1- Initial check

All submitted manuscripts received by the Editorial Office, via an electronic submission system , will be checked for plagiarism, and assessed carefully to determine its completeness and adherence to the Guide for Authors and  the aim and scope of the journal. Manuscripts that do not meet the standards of the journal will be rejected before peer-review procedure. Authors of rejected manuscripts, at initial evaluation stage, will normally be informed within 1 week of receipt. Manuscripts that are not properly prepared will be returned to the authors for revision and resubmission. Those that pass are then assigned to a specialized editor for consideration for sending for peer reviewing.

2- Peer review procedure

Once a manuscript passes the initial checks, it will be assigned to at least two independent expert reviewers for peer-reviewing. A double-blind review is applied, where both the reviewers and authors are anonymous to each other. Potential reviewers suggested by the authors may also be considered. Reviewers are asked to provide anonymous comments to the author and are given the option of providing confidential comments to the editor. Typically, the manuscript will be reviewed within maximum four weeks.

3- Editorial Decision and Revision

 The editor-in-chief considers all the returned reviews before making an overall decision. If the reviews differ widely, the editor may invite an additional reviewer to get an extra opinion before making a final decision.

According to the reviewer's comments, the decision of the academic editor-in-chief, will be one of the following:

a)- Accepted without alteration

b)- Accept after Minor Revisions:

The paper is in principle is accepted after revision based on the reviewer’s comments. Authors are given five days for minor revisions.

c)- Reconsider after Major Revisions:

The acceptance of the manuscript would depend on the revisions. The author needs to provide a point-by-point response or provide a rebuttal if some of the reviewer’s comments cannot be revised. Usually, only one round of major revisions is allowed. Authors will be asked to resubmit the revised paper within a suitable period, and the revised version will be returned to the reviewer for further comments.

d)- Reject and Encourage Resubmission:

If additional experiments are needed to support the conclusions, the manuscript will be rejected and the authors will be encouraged to re-submit the paper once further experiments have been conducted.

e)- Reject:

The article has serious flaws, and/or makes no original significant contribution. No offer of resubmission to the journal is provided.

4- Production and Publication

Once accepted, the manuscript will undergo professional copy-editing, English editing, proofreading by the authors, final corrections, pagination, and, publication on the JMSA website.