Instructions for Reviewers

Referees are invited to submit the report either as an attached file, ordirectly in a text box, where a plain text or a TeX code can be pasted. If you select the first option be sure that there is no identifying information in your attached file.  PDF files frequently contain identifying metadata.

It is very important to provide useful infomation that helps in making the decision. In particular the referee is invited to suggest one of the following decisions, including a justification as to why the decision was arrived at:

• Reject outright;
• Return to the author for major revisions, outlined in report;
• Publish or reject depending on the current needs of the journal;
• Publish after minor revisions, outlined in report;
• Publish as is.

If the paper is considered, both in substance and presentation, as worthy for publication, a ranking evaluation will be highly appreciated, for instance according to the following table:

• Exceptional (in the top 5% of the papers recently evaluated in a similar field)
• Excellent (in the top 10%)
• Fair (in the top 50%)
• Poor

1. When the Editor selects you to review a new submission, you receive e-mail notification. Usually, this notice does not include the manuscript for review as an attachment, but the manuscript can be viewed by clicking the link in the e-mail notification. The notice specifies the due date for submitting the review. Both the Editors and the authors will appreciate your efforts to review in due time.

2. You are invited to access the review page by clicking the link to log in as a “Reviewer”.

3. Under Review Steps, click the envelope icon next to “Will do the review” at Step 1. Tip: You will not be able to complete subsequent steps until you have clicked the “Will do the review” icon.

4. Click on the page icon labeled “Review” under Step 4 and enter your comments to the author and the editor in the pop-up window. (Note that comments entered in the “to editor” box will not be forwarded to authors; comments in the “to author and editor” are not immediately accessible to authors, but are in most cases forwarded in their entirety to authors by the editor.) Click “Save.” When finished, click “Close.” Tip: An oddity in OJS is that once you’ve entered your comments in the box, you must first click the “Save” button and then click the “Close” button to successfully submit your review.

5.  Step 5 gives you the option of uploading files (for example, if you prefer to upload the document containing your review feedback rather than copy-and-paste these comments into the box at Step 4). Click on “Browse” to locate the review file on your computer, and click “Upload” to submit the file. Tip: It is not sufficient to choose the file and save and continue. You must also click “Upload” to upload the submission.

6. Finally, select a recommendation for the submission from the drop down list, which contains the following options:

• Accept Submission
• Revisions Required (“conditional accept”)
• Resubmit for Review (“revise and resubmit”)
• Resubmit Elsewhere
• Decline Submission
• See comments

Warning! After taking this decision, you will not be able to enter comments, to upload a report file, or to modify the decision. Send your review feedback and recommendation to the editor by clicking “Submit Review to Editor”. This feedback goes to the Editorial Board only; it is not provided directly to the author.

If your review of a manuscript has not been received by the due date, you will receive a reminder. Please inform journal staff immediately if you are unable to undertake the review of a submission for any reason, so that another reviewer can be assigned.