Peer Review Process
To ensure high-quality publication, APASCI conducts a stringent double-blind peer review process for all manuscripts submitted to its journals:
1. Upon submission, a manuscript is reviewed by the managing editor of the journal to assess for integrality and similarity. Once the manuscript has passed this pre-screening check, it will be passed to one of the academic editors (the Editor-in-Chief for a regular submission, the Guest Editor for a Special Issue submission or Section Collection submission, or Editorial Board members if the above-mentioned roles have conflicts of interest).
2. The academic editor carefully evaluates the manuscript to determine if its topic and content are suitable for consideration.
3. The manuscript is then assigned by the academic editor to the associate editor.
4. The associate editor selects at least two reviewers who are suitably qualified to assess the paper. Authors can recommend reviewers or provide an avoidance list, and basic information for identifying and contacting the reviewers should be given. The recommended reviewers may not be invited upon the decision of the associate editor.
5. Reviewers are asked to evaluate the manuscript’s originality, methodology, contribution to the literature, presentation of results and support for the conclusion, and appropriate referencing of previous relevant studies.
6. According to the evaluation by the reviewers, the associate editor makes one of the following recommendations: accept the submission, accept with minor revisions, accept with revisions required (major revisions), require resubmission for review, or decline the submission.
7. The manuscript is then passed to the academic editor for a final decision.
8. If the academic editor suggests minor revisions, authors are given a maximum of 5 days to revise and resubmit the manuscript.
9. If the academic editor suggests major revisions, authors are given a maximum of 14 days to revise and resubmit the manuscript.
10. After the re-submission of the revised manuscript, the above steps are repeated before the manuscript is accepted for publication.
11. Authors of rejected submissions have the right to make an appeal in writing to the editorial office of the specific journal within 4 weeks of receiving the decision. The written appeal should include specific reasons for the appeal and point-by-point responses to the reviewers' comments.
12. Decisions made on appeals by the academic editor are final and no further considerations will be made.