Peer Review Process

The suitability and quality of research articles are initially reviewed by the journal editors before the review process is initiated. Manuscripts may be rejected at this stage or returned to authors for resubmission before the review process. Additionally, authors may be provided with opportunities for mentorship (at this stage or after the first round of review). The journal offers this mentorship route for emerging academics who feel that they may need assistance in getting their paper published.

JARER utilises a double-blind peer-review process. The double-blind peer review focuses primarily on the paper's content, the theoretical underpinnings and the quality of the research and findings. As a result, the double-blind peer-review process focuses on the quality of the content and its merit as a research contribution. Language, structural and style elements are addressed once the reviewers are satisfied with the core elements of the paper. This is typically undertaken in the copyediting stage of the publication process. Reviewers are carefully selected based on their familiarity and experience with the topic of the research paper. A preliminary review is performed by editors. This is an initial high-level review to make sure that the paper is aligned with the scope of the journal and is appropriate for an academic audience. A plagiarism test is also performed at this stage of the publication process. This typically takes one to two days.  We have a large editorial board (20 members, excluding the journal editors) with a broad range and expertise and experience. 

The publication process typically takes at least 14 weeks from submission to publication.