The Review Process
1.1. The Peer Review Process
The review process is an important aspect of the publication process of an article. It enables authors to improve their manuscripts and aids editors in making a decision on manuscripts. THE ELT PRACTITIONER employs a three-stage review process – editorial office, external review and editors’ decision.
1.1.1. First Stage
The first stage of the review process takes place in the editorial office. On submission, a manuscript is reviewed to ensure that it meets the minimum requirements of the journal before it is sent to external reviewers. At this stage, the manuscript is reviewed for the following
1. Scope: The content of the manuscript is checked to ensure that it fits within the scope of the journal. If the manuscript does not fit the scope of the journal, the author/s will be informed to submit the paper to a more suitable journal published by ELTAI.
2. Possible plagiarism: The manuscript is evaluated to compare the level of similarity with other published works. Manuscripts that have a high level of similarity with other works (including the author(s) previous works) are rejected at this stage. Authors are provided with the similarity report together with the decision to reject the manuscript.
3. Recent references: THE ELT PRACTITIONER encourages authors to cite more recent articles. Preferably, a considerable number of the cited articles should be works that were published within the last five years.
4. English language: THE ELT PRACTITIONER publishes the full text of articles only in English. Quotes in other languages must be accompanied with an approximate translated version in English.
5. Structure, organization, correctness and clarity: Manuscripts are checked for the structure, organization, correctness and clarity of the language as it adheres to the journal's Instructions for Authors. The editorial office usually makes a correction of minor grammatical errors in such a manner that it does not alter the manuscript. However, in situations where language is substantially difficult to comprehend, the manuscript is returned to the author to improve the clarity of the language.
Manuscripts that fail in this first stage of the review process are returned to the author(s) for modification and resubmission. This first stage of the review is very important as it enables the author(s) improve the manuscript at an early stage. This first stage of the manuscript review is usually completed within ten days.
1.1.2. The Second Stage
Once a manuscript successfully completes review process at the editorial office, it proceeds to the second stage. The second stage of the review process employs the double-blind review system. THE ELT PRACTITIONER considers the double-blind peer system as a more effective review system because it limits possible bias from either the selected reviewers or from authors. A double-blind peer review system is an anonymous review system whereby the identity of the author(s) of a manuscript is concealed from the selected reviewers. All details that may enable a reviewer to identify the author(s) of a manuscript are removed from the manuscript before the manuscript is sent to the reviewer. Similarly, the reviewers’ identities are also concealed from the author(s) when sending the reviewers’ comments to the author(s).
An external reviewer is selected from the editorial board of our journal. The reviewer is invited to review the manuscript by sending them the abstract of the manuscript. Upon acceptance to review the manuscript, the full text of the manuscript is sent to the reviewers after the author(s) have been concealed.
Reviewers are required to evaluate the manuscripts and provide useful comments to enable the author(s) improve the quality of the manuscript. Reviewers also score the manuscript in terms of originality, contribution to the field, technical quality, clarity of presentation and depth of research. Finally, reviewers make one of the following suggestions about the manuscript;
o Requires minor corrections
o Requires moderate revision
o Requires major revision
o Not suitable for further processing. In this case, the reviewer provides specific reason(s) why the manuscript is not further processed.
Upon receipt of the reviewers’ comments, the editorial office reviews the comment. The reviewer’s comments are thereafter sent to the author(s). The reviewer’s identities are concealed from the author(s). The total time taken to complete the second stage of the manuscript review depends on the availability of the reviewers. However, it is usually completed between one to four weeks.
Using the reviewers’ comments, author(s) make corrections to the manuscript and submits a revised manuscript. Revised submissions should be returned to the Editor-in-Chief within two weeks from the date on which the revision request is sent. Revised submissions received after the given time will be considered as new submissions. Please give the exact page number(s), paragraphs(s) and line number(s) where each revision is made.
1.1.3. The Third Stage
Upon receipt of the revised submission, the manuscript undergoes the third and final stage of the review process. The original manuscript, the revised manuscript and all the reviewers’ comments are sent to an editor of the journal. The editor reviews the manuscript and makes one of the following decisions:
o Accept as it is
o Accept with a minor correction
o Requires major corrections
o Send revised manuscript for review again
o Reject
Manuscripts that are accepted as it is are scheduled for publication. Manuscripts that require corrections (either minor or major) are sent to the author(s) to affect the corrections suggested by the editor. After effecting the corrections, the editor reviews the manuscripts again before the manuscripts are accepted for publication. In some cases, the editor may require authors to make corrections a second time. In other cases, the editor may request for the revised manuscripts with (or without) the additional corrections to be sent to a specific reviewer who had earlier reviewed the manuscript before the manuscript can be accepted for publication.