Peer Review Process

  1. Editorial screening. The editor checks scope, a clear, assessable contribution about representation, measurement or decision, compliance with the template, the availability of supporting data, code, proofs or computational artefacts, subject to justified restrictions, and textual similarity.
  2. External review. Manuscripts within scope are sent to at least two independent referees with expertise in the topic. Review is single-anonymous: referees know the identity of the authors, authors do not know the identity of the referees. Referees receive the supporting artefacts with the manuscript and assess the common criteria in the reviewer guidelines: object and claim, evidence, literature and fair comparisons, results and limits, and verification. Reports identify which main results were independently checked and which could not be checked.
  3. Decision. Positive, negative and limited findings receive the same standards; the direction of a result is not a criterion for acceptance. The editor decides on the basis of the reports: accept, minor revision, major revision or reject. Where reports conflict, a third referee is consulted.
  4. Revision. Authors submit a revised manuscript with a point-by-point response. Revised manuscripts may be returned to the referees.
  5. Production. Accepted articles are copyedited, typeset with their dates of receipt, acceptance and publication, assigned a DOI and published in open access.

Submissions by the Editor-in-Chief or by board members are handled by an independent editor and reviewed under the same standard. For manuscripts authored by the Editor-in-Chief, the board designates an editor with no relevant conflict; the Editor-in-Chief does not choose referees, assess reports or decide the submission. Appeals are handled independently by an editor not involved in the original decision. Designations and decision responsibility are recorded under the publication ethics policy. Referees are asked to declare conflicts of interest and to decline where one exists.

The journal aims to reach a first decision within eight weeks of submission.