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Submission procedure

Overview

Introduction

Authors are encouraged to submit original manuscripts online, which are not presently under consideration at another journal, in a format defined by the author guidelines. Submitted manuscripts are pre-screened by plagiarism detection software using similiarity checker by Ithinticate both before and after blind peer review, prior to acceptance. The journal allows the author to track and participate in all activities related to the processing of the manuscript, such as the review process, copy editing, layout editing and proofing of manuscripts, which are all managed online.

Publication procedure

Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication by the Editor-in-Chief, the editorial staff will work towards preparing the manuscript for online publication.  The first stage involves language editing, after which the manuscript is returned to the corresponding author for review. This is the author’s final opportunity to make text changes to the manuscript and submit a revised version. At a final stage the editorial staff will send the author one set of galley proofs, and the author will have two working days to mark any typographical errors. It may not be possible to incorporate author corrections in the printed version of the manuscript if the author fails to respond to proofreading requests. Authors should visit their personalised homepage frequently to assess the location or stage of the manuscript.

New Submission

The manuscripts are uploaded and processed online, so you need to register and login into the journal website. Start the 5-step submission process by either:

  1. In your My User Home, select New Submissionnext to Author.
  2. In your My User Home, select Author, and underneath the heading Start a New Submissionselect CLICK HERE.

 Make sure you have your cover letter and manuscript body in one document and any supplementary information (e.g. illustrations, legal documents, etc.) in separate documents saved on your computer, ready for upload. Refer to the Submissions Guidelines for more details.

  How to submit a new submission

Each step is on a separate page. The submission process can be interrupted at any time; when you return to the site you can continue from where you left off. You can scroll down and click on the Next button to save your work and advance to the next page:

  • STEP 1: Select the journal section, complete the submission checklist and agree to our copyright and licensing policy. Save and continue.
  • STEP 2: Upload the submission file. Click on the Choose filebutton and locate the file on your computer. When you have selected the file you wish to upload, click the Upload  Save and continue.
  • STEP 3: Insert the manuscript metadata, author(s) details, manuscript title, manuscript abstract and keywords as it is in the manuscript. Save and continue.
  • STEP 4: Upload supplementary files e.g. legal documents and any supplementary information such as large tables and photographs. You can only upload one supplementary file at a time and have a limit of 15MB per single file. Click on the Choose filebutton and locate the file on your computer. When you have selected the file that you wish to upload, click the Upload  Repeat the process until all supplementary files have been uploaded. Save and continue.
  • STEP 5: Confirm the files for submission. Select the Finish Submission After completing the manuscript submission you will receive a submission confirmation via email. You can also log into the journal website at any time to check the status of your manuscript.

 

Revisions

After formal peer review many manuscripts may be provisionally accepted pending minor revisions, after which authors will submit revised manuscripts. The editor would have gauged the revisions needed as being feasible and capable of being completed within 3 months.  Revisions will be requested by the editor through email, with instructions on how to proceed to create and upload a revised submission on the journal website. In the journal personalised section your submission will move in the active table from having the status In Review to In Review: Revisions Required.

When you prepare a revised version of your manuscript it is essential that you follow the instructions given in the editors letter and the reviewers comments (when provided) very carefully. 

 Time limits

Authors must stay within the following time limits:

  1. Revisions received more than three months after being requested may be sent for another review cycle, at the editors discretion.
  2. Revisions received more than six months after being requested may be closed and considered withdrawn from consideration.

 How to submit a revision

Submit your revision by:

  1. Preparing the required three documents for uploading.
  2. Uploading the three documents.
  3. Informing the editor via email of your submitted revision.
  4. Preparing the required three documents for uploading:
  • DOCUMENT 1:The feedback summary to the Editor-in-Chief: A complete and concise, point by point response specifying how you have addressed each of the editors and reviewers comments. Where suggestions have not been followed, you must explain and justify your decision. This should include specific references to sections, pages and paragraph numbers where alterations were made in the text.
  • DOCUMENT 2:Annotated version of the revisions made on the original manuscript: The annotated copy should have highlights of the changes (either by using the track changes function in Microsoft Word or by highlighting or underlining text) with notes in the text referring to the editors or reviewers query. If references, tables or figures are moved, added or deleted during the revision process, renumber them to reflect such changes so that they continue to be cited in numerical order. Images need only be uploaded if changes have been made to them since the previous version.
  • DOCUMENT 3:Clean version of the revised manuscript.
  1. Uploading the three documents:
  • STEP 1: When you have addressed the comments and completed your revisions, log into your journal’s personalised section and click on In Review: Revisions Required.
  • STEP 2:Under the Editor Decision, click the bubble icon to view the editor's decision letter. If needed, you may view the original editor and reviewer comments by clicking files linked under the Review Round.
  • STEP 3:Once your revisions are correctly formatted and prepared, click on Browse to begin uploading your revised manuscript from your desktop. Ensure that you upload a clean version, an annotated version and a point by point version as part of your revised manuscript submission.
  1. Informing the editor via email of your submitted revision:
  • Once all three documents are uploaded, you will need to inform the editor via email of your submitted revision. Click on the email iconand proceed to type and email the editor.

 

Resubmission

Follow the new submission process to submit resubmissions on the journal website. A resubmitted manuscript may fall into one of two categories:

Invited resubmissions

Manuscripts resubmitted in response to encouragement to resubmit following a decision to reject. The author would receive clear guidance on what revisions are required and the conditions under which their manuscript will be reconsidered for possible acceptance. There is thus an agreement framework in place.

Manuscripts which were previously rejected (which have been resubmitted without this being encouraged or invited)

The editor is under no such agreement and may view the manuscript as a completely new submission.