A reviewer is invited by email to review a submission, which includes its title and abstract, as well as the journal's URL and a username and password for the reviewer to use to enter the journal. The journal has the option that sends the submission as an email attachment to a reviewer along with an invitation to review. The reviewer then responds by email.
On logging in to the journal, a reviewer arrives at the "User Home" page. By clicking on the role of "Reviewer", the reviewer is led to the "Submissions" page. This page lists the submissions which the reviewer has been invited to review or is currently in the process of reviewing. The "Submissions" queue also notes what round the review is, as some reviews may have entered a second round of reviewing. This page also provides access to past reviews which the reviewer has completed for the journal.
The review process is divided into
five steps, intended to lead a reviewer through the review process.
Step 1: The reviewer has first to indicate to the associate editor whether he (or she) will undertake the review. The decision should be made after reviewing the submission's abstract and perhaps looking at the submission, by clicking on the file name (depending on the journal's policies, the file may not be available prior to the reviewer agreeing to review it). If unable to do the review, the reviewer clicks on "I am unable to do the review" which leads to a standard email to the associate editor. Otherwise, if able to do the review, the reviewer clicks on "I can do the review" which leads to a standard email to the associate editor.
Step 2: The author has uploaded the submission as a file, which the reviewer can download from the journal's web site to the reviewer's computer by clicking on the file name. The file can be opened or saved to the computer and opened, using typically available programs such as Word or Acrobat. It can be printed out or read on the screen. The supplementary files refer to materials the author may have uploaded in addition to the submission, such as data sets, research instruments, or source texts.
Step 3: The reviewer prepares a review of the submission, whether on a word processor and then pasting it into the review text-box, or by entering it directly into the review text-box, which is reached by clicking on the "Review" icon. The reviewer can enter the text all at once, or enter it in parts, saving it each time. In this way, the reviewer can indicate on the review text-box whether all of part of the review should not be shared with the author. Following the reviewer's restrictions, if any, the associate editor has the option of sharing all or part of the review to the author.
Step 4: The reviewer also has the option of, in addition to entering a review, of uploading files for the associate editor and/or the author to see. These files may be a reviewer-annotated version of the submission or some relevant data or other materials that will assist editor and/or author. It will be at the editor's discretion whether these files are shown to the author.
Step 5: The reviewer must select a recommendation for the submission from among the following options: Accept, Accept with Revisions, Resubmit for Review, Resubmit Elsewhere, Decline, See Comments. When the reviewer clicks "Submit Review to the Editor" it leads to a prepared email to the associate editor, as well as making visible to the editor the recommendation, review and any uploaded files. The email can be edited by the reviewer before sending.
Honorary Editors
Hojjat Adeli, Ohio State University, United States of America
Editorial Advisory Board
Simaan M AbouRizk, University of Alberta, Canada
Thomas Bock, Technical University of Munich, Germany
Dongping Fang, Tsinghua University, China
Makarand Hastak, Purdue University, United States of America
Shyh-Jiann Hwang, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Timothy J Ibell, University of Bath, United Kingdom
Edward J Jaselskis, North Carolina State University, United States of America
Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Kyoto University, Japan
Thomas Kvan, University of Melbourne, Australia
Kincho H Law, Stanford University, United States of America
Christopher K Y Leung, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
Yuan Li, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Ali Maher, Rutgers University, United States of America
Campbell R Middleton, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Peter W G Morris, University College London, United Kingdom
George Ofori, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Feniosky Pena-Mora, Columbia University, United States of America
Qinghua Qin, Australian National University, Australia
Klaus Rueckert, Technical University of Berlin, Germany
Surendra P Shah, Northwestern University, United States of America
Miroslaw Skibniewski, University of Maryland, United States of America
Nobuyoshi Yabuki, Osaka University, Japan
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