Reviewer Roles & Responsibilities

Reviewers play a vital role in judging the quality of submitted manuscripts along with the support of Editorial Board Members through Peer-Review process. Editorial Board Members are requested to handle the submitted manuscripts based on their research expertise. They can accomplish the peer review process themselves; based on their own knowledge and experience or they can assign this task to reviewers. The assigned reviewers are supposed to submit their comments to Editorial office by inclining to one of the below decision, the final decision maker is the assigned Editorial Board Members. The identity of the reviewers should never be revealed out to the authors at any time either during the process of review or after its publication. The papers should not be assigned to other people without Editors permission.

 

Reviewers comments should support one of the below mentioned acts:

  • Reviewers are required to provide written, competent and unbiased feedback in a timely manner on the scholarly merits and the scientific value of the manuscript.
  • The reviewers assess manuscript for the compliance with the profile of the journal, the relevance of the investigated topic and applied methods, the originality and scientific relevance of information presented in the manuscript, the presentation style and scholarly apparatus.
  • Reviewers should alert the Editor to any well-founded suspicions or the knowledge of possible violations of ethical standards by the authors. Reviewers should recognize relevant published works that have not been cited by the authors and alert the Editor to substantial similarities between a reviewed manuscript and any manuscript published or under consideration for publication elsewhere, in the event they are aware of such. Reviewers should also alert the Editor to a parallel submission of the same manuscript to another journal, in the event they are aware of such.
  • Reviewers must not have conflict of interest with respect to the research, the authors and/or the funding sources for the research. If such conflicts exist, the reviewers must report them to the Editor without delay.
  • Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the Editor without delay.
  • Reviews must be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
  • Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Reviewers must not use unpublished materials disclosed in submitted manuscripts without the express written consent of the authors. The information and ideas presented in submitted manuscripts shall be kept confidential and must not be used for personal gain.