Review process

Manuscripts are reviewed according to the principles of peer review, in the manner customary for scientific journals. The review process consists of three stages: following an initial editorial screening, a two-round anonymous peer review leads to a decision on acceptance (or possible rejection).

Each submitted manuscript first undergoes an editorial screening, which serves to verify whether the article fits within the journal's scope, meets formal requirements, and aligns in content and quality with the criteria for scientific publication. If these conditions are met, and after notifying the author(s), the manuscript is sent to two independent professional reviewers for an anonymous review process. (The possible review outcomes are: 1. rejected; 2. recommended for publication with major revisions; 3. recommended for publication with minor revisions; 4. recommended for publication without changes.) Resubmission of rejected manuscripts is not permitted. During the review process, it may be requested that the authors provide the full description of any research tools or statistical analyses, or even the raw data, if only briefly covered in the manuscript due to space limitations. The completed peer reviews are then forwarded to the author(s), who can make the necessary revisions at their discretion. Along with the revised manuscript, we also request a separate document detailing responses to the reviewers' comments, where the authors briefly describe what was revised, what was not, and provide justification for the latter. The revised article is reread, and upon acceptance, the author(s) are notified.

If this revised manuscript still does not meet the criteria, the journal will reject it permanently. Resubmission of rejected manuscripts is not allowed.

Doctoral researchers and university students may submit manuscripts with a recommendation from their supervisor/advisor.

ATTENTION! AS OF JANUARY 2016, EMPIRICAL ARTICLES IN THE JOURNAL WILL BE SUBJECT TO RESEARCH ETHICS CONTROL. In practice, this means that research underlying submitted empirical articles must have a valid research ethics approval. This requirement applies to studies that commenced after January 1, 2016. The journal does not review or assess the varying practices of different institutions—sometimes very diverse—but accepts them without question. Submitted articles should indicate the name of the institution/body issuing the approval and the ethics approval number.