Peer Review Policy for the Journal of Chromatography A
PEER REVIEW POLICY
JOURNAL OF CHROMATOGRAPHY A
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 almost all reputable scientific journals. Our referees therefore play a vital role in maintaining the high standards of Journal of Chromatography A and all manuscripts are peer reviewed following the procedure outlined below.
Special issues and/or conference proceedings are also subject to peer review and may involve the assistance of Guest Editors, conference organisers or scientific committees. Authors contributing to these projects will receive full details of the peer review process on request from the Publisher.
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 of low methodological novelty or originality, 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 passed on to at least 2 experts for review.
Type of Peer Review
This journal employs single blind review, where the referee remains anonymous throughout the process. Reviewers are not supposed to contact the authors or to otherwise make their identity known.
How the referee is selected
Referees are matched to the paper according to their expertise. Our database is constantly being updated. Upon submission authors are required to provide names and contact information of at least three potential referees. 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 copyedit manuscripts. Language correction is not part of the peer review process.
How long does the review process take?
Typically a decision after the first review round will be communicated to the author within 8 weeks (average in 2005). Should the referees' reports contradict one another or a report is unnecessarily delayed a further expert opinion may be sought. Revised manuscripts may be returned to the initial referees or to one or more additional reviewers. Referees may request more than one revision of a manuscript. The average time between first submission and arrival of the accepted manuscript at the production department was 4 months in 2005.
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 Journal of Chromatography A
If you are not currently a referee for Journal of Chromatography A, but would like to be added to the list of referees for this title, please contact one of the editors.
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