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Journal Peer Review Process
1. The Managing Editor (ME) checks all submissions. The initial check by the ME evaluates if a submission fits well within the journal’s scope and how well the submission is organized. The ME either routes the manuscript to the appropriate section editor (SE) or recommend it be sent to at least two reviewers, and an Editor-in-Chief (EiC) will be informed of this at the same time. This requires 1 or 2 days.
2. A basic quality check by an SE: The SE can reject the submission directly based on his or her own assessments or further solicit at least two reviewers to conduct a peer review. The reviewers send their comments and recommendations to the SE. The SE evaluates the reviewers' comments along with the manuscript and makes a recommendation to an EiC. The EiC will make the final decision about whether the submission is directly rejected or not. The manuscript may be:
Accept: Accepted for publication as is;
Minor Revision: Accepted for publication with minor changes, with no re-review necessary;
Major Revision: Accepted for publication after substantial revision and additional review, or
Reject: Rejected. The subject matter is unsuitable for publication in Advanced Ultrasound in Diagnosis and Therapy (AUDT).
3. We use a double-blind peer review process where both authors and reviewers are unknown to each other. The peer review is conducted by external reviewers: Finding reviewers usually takes 2 or 3 days. Normally we request that comments are returned within 4 weeks and no later than 5 weeks. During the 4 to 5 weeks of the peer review process, reviewers will receive several reminders (once a week) sent by the ME.
4. First revision requested by an SE: The SE will determine if “Minor Revision” or “Major Revision” is required and if the article will be “Rejected” based on the reviewers’ comments and their evaluation of the submission. This takes 3 or 4 days.
5. Revision by authors: Minor revision of manuscripts must be resubmitted within 3 weeks and major revision of manuscripts within 5 weeks.
6. Second review and second-round decision by an SE: The SE decides whether the revised submission needs to be sent back to the original reviewers for further review or not. This process usually takes, for minor-revision submissions, 3 days, and for major-revision submissions, 3 days to 2 weeks (10 days for further review by reviewers).
7. Final decision by EiCs: The ME will submit the SE-provisionally-accepted manuscript to an EiC for final decision. The EiC is expected to complete this within 3 days.
8. Pub-Express: Timely publishing is crucial to scholarly communications. As such, AUDT is serving a Pub-Express channel, by which a manuscript can receive a direct final decision by an EiC within 7 days upon being submitted. Authors can self-recommend their manuscripts to Pub-Express. So can either an EiC or SE.
9. Organizing a Special Issue: For manuscripts submitted to a Special Issue, the Issue Editors (Guest Editors) will make final decisions on behalf of the EiCs of the journal.
