Peer Review Process

ISCO uses a double-blind peer review process to ensure the quality and integrity of all published articles. In this process, both the reviewers and the authors remain anonymous to each other throughout the review. The peer review process follows these stages:

 

Stage 1: Submission

Authors submit their manuscripts through the ISCO online submission system (OJS). The corresponding author must ensure that the manuscript complies with the Author Guidelines before submission.

 

Stage 2: Initial Screening (1-3 days)

The Editor in Chief conducts an initial screening of each submitted manuscript to verify that it falls within the journal's scope, meets the formatting requirements, and has sufficient academic quality to proceed to peer review. Manuscripts that do not meet these criteria may be desk-rejected at this stage.

 

Stage 3: Plagiarism Check

All manuscripts that pass the initial screening undergo plagiarism checking using Turnitin. Manuscripts with a similarity index exceeding 25% will be returned to the author for revision.

 

Stage 4: Peer Review (2-4 weeks)

The Editor assigns each manuscript to at least two (2) qualified reviewers who have expertise in the relevant field. Reviewers evaluate the manuscript based on the following criteria: originality, significance of contribution, methodological rigor, clarity of presentation, relevance to the journal's scope, and quality of references.

 

Stage 5: Editorial Decision

Based on the reviewers' recommendations, the Editor in Chief makes one of the following decisions:

• Accepted: The manuscript is accepted for publication without revisions.
• Minor Revision: The manuscript requires minor revisions before acceptance.
• Major Revision: The manuscript requires substantial revisions and will be re-reviewed after revision.
• Rejected: The manuscript is not suitable for publication in ISCO.

 

Stage 6: Revision and Resubmission

Authors who are asked to revise their manuscripts must submit the revised version within 2 weeks (for minor revisions) or 4 weeks (for major revisions). Authors should provide a detailed response letter addressing each reviewer comment.

 

Stage 7: Final Decision and Publication

After revision, the Editor in Chief makes the final decision regarding the acceptance of the manuscript. Accepted manuscripts undergo copyediting, layout, and proofreading before being published online.