Our efficient and rigorous peer review and production process ensures the high quality of our journals is maintained.

Peer review flowchart

1. Science Editors pass the submitted manuscript to the Editor(s)-in-Chief.

2. Depending on the topic of the submitted manuscript, the Editor(s)-in-Chief passes the article to the Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief/Associate Editor(s) or an Editorial Board Member with related expertise.

3. The assigned Editorial Board Members with related expertise review the manuscript or recommend external reviewers to the Editorial Office. The recommendation of external reviewers may be carried out via a literature search to identify appropriate external experts.

4. For each manuscript in peer review, at least two external reviewers will be secured.

5. External experts make recommendations.

6. External experts’ recommendations are sent to the Editor(s)-in-Chief, along with a review from the assigned Associate Editor and Member of the Editorial Board.

7. The Editor(s)-in-Chief makes a decision on the manuscript, for which there are four options: accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject.

Note: the specific peer review process may vary slightly depending on the journal due to the constitution of an editorial team.

Selection of reviewer

The potential reviewers for a manuscript are usually identified by Editorial Board Members, the journal authors, or our internal reviewer database. According to the need, an external reviewer may be identified via a scholarly database (e.g., PubMed and Web of Science).

For the convenience and efficiency of the peer review process, peer reviews are conducted and trackable electronically via both the OJS system (journal website).

Editing and publishing flowcharts

The final accepted articles are passed to the language editors (native English speakers) for language editing after one, two, or three rounds of reviewing and revision.

• The edited article is passed to the copy editors.
• The copy editors cross-edit the manuscripts and contact the authors with copyediting questions.
• The copyedited manuscript is passed to the typesetting editor.
• The typesetting editor typesets the manuscript with InDesign to produce a PDF.
• The eProof editors contact the authors for proofreading.
• The HTML/XML editors produce HTML and XML electronic versions of the manuscript.
• The manuscript is published on “Online First”.
• Finally, the manuscript is officially published in a specific issue of a journal and distributed.

Updated on April 25, 2022.