Peer Review Policy Annals of Pure and Applied Logic
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 APAL 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
One of the Managing Editors first evaluates the manuscript. 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 passed on to one or more experts for review.
Authors of manuscripts rejected at this stage will usually be informed within one month 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. The handling Managing Editor selects referees, who are experts in the relevant field, often after consultation with the other Managing Editors and the Advisory Editors.
Referee reports
Referees are asked to evaluate whether the manuscript:
- Is original
- Is methodologically sound
- 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 the manuscript will be reviewed within 6 months. Should the referees' reports contradict one another or a report is unnecessarily delayed a further expert opinion will be sought.
Final report
Based on the referee reports the handling Managing Editor may request one or more revisions before arriving at the final decision. 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 referee.
Editor's Decision is final
The Managing Editor is responsible for the final decision to accept or reject the article. The role of the referee in this process is advisory
