Paper Review Guide HOME     For Authors and Reviewers    Paper Review Guide

1. First submission and review period

Just after the manuscript is submitted to PKAS, the corresponding author will receive an e-mail message of receipt of the manuscript from the PKAS Office. A scientific editor will be assigned by the Editor-in-Chief for the supervision of the whole review process. The scientific editor is responsible for appointment of two referees and obtaining review reports from them in 2 weeks. The referee should have in-depth knowledge on the field of the manuscript. The whole review process normally takes about 3 weeks, during which the corresponding author will be notified about the status of the manuscript by the scientific editor.

2. Revised submissions

The authors should respond to the referee report within six months. The authors should submit the revised manuscript with the cover letter in response to the referee's report. No response within 6 months will be regarded as the withdrawal of the manuscript. The referee remains strictly anonymous. The correspondence between the corresponding author and the referee should be done only by the referee report and the authors' responding letter through the scientific editor. If necessary, the scientific editor will send the revised manuscript to the referee(s) for a further review. The review report of the revised manuscript is recommended to be submitted within two weeks after the receipt of the manuscript. The whole review process for the revised manuscript usually takes about three weeks.

3. Complaint and request of a second referee

The authors' complaint about the referee should be confidentially delivered to the scientific editor only, and should not be expressed in the reply letter to the referee. The authors may request a change of referees to the scientific editor with valid and detailed scientific explanations. An informal decision is made by the scientific editor based on the referees' reports, and reported to the Editor-in-Chief, which makes the final decision.

4. Acceptance for publication

The referee should choose one of the following recommendations: (1) Publish without (or after optional) revision, (2) Publish after mandatory revision (to be checked by editorial board), (3) Publish after mandatory revision (to be checked by referees), and (4) Reject. The editorial board can accept the manuscript only after recommendation (1) or (2). If the recommendation was (3), the revised version will be sent to the referee again by the scientific editor. If the recommendation was (4), the authors are asked to choose either to withdraw the paper or to request for another referees. The scientific editor will select other referees and send them the request to the selected referees together with the previous referees' reports. If the selected referees also recommend a rejection of the paper, the scientific editor reports a rejection of the paper to the Editor-in-Chief.

5. Anonymity of the referees

The names of the referees will remain anonymous unless the referees agree to disclose their names. Likewise the content of the referee's report will be notified only to the corresponding author. The editorial board and the referees should keep the content of the manuscript confidential before publication.

6. Details not specified in this guide

The Editor-in-Chief has the right to make decisions on matters not specified in this guide.