Peer Review Process

PEER REVIEW PROCESS

Each manuscript submitted for publication to the editorial board is subjected to the peer review process, which is based on internationally accepted principles: excellence, impartiality, transparency, efficiency, confidentiality, research ethics, responsibility for work quality, avoiding conflicts of interest.

The papers are submitted in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx format). The file name will include the name and surname of the author (ex. Name_surname.doc). The editor coordinator receives the papers from authors electronically via online submission system and performs their first evaluation.

If the papers are submitted in English and the authors are not native speakers of English, it is recommended that a certified translator or a native speaker of English familiar with the agricultural terminology checks those papers before submitting them to the editorial board.

The initial stage of manuscript evaluation will cover:

  1. content: the manuscripts should address topics and issues related to the focus of the journal, provide a logical structure, meet the rules of scientific writing and include all necessary components (abstract, key words, introduction, material and methods, results and discussions, conclusions, references). The references should include data on previous research relevant to the issue addressed in the paper;
  2. form: the manuscripts should follow the recommendations (font style used, font size, line spacing, etc.) described in the Author Guidelines.

Article size should be between 8 and 10 pages.

After the initial evaluation, the author receives a confirmation message containing information on receiving the manuscript and compliance/non-compliance with the specific requirements for this stage of evaluation.

If the manuscript does not match the profile of the scientific journal, contains serious errors of content and expression and does not comply with the minimum above-mentioned criteria, the coordinating editor will reject the manuscript without proceeding to the peer review process.

The manuscripts considered acceptable and fulfilling the requirements for publication will be sent to two reviewers, members of the academic community and experts in their field, for scientific evaluation.

The reviewers will be selected by the deputy editor depending on the field of their expertise and the topic of the paper proposed for publication.

The reviewers will evaluate the paper from a scientific point of view in accordance with the criteria set in the Evaluation form.

The process of scientific evaluation is completed when the reviewers assign one of the following recommendations:

  • The paper is accepted for publication in its original form;
  • The paper is accepted for publication with minor revisions;
  • The paper is accepted for publication with major revisions;
  • The paper is not accepted for publication and is rejected.

The final decision to accept or reject the paper belongs to the editorial board and it is based on the evaluations made by two reviewers.