Peer review
How a submission is judged, step by step, and how long each step takes.
Preliminary check
An automated check reads every submission for completeness, obvious method problems, unclear writing and integrity flags, and gives the editor a checklist. Authors can run the same check on a draft, free, before submitting. The check never accepts or rejects a paper; only a human editor does.
Desk review
A section editor reads the paper within ten days and decides whether it goes to review. A desk rejection comes with a letter explaining why.
Double-blind review
Two reviewers who do not know the authors' names score the paper against the published rubric for its track and recommend accept, minor revision, major revision or reject. Reviewers have three weeks. Reviewers never see the preliminary check or each other's reviews until they have submitted their own.
Decision
The editor in chief reads the reviews and the paper and decides. Authors receive the decision letter and the reviewers' comments. Target time from submission to first decision: five to six weeks.
Revisions
A minor revision goes straight back to the editor; a major revision goes back to the same reviewers. Every version of the manuscript is kept.
Reviewers
Reviewers are teachers, graduate students and faculty who have been briefed on the rubric. Their names are published once a year as a thank-you, never attached to individual papers.