1. Submission and initial screening
Authors submit manuscripts online through the website of the relevant journal. The editorial office checks that the submission is complete, within the scope of the journal and in line with the author guidelines. Every manuscript is screened for similarity with plagiarism-detection software, and submissions with unacceptable overlap, undeclared duplicate submission or ethical problems are rejected at this stage.
2. Editor assignment
Manuscripts that pass screening are assigned by the Editor-in-Chief to an editor with relevant expertise and no conflict of interest with the authors.
3. Peer review
Each research manuscript is evaluated by at least two independent external reviewers using single-blind peer review (reviewers know the authors, authors do not know the reviewers). Reviewers are selected for subject expertise, relevant recent publications and absence of conflicts of interest, and give a recommendation of accept, minor revision, major revision or reject, with comments for the authors.
4. Editorial decision
The handling editor takes the decision on the basis of the reviewer reports and the editor’s own assessment, and the Editor-in-Chief confirms it. An editor who departs from the reviewers’ recommendations must record the reasons. The target time from submission to acceptance is about 75 days, depending on reviewer availability and the time authors need to revise.
5. Revision
Authors submit a revised manuscript with a response to each reviewer comment. The original reviewers are normally asked to assess whether their concerns were addressed, and the editor takes the final decision.
6. Production and publication
Accepted manuscripts are copyedited, typeset and sent to the authors for proof checking. Articles are then published online in open access with a DOI, and are deposited with the preservation services described in the Archiving and Digital Preservation policy.
Appeals and complaints
Authors who disagree with a decision, or anyone with a complaint, should follow the Complaints and Appeals procedure. See also the Peer Review Policy and Publication Ethics.