Writing for Publication: Transitions and Tools that Support Scholars’ Success - Mary Renck Jalongo, Olivia N. Saracho 2016
Rendering Decisions About Manuscripts
From Outsider to Insider in Scholarly Publishing
Writing as Professional Development
There are many different stages at which peer review can occur in an academic career. It probably has occurred in some college courses when the professor required classmate peers to assess one another’s papers. It definitely will occur during the dissertation writing process when different committee members make various recommendations for improvement. It also will occur in a more formal way when manuscripts of various types—conference proposals, journal articles, grants, book chapters, and books—are submitted for review. Table 12.3 is an overview of the anonymous peer review process used by many journal editors.
Table 12.3
Steps in anonymous peer review
1. Editors develop a reviewer database |
2. Authors submit manuscripts to the journal |
3. Editor(s) make initial assessment to determine if paper is suitable for the journal and if peer review is warranted |
4. Editor(s) select reviewers with specialized expertise related to the manuscript and invite them to review |
5. Editor(s) monitor the timeliness of peer review and send reminders or invite new reviewers if necessary |
6. Reviewers submit their evaluations of the manuscript to the editor |
7. The editor reads the reviews, compiles the comments into a letter, makes a decision and communicates that decision to the author(s) |
8. Authors revise the submissions and return to editor by the deadline specified |
9. Editor decides if a second round of reviews is necessary; if so, back to step 4 |
10. After a manuscript is accepted, copy editing occurs and the proofs are sent to the author(s) |
11. Corrected proofs are returned to the editorial office by the deadline specified |
12. Accepted manuscripts may be posted online while awaiting publication in hard copy |
Source: Adapted from Stolerman (2009)