Peer Review Process

Manuscripts submitted to the journal will be subject to a rigorous double-blind peer review process. This means that reviewers and authors remained anonymous during the review process, ensuring the fairness and objectivity of the evaluation, which allows the journal to maintain a high standard of publication, both in terms of academic writing as well as the integrity of the research content.

When a new manuscript is submitted to the journal, the managing editor first conducts a preliminary check of the manuscript for plagiarism using iThenticate, suitability to the journal's Aims and Scope, and other basic requirements of the journal. Manuscripts that do not meet the requirements at this stage may be Desk-Rejected.

For manuscripts that pass the initial check, independent expert reviewers will be chosen according to their availability, expertise, suitability to the research topic of the manuscript, and no conflict of interest with the manuscript (please see For Reviewers).

Reviewers submit their review comments on the manuscript along with their recommendation (Accepted, Revisions Required, Resubmit for Review, Rejected). Peer reviews are not published.

The Editor-in-Chief and/or the Associate Editor(s) will make the final decision (Accepted, Revisions Required, Resubmit for Review, Rejected) based on the comments from at least 2 reviewers.

The editors are not allowed to handle their own academic work. Submissions authored by editors will be assigned to at least two independent external reviewers. The final decision will be made by other editorial committee members who have no conflicts of interest with the authors.

   

  • Preliminary check usually takes about a week.
  • Peer review usually takes 3-4 weeks.
  • Authors are given 10-14 days to submit the revised manuscript if the decision is Revisions Required (minor revisions).
  • Authors are given 14-30 days to submit the revised manuscript if the decision is Resubmit for Review (major revisions).
  • Authors should submit the revised manuscript by the deadline given by the editor and include a letter of response to reviewers for each comment.
  • If the author cannot submit the revised manuscript by the deadline, please send an email via eps@nassg.org to apply for an extension.

The Editing (Production) consists of copyediting, proofreading, layout editing, and scheduling the accepted paper for publication. The Author’s participation continues to be crucial at this stage to ensure that all amendments made do not affect the integrity of the manuscript content and/or mar its readability.

Upon publication, a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is registered for the paper, and the paper is made publically accessible.

Appeals can be made for a rejected manuscript. Requests for appeal must be submitted to contact@nassg.org and accompanied by point-by-point responses to reviewer comments in order to be considered for re-evaluation.