MEJ Peer Review Process

 

The MEJ refereeing system shall adopt a three-stage evaluation process: initial appraisal, double blind external review, and Editorial Board evaluation. Upon receipt, each submitted manuscript will be subjected to an appraisal by the Editorial & Publication Team. This initial appraisal will include plagiarism check. This process shall ensure that each manuscript fits the objectives and standards of the journal. It will likewise establish significance, technical soundness of the paper, and originality of the manuscript (similarity index should be not more than 15%). The result of the initial appraisal shall determine whether the manuscript will be endorsed for an external review or be returned to the author/s for revision. Author/s is/are given two to four weeks to revise the manuscript depending on the security and completeness of revisions required. Manuscripts revised following the initial appraisal with attached accomplished and signed commitment form are sent to double blind refereeing by at least two external reviewers. The external reviewers are determined by the Editorial-in-chief & Associate Editors and given a month to evaluate the manuscripts. Comments and suggestions resulting from the refereeing are consolidated and sent to the authors for appropriate action. The author/s is/are given two (2) weeks to revise and resubmit the manuscript. The revised manuscript shall undergo final scrutiny by the Editor- in chief & Associate Editors. This process ensures that the external reviewers suggestions are incorporated in the manuscript, on which the acceptance for publication of the proposed article shall be contingent. Accepted papers for publication are then subjected to final language editing by the Technical Editors, Associate Editors & Editor-in-Chief. When ready, proofs are again sent to the author/s for his/her/their final review. The author/s is/are expected to return the proofs within a week. Failure on the part of the author/s to send any feedback within said time implies acceptance of proofs without corrections. As soon as the camera-ready copy of the journal volume is prepared, it will be sent to the Lay-out /Web-Editor for uploading of the new issue of the journal on the online platform.