Screening the past - Refereeing policy

Refereeing policy

This is a refereed journal.

Contributions reprinted from other sources, and invited contributions (including introductions to other articles) will not be sent out for review unless the author so requests.

All other contributions in the 'First release' section will be automatically sent out for blind peer review.

The process is as follows:

An article is submitted, in the form outlined in our Style Guide, which requires that the author is not identifiable from the text, and that information about the author is provided in a front page, separate from the text of the article.

The editor reads the article, and decides whether its content is appropriate to the journal.

Receipt of the article is acknowledged, and the editor notifies the author either that it is not appropriate to our journal or that it will be sent out for refereeing.

The editor approaches possible referees from among the Board and list of other people who have indicated their willingness to act in this capacity: no article is sent until the referee has agreed to read it in the time allocated.

The article (minus the identifying front page) is forwarded to two referees, with the journal's "Referee Report Form". The two referees independently read, assess and report on the article.

The editor reads these reports and decides whether or not to publish. If the decision is not to publish, the author is notified, and provided with reasons for the decision. If the decision is to publish, the author is provided with the referees' reports and is invited to resubmit after making any amendments required by the editor on the advice of the referees.

The author rewrites and re-submits. The editor negotiates any further changes with the author till both are satisfied. A contract form is sent to the author for signature, and must be received before the article is marked up for publication.

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