Each manuscript that is received by the journal is reviewed using the following outline and metric in order to achieve the most fair and equitable treatment of authors and to make sure that the quality of content being published continues to improve.
Author’s Responsibilities:
1. Manuscripts are submitted on-line by authors including the following elements:
- Author confirms that the ERA journal style has been followed in producing the document.
- Author confirms the on-line Publication Agreement and Copyright statements.
- Author confirms the on-line Conflict of Interest and Research Ethics conformity statements.
- All author(s) profiles are entered on-line.
- Manuscript (and Figures), multi-media (audio/video) files are all uploaded as separate files. A single file may be submitted to be reviewed indicating the positions where figures, tables, etc. are desired, BUT separate files still need to be uploaded at time of submission.
- Authors may also elect to submit suggested reviewers but this is not required for review or acceptance of the manuscript.
Editor’s Responsibilities:
2. Submission is automatically sent to the Editor for consideration.
- Editor confirms that author has followed the Instructions for Authors. [If not, then message is sent to author requesting that the manuscript be corrected and resubmitted.]
- Editor confirms that all materials needed for review of the document have all been submitted. [If not, then message is sent to author requesting that the manuscript be corrected and resubmitted.]
- Editor confirms that the manuscript is consistent with the focus of the Journal. [If not, then message is sent to author recommending that the manuscript be submitted elsewhere.]
- Editor contacts appropriate Associate Editor for recommendations of reviewers.
- Editor contacts 3-4 reviewers (this may include a mix of those suggested by the author and those suggested by an Associate Editor) and submits manuscript for review. Reviewers are selected on the basis of 1) recent publication on the same of very similar subject material as the manuscript (but excluding authors of the manuscript and members of the author's organization(s)), 2) scientific or cultural experts working in the region where the manuscript content was based, 3) others with appropriate expertise to provide "peer" review of the manuscript. [Each reviewer is anonymous but tracked by the editors.]
Reviewers Responsibilities:
3. Reviewer receives an electronic manuscript and is asked to make comments within four weeks.
- Reviewer evaluates the appropriateness of the manuscript for the Journal. [Manuscripts that are deemed to be inappropriate are returned without further evaluation.]
- Reviewer evaluates the quality of the manuscript. [Manuscripts determined to be of low quality are returned without further evaluation.]
- Reviewer electronically makes editorial suggestions within the text using red or underline to distinguish comments from original manuscript.
- Reviewer returns manuscript to the Editor with an evaluation and comments.
Editor’s Responsibilities:
4. Editor receives comments made by the reviewers and classifies the manuscript into one of the following categories:
- Manuscript is inappropriate for the Journal. [An e-mail is sent to the author indicating this determination thus concluding the consideration process.]
- Manuscript is not of the quality required for the Journal. [An e-mail is sent to the author indicating this determination thus concluding the consideration process.]
- Manuscript is acceptable but considerable changes are needed. [An e-mail is sent to the author indicating this determination along with a request to respond with changes.]
- Manuscript is acceptable with minor changes. [An e-mail is sent to the author indicating this determination along with a request to respond with changes.]
- Manuscript is acceptable and no changes are requested. [An e-mail will be sent to the author indicating this determination and that a formatted draft will follow in a few days.]
Author’s Responsibility:
Author receives manuscript determined to be acceptable from the above.
- Author makes changes to the manuscript.
- Author either returns the corrected manuscript to the editor as an e-mail attachment or resubmits it as a revision within the manuscript tracking system. NOTE: The author should NOT submit the manuscript as a new manuscript or this will start the process all over again because it is likely that the manuscript will be received by a different editor who will not know that it has already been reviewed!
Editor’s Responsibilities:
- Editor received revised copy of manuscript.
- Editor reviews the technical and grammatical aspects of the manuscript. Manuscripts in a language other than English will be assigned to an editor with fluency in the appropriate language.
- Editor will assign the manuscript to a copy editor who will convert the document into a .pdf format and return it to the editor.
- Editor will send an e-mail message to the author with the .pdf document attached for final review.
Author’s Responsibility:
- Author receives .pdf “galley” manuscript.
- Author should verify that the .pdf document includes all elements of the manuscript that were accepted by the editor.
- Author should send a message of approval or correction as soon as possible.
Editor’s Responsibilities:
- Editor receives approval of .pdf “galley” manuscript.
- Editor will submit copyright in name of the first author.
- Editor will submit the article title, author information and abstract to the appropriate abstracting and reference services.
- Editor will post the author and editor approved .pdf file on the Journal web site. The day that the final .pdf appears on the site is the date of publication. The publication is then available for download by anyone visiting the Journal web site.
- Editor will announce the publication of articles four times per year to all subscribers and membership of pertinent scientific societies.