Peer Review Policy
1. Introduction
Reptiles & Amphibians is committed to upholding the highest standards of academic and scientific publishing. The peer review process is fundamental to ensuring the quality and reliability of the content we publish. This policy outlines the principles, procedures, and ethical guidelines that govern the peer review process for our open access journal.
2. Types of Peer Review
2.1. Single-Blind Review: In this approach, the identities of the reviewers are concealed from the authors. Reviewers are aware of the authors' identities. This is the default review process unless specified otherwise.
2.2. Double-Blind Review: In this approach, both the identities of the reviewers and the authors are concealed from each other. This is the review process for manuscripts submitted by members of the editorial team of Reptiles & Amphibians, although authors can also request it.
3. Reviewer Selection
3.1. Reptiles & Amphibians selects reviewers based on their expertise, experience, and qualifications in the subject matter. Reviewers are typically scholars or professionals with relevant research experience.
3.2. Reviewers must declare any potential conflicts of interest before accepting a review assignment. They are expected to personally and professionally handle such matters themselves if any conflicts arise.
4. Reviewer Responsibilities
4.1. Reviewers are expected to evaluate submitted manuscripts objectively, impartially, and in a timely manner. They should consider the scientific quality, originality, significance, and ethical soundness of the research.
4.2. Reviewers should maintain confidentiality and not disclose any information about the manuscript or the review process to anyone not directly involved in the process.
4.3. Reviewers should provide constructive and detailed feedback to authors to help improve the quality of the manuscript. Feedback should be objective and not include any type of derogatory language. Reviews that are considered harsh in language and offensive will not be considered for review, will be discarded, and the review request will be cancelled.
4.4. Reptiles & Amphibians provides an outline to reviewers stating these expectations from the outset, in order to help maintain consistency.
5. Author Responsibilities
5.1. Authors must submit original and authentic research, ensuring that they have not submitted the same work to multiple journals.
5.2. Authors should provide accurate and complete information and cite relevant prior research.
5.3. Authors are encouraged to respond to reviewers' comments and make necessary revisions in a timely manner.
5.4. Authors are to provide all figures as separate files once a manuscript has been accepted, and has been sent to copyediting. These files must be at the requested dpi and size as asked upon revisions.
5.5. By submitting a manuscript to Reptiles & Amphibians, Authors agree that all members of the authorship agree to the submission. Authors are solely responsible for this and disagreements to publishing of a manuscript can result in withdrawl and rejection of the submission from the Editorial Team of Reptiles & Amphibians.
6. Editorial Responsibilities
6.1. The editorial team at Reptiles & Amphibians is responsible for assigning reviewers, monitoring the review process, copyediting, and making final publication decisions.
6.2. Editors should ensure the integrity and fairness of the review process and make decisions based on the reviewers' recommendations and the scientific merit of the manuscript.
7. Ethical Considerations
7.1. Plagiarism, fraud, and any unethical behavior in research and publication will not be tolerated. Suspected misconduct will be investigated, and appropriate action will be taken.
7.2. Articles will be rejected at any stage of production where situations arise where authors disagree with the publication of the manuscript. All authors must agree with the content before an article is published.
7.3. Reptiles & Amphibians adheres to the principles of transparency and data sharing in research. Authors are encouraged to share their data and research materials when applicable.
7.4. Where animals are used in laboratory experiments, Reptiles & Amphibians expects the authors to seek the appropriate institutional ethical approval to reduce the impacts of that research on the animals. We also expect authors to follow the legislation within their country of origin when using animals in laboratory experiments. Reviewers and editors will be ensuring that these have been adhered to.
8. Appeals and Complaints
Authors have the right to appeal editorial decisions or file complaints regarding the review process. Such appeals and complaints will be handled in accordance with the journal's established procedures.
9. Open Access and Licensing
Copyright is held by the authors. Articles in Reptiles & Amphibians are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. All articles are open access and available from the journal’s website.
10. Conclusion
This peer review policy reflects the commitment of Reptiles & Amphibians to maintaining the highest standards in open access publishing. It aims to ensure transparency, fairness, and the dissemination of high-quality research within the scientific and academic community.
