Terms for reviewers
The Editor-in-Chief of the journal will select potential reviewers based on their expertise in research areas relevant to the manuscript under consideration. Invitations to peer reviewers will be sent by email.
It is recommended that you accept an invitation only if you have the knowledge, time and objectivity to provide an unbiased evaluation of the research. Reviewers may identify themselves by signing their names at the time of submitting their review, if they wish to do so.
By accepting an invitation to review a manuscript for the journal, you agree to be bound by the following terms (Terms for Reviewers")
1. Confidentiality. You will not share or act on any confidential information obtained in the review process. We are committed to ensuring the integrity of the peer review process, in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
It states that all material submitted must be treated as strictly confidential until published.
The peer review process is confidential to all parties. Correspondence as part of the review process must also be treated as confidential by all parties, including authors.
Editors and reviewers must treat all manuscript submissions in strict confidence and must not share information about submissions with other parties unless agreed in advance with the editor. The involvement of a third party in the review should be declared at the time of submission of the review.
We expect editors and reviewers not to make use of any material or take advantage of information they obtain through the peer review process.
We will follow up any and all breaches of confidentiality. If there are any concerns about misconduct during the review process, we will follow COPE guidelines for investigating them.
2. Conflict of Interest. You represent and warrant that you have no perceived or actual competing interests that may affect your ability to provide an objective assessment, or else you will fully declare all competing interests at the time of completing the review (on the reviewer's opinion form).
Editors (professional or academic, paid or unpaid) and reviewers should declare their own competing interests and, if necessary, refrain from participating in the evaluation of a manuscript. Common reasons for editors and reviewers to refrain from participating in the peer review process may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- They maintain or have maintained recent collaborations with one of the authors.
- Have published jointly with an author in the last five years.
- Have shared grants or research projects with an author, currently or recently.
- They have a financial relationship with the funder of the study.
- They have a personal relationship with any of the authors that could affect their impartiality.
