Journal publication is a complicated and time-consuming process. It brings the most authentic and useful knowledge of the scholars to the world. Any type of carelessness can make the importance of research papers null and void.
SIMJ employs double blind peer-review process to ensure the quality of the articles. Hence, SIMJ give importance to the role of peer review as it is the only method of ensuring that the article contains the desired and useful information in it. The main objective of our Editors and Reviewers is to follow peer-review process to maintain the standards of the journals and helps the author to improve quality of the research.
The peer-review process disapproves some of the ill-practices in the domains of scientific and humanities journal publishing. Any type of misconduct betrays the purpose of journal publishing.
SIMJ peer-review process is discussed below:
i. Submission
The first step is the submission of research papers. Numerous research papers are submitted regularly for publishing through the online submission SIMJ portal. Another way by which the author can submit his papers i.e. the good old E-Mail. The guidelines to the author may be found at:
https://simj.fedpodam.edu.ng/guidesii.Editor First Opinion or Editor Screening
After the completion of the submission process, the manuscripts are sent to the editor for review. If it is found that the submitted papers don’t fulfill the process of the required subject, he holds the complete right of abandoning the process of reviewing. The author is also informed if his papers are rejected at this point. If the manuscript passes the editor’s screening, it is forwarded to external reviewers for further inspection.
iii. Review Process (Peer Review)
Double blind peer-review process has been followed. After the initial green signal by the editor, the papers are sent to the suitable reviewers. The reviewers then monitor the manuscripts and extra papers from the editor and determine whether they fulfill the standards of scientific guidelines or not.
Each reviewer will review and have his opinion on the manuscript. Reviewers will take a look at the study design, significance of the study, clarity of language, result presentation etc. The reviewers will also recommend publication to the journal editor. Based on the feedback and recommendations, the editor will decide whether the paper will be accepted or not, or sent for revision. The editor will write a decision letter to the authors.
iv. Revised Article (Revising and Resubmitting)
The suggestions made by the reviewer are closely observed by the editor. In case there is a requirement from the author to provide the missing documents, he is asked to do so. The editor also assists the author to follow the necessary guidelines for journal publishing.
According to the editors, the article has important information along with some issues and concerns. The authors need to go through and consider the comments of the reviewers carefully as the revision will largely be based on those comments. The authors also need to respond to each comment point by point indicating the change, whether or not a revision can be done or give sufficient information properly.
v. Editorial Process
The editor cross-checks and takes into consideration all the important amendments and revisions carried out by the author as per the comments and directions before making the final decision. The editor can then send the corrected article again to the reviewer in case the need arises. He can even return the article to the author if it is not worked up according to the research and format.
After the revision is done, the authors submit the revised paper again to the journal. The revision will pass the review through the editor only or by both the reviewers and editors for the next round. Then the authors may get a final decision. Usually if the editor and the reviewers think that the revision has addressed their previous issues adequately and the paper has improved post-revision, the paper will move forward for the last step.
vi. Decision on Article
The power of approving or rejecting an article completely lies with the editor. If some changes are found in the article, the author can be asked for resubmitting the article. In case the articles are found fabricated, falsified, or inflated on intention, the resubmission of the article can again be rejected by the editor. If the article is accepted, an acceptance letter is issued to the authors. The authors may be required to complete certain formalities as a prerequisite for publication. The manuscript will then be edited and put into final production.
vii. Production
The submitted articles are worked on before the production process. World-class services are employed to create the finest writing piece for readership. The content is also arranged with the best typography standards and the tables and figures are arranged properly for printing. The journal is then made presentable through the international guidelines and, finally the re-prints (Galley proof) are sent to the author for final corrections.
viii. Online Publication
The articles that are published offline are also published online in a proper manner. Once the due procedure for final publication is done, the articles are published on the website.
ix. Final Publication
After going through the detailed process, the ultimate process of the journal process is begun. All the required approvals from the different sections of the publication house are checked again so that no error at the time of the final publication of the printed journal is detected. Post the final publication, the author is requested to get the final copy of the printed journal.
x. Double-Blind Peer Review – The Definition
In the Double-blind peer review, the identity of both the author and reviewer is kept secret. This mainly stops the reviewer from forming any partiality as the reviewer doesn’t know who wrote the article. To aid this the authors need to make sure that their manuscripts are created in a way that doesn’t reveal their identity at any cost.