Peer Review

1. Submission: the Editorial Office acknowledges receipt of the manuscript.
2. Editorial screening: checks for scope, originality, similarity, compliance with the author guidelines and basic scholarly quality.
3. Reviewer assignment: the editor invites suitably qualified reviewers.
4. Peer review: reviewers evaluate the manuscript and submit written reports and recommendations.
5. Editorial decision: the editor decides on the basis of the reviewers’ reports and the manuscript’s merit.
6. Revision: where required, authors revise the manuscript and respond to each comment; revised manuscripts may be sent for further review.
7. Acceptance and publication: accepted manuscripts proceed to production and are published in a quarterly issue.

Reviewers are selected for their subject expertise, research record and independence. Editors consider:

• relevant expertise in the topic and methods of the manuscript;
• absence of conflicts of interest with the authors or their institutions;
• previous review quality and timeliness, where known;
• diversity of institutions and countries across the reviewer pool.

Where possible, each manuscript is reviewed by more than one independent reviewer.

Reviewers are asked to assess:

• originality and contribution to knowledge;
• relevance to the scope of IJSE;
• soundness of the research design and methodology;
• validity and clarity of the results and the strength of the conclusions;
• quality of the literature review and referencing;
• clarity, organisation and language;
• compliance with ethical requirements.

IJSE aims to complete peer review promptly while keeping the evaluation thorough. Reviewers are asked to return their reports within the period stated in the invitation, and authors are asked to return revisions within the period set by the editor. The Editorial Office keeps authors informed of the progress of their manuscript.

Decisions are made independently and objectively on academic merit. The possible outcomes are:

• Accept: the manuscript is accepted for publication.
• Minor revision: acceptance is likely once small changes are made.
• Major revision: substantial changes are needed and the manuscript will be reconsidered.
• Reject: the manuscript is not suitable for publication in IJSE.

The Editor-in-Chief holds final authority over editorial decisions. Payment of any fee, donations, or the identity or affiliation of the authors have no influence on the decision.

• Manuscripts are confidential documents and must not be shared or discussed with others without the editor’s permission.
• Reviewers must not use unpublished material from a manuscript for their own work.
• Reviewers must declare any conflict of interest and decline to review if they cannot be impartial.
• Reviewers should not upload confidential manuscripts to public AI tools.
• Reports should be constructive, objective and respectful.

Authors who wish to raise a concern about the handling of their manuscript may write to the Editorial Office with a clear explanation of the grounds. Concerns are considered by the Editor-in-Chief. Please use the Contact page.