Peer Review Policy
We ask peer reviewers to make every reasonable effort to ensure the following criteria are taken into account for those submitted manuscripts they have agreed to review.
- Although authors' identities are normally anonymised, content within a manuscript may reveal an author's identity, or aspects of identity. In such cases, a peer reviewer must give unbiased consideration to each manuscript submitted for publication and judge each on its merits, without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex, seniority, or institutional affiliation of the author(s).
- A peer reviewer should declare any conflict of interest when the manuscript under review is related to the peer reviewer’s own work. A peer reviewer should not evaluate a manuscript authored or co-authored by a person with whom the reviewer has a personal or professional relationship if that relationship could bias judgment.
- The peer review process must be treated as entirely confidential. Submitted manuscripts, information about them, and correspondence related to the review must not be shared or circulated to anyone not engaged in the peer review process.
- A peer reviewer should provide a comprehensive, evidence-based, and appropriately detailed peer review report.
- A peer reviewer should be alert to authors failing to cite relevant work by other researchers and should bring to the Editor’s attention any substantial similarity between the manuscript under consideration and any published paper or manuscript submitted elsewhere.
- A peer reviewer should make every reasonable effort to submit their review report and recommendation in a timely manner.
- A peer reviewer must avoid making statements in submitted articles which might be construed as damaging to any person's reputation.
