The practice of peer review is to ensure that high quality scientific material is published. It is an objective process at the heart of good scholarly publishing and is carried out on all reputable scientific journals. Our referees therefore play a vital role in maintaining the high standards of OMEGA and all manuscripts are peer reviewed following the procedure outlined below.
Special issues and/or conference proceedings may have different peer review procedures involving, for example, Guest Editors, conference organizers or scientific committees. Authors contributing to these projects may receive full details of the peer review process on request from the editorial office.
Initial manuscript evaluation
The Editor-in-Chief first evaluates all manuscripts. Although rare, but it is entirely feasible for an exceptional manuscript to be accepted at this stage. Those rejected at this stage are insufficiently original, have serious scientific flaws, have poor grammar or English language, or are outside the aims and scope of the journal (see Description). Those that meet the minimum criteria are passed on to at least two experts for review.
Authors of manuscripts rejected at this stage will be informed within two weeks of receipt.
Type of Peer Review
This journal employs; single blind review, where the referee remains anonymous throughout the process.
How the referee is selected
Referees are matched to the paper according to their expertise. Our database is constantly being updated and we require suggestions for referees from authors though these recommendations may or may not be used.
Referee reports
Referees are asked to evaluate whether the manuscript:
- Is original
- Is methodologically sound
- Follows appropriate ethical guidelines
- Has results which are clearly presented and support the conclusions
- Correctly references previous relevant work
Referees are not expected to correct or edit manuscripts. Language correction is not part of the peer review process.
How long does the review process take?
Typically a manuscript will be reviewed within 4 months. Should the referees' reports contradict one another or a report is unnecessarily delayed a further expert opinion will be sought. Revised manuscripts are usually returned to the initial referees. Referees may request more than one revision of a manuscript.
Final report
A final decision to accept or reject the manuscript will be sent to the corresponding author along with any recommendations made by the referees.
Editor-in-Chief Decision is final
Referees, Associate Editors, Guest Editors advice the Editor-in-Chief, who is responsible for the final decision to accept or reject the article.
Becoming a Referee for OMEGA
If you are not currently a referee for OMEGA but would like to be added to the list of referees, please contact the editorial office at OmegaJournal@umich.edu.
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