Published by Elsevier in association with the European Safety and Reliability Association, and the Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis Division
Peer Review Policy for Reliability Engineering and System Safety
The practice of peer review is to ensure that good science 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 Reliability Engineering and System Safety 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 organisers 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 first evaluates all manuscripts. It is 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. Those that meet the minimum criteria are usually passed on to 2 experts for review.
Authors of manuscripts rejected at this stage will be informed within 2 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. We welcome suggestions for referees from the author though these recommendations may or may not be used.
Referee reports
Referees are asked to evaluate whether the manuscript :
Is technically accurate and its conclusions justified
Gives proper credit to prior published work
Title and abstract are adequate to the content of the paper
Is clearly presented
Should be
accepted with minor revisions at the discretion of the Editor
accepted, if it is revised with careful attention to the reviewer's comments
rejected for scientific reasons
rejected for subject matter inappropriate for this journal
Should be published as a paper or as a technical note
Referees are not expected to correct or copyedit manuscripts. Language correction is not part of the peer review process.
How long does the review process take? Typically the manuscript will be reviewed within one month. Should the referees' reports contradict one another or a report is unnecessarily delayed, a further expert opinion will be sought. Revised manuscripts may be 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 author along with any recommendations made by the referees, and may include verbatim comments by the referees.
Editor's Decision is final
Referees advise the editor, who is responsible for the final decision to accept or reject the article.
Becoming a Referee for Reliability Engineering and System Safety
If you are not currently a referee for Reliability Engineering and System Safety but would like to be added to the list of referees for this title, please contact either of the journal editors. The benefits of refereeing for Reliability Engineering and System Safety include the opportunity to see and evaluate the latest work in your research area at an early stage, and to be acknowledged in an annual statement in Reliability Engineering and System Safety if you have reviewed more than two manuscripts in the preceding 12 months. You may also be able to cite your work for Reliability Engineering and System Safety as part of your professional development requirements for various Professional Societies and Organisations.
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