Peer review process

The practice of peer review is to ensure that good science is published. It is an objective process at the heart of good scholarly publishing and is carried out on all reputable scientific journals. Our referees, therefore, play a vital role in maintaining the high standards of Communications in Physics and all manuscripts are peer reviewed following the procedure outlined below.

Initial manuscript evaluation

The Editor first evaluates all manuscripts. It is rare, but it is entirely feasible for an exceptional manuscript to be accepted at this stage. Those rejected at this stage are insufficiently original, have serious scientific flaws, have poor grammar or English language, or are outside the aims and scope of the journal. Those that meet the minimum criteria are passed on to at least two experts for review.

Authors of manuscripts rejected at this stage will be informed within 2 weeks of receipt.

Type of Peer Review

This journal employs the single-blind review, which means that the names of the reviewers are not shared with the author but the reviewers are aware of the author’s identity, throughout the review process.

How the reviewer is selected

Reviewers are matched to the paper according to their expertise. Our database is constantly being updated. We welcome suggestions for reviewers from the author though these recommendations may or may not be used.

Reviewing schedules

Time for reviewing. Your promptness in returning reviews can significantly improve the timeliness of the VJMech Database. It is expected that you will spend no more than two weeks completing the review of an item. We understand that this may not be sufficient time, depending on the length and complexity of the item and your other commitments. It is understood that reviewers holding multiple items will require additional time to complete the reviews. If you are receiving too many items or too many at one time, please let us know.

Reminder Notices. If you have held an item for about a month, a first reminder will be sent to you. If you receive a reminder notice and you decide that you cannot finish the reviews of some of the items that you have, please let us know immediately. We will transfer the items to another reviewer.

Revised manuscripts are usually returned to the initial reviewers within two weeks. Reviewers may request more than one revision of a manuscript.