted to Reviewer Board Members (subject to approval by the Editor-in-Chief).