Manuscript Peer Review Process

Desk Review

  • All manuscripts will be subject to an initial editor desk review. Manuscripts will be reviewed by the Submission Editor to determine if the submission meets the journal formatting requirements, aligns with the journal’s aim and scope, possesses research quality, and is significant to the discipline. Manuscripts that do not comply with formatting requirements are returned to the corresponding author for correction. Manuscripts deemed to meet the above criteria will be moved to a full review. Manuscripts deemed not to meet the above criteria by at least two of the members of the Editorial Team will be declined for review and recommended to be submitted elsewhere.  

Full Review

  • The full review will consist of a double-blind review with distribution of a blinded manuscript to three blinded reviewers.
  • To submit the review report, all reviewers should follow the review criteria and guidelines in the PKP reviewer dashboard when completing reviews.
    • Reviewers should rate each review criteria area.
    • Reviewers are expected to provide feedback for each review criteria area in the PKP reviewer dashboard to the authors based on the ratings provided.
    • Reviewers can also provide additional edits and comments in the submitted manuscript document. The edits and comments should be blind, and the document should then be uploaded to PKP for the authors to access when reviews are submitted.  
  • Reviews should be submitted within a timely manner (3 weeks from the time of the review request). Any outstanding reviews not submitted before the 3-week window may be reassigned to a new blind reviewer

 Publication Recommendations and Decisions    

  • All reviewers should follow the reviewer publication recommendations.
    • Based on how well the manuscripts are determined to meet the review criteria and guidelines, reviewers can recommend one of the publication recommendations.
  • Editors will make the final decision informed by the reviewer recommendations:
    • A manuscript is accepted through an editor-led, double-blind peer review process. The reviewers provide advisory recommendations toward publication. Editors use their professional judgment to make all final publication decisions. If a manuscript receives two “Accept” recommendations, the Editor may issue a final decision of “Accept” and cancel any pending reviews; if it receives two recommendations of “Decline,” “Submit Elsewhere,” or a combination of the two, the Editor may issue a decision of “Decline” or “Submit Elsewhere” and cancel any pending reviews.
  • A manuscript not accepted for publication after three reviews may not be resubmitted to the Journal.
  • Any manuscript in the review stage not receiving timely attention by authors (i.e., no response to editorial requests for 12 months) may be rejected at the discretion of the editorial team.

Review Process for Resubmissions

  • Resubmission review assignments will be assigned to the same reviewers from the initial review. Reviewer recommendations of “Accept,” “Decline,” or “Submit Elsewhere” remain with the manuscript throughout the review process, and reviewers providing those recommendations are not asked to re-review in later rounds.
  • Reviewers will review the revised manuscript along with the author’s response to reviewers document.
  • The manuscript should then be reviewed based on the review criteria and a publication recommendation should be submitted.
  • All reviewers for resubmissions are still required to follow the three week review window. If not reviewed within this time, a new blind reviewer may be assigned.

Author Appeals

  • For editor decisions which require revisions and/or resubmissions, the authors should state their responses to the reviewer comments and requested revisions in the author’s response to reviewers document.
  • If the authors disagree with a reviewer comment and requested revision, the authors should state and support the reason for declining to address their request.  
  • Authors cannot appeal the editor's publication decisions.