PEER REVIEW Policy

All research articles published in Asian Journal of Human Services undergo peer review. This usually involves review by at least two independent, expert peer reviewers. If authors are not satisfied with the peer review decision, they have the right to submit an appeal to the editorial office. For details, please read "Peer review appeals and complaints from authors" in the Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement.

Once submitted, the manuscript will be assigned to member of editorial staff, who will read the paper and decide whether it is appropriate for the journal. Manuscripts that are within scope and seem, on initial assessment, to be technically sound and scientifically valid will be sent to external reviewers.

Asian Journal of Human Services has a double-blind peer-review system, where the reviewers do not know the names or affiliations of the authors and the reviewer provided to the authors are anonymous. During peer review, reviewers will be able to access the assigned manuscript securely using Editorial Manager ® while maintaining referee anonymity. Authors are required to select potential reviewers during submission, but author-selected reviewers are not necessarily selected. Their suggestions are often helpful, but they are not always followed.

Peer review selection is critical to the publication process. It is based on many factors, including expertise, reputation, specific recommendations, conflict of interest, and previous performance. All editors have several responsibilities: (1) Editor(s) are expected to obtain a minimum of two peer reviewers for manuscripts. (2) Editor(s) are expected to independently verify the contact details of reviewers suggested by authors. Each manuscript should be reviewed by at least one reviewer of them who was not suggested by the authors.

In the rare, exceptional occasions when two independent peer reviewers cannot be secured, the editor may act as a second reviewer or make a decision.

In that case,

• Editor must have a sufficient amount of knowledge in the field if acting as a second reviewer.
• Editor should consent the review to ensure transparency in the peer review process.

A potential peer reviewer should inform the editor of any possible conflicts of interest before accepting an invitation to review a manuscript. Communications between the editor and peer reviewer contain confidential information that should not be shared with third parties.

If any misconduct-for example, identity theft and suggesting fake peer reviewers- by a reviewer is discovered, the editorial office will conduct further investigation and take strict action in accordance with Committee on Publication Ethics’ guide of peer review manipulation.

After considering the reviewer reports, the Editor-in-Chief or someone to replace the Editor-in-Chief will make one of the following decisions:

• Accept
• Revision (including a minor revision, where authors revise their manuscript to address specific concerns and a major revision, where authors revise their manuscript to address significant concerns and perhaps undertake additional work)
• Resubmission (the theme is academically interesting, but it does not follow the journal’s submission guidelines or requires further significant results or considerations)
• Reject

When all editorial processes are done, the manuscript will be formally accepted for publication. The received date stated in the paper will be the date on which the original submission passed our standard quality control checks, which are based on the journal’s submission guideline. The accepted date stated on paper will be the date on which the Editor-in-Chief sent the acceptance letter.

After acceptance, authors are sent proofs of their manuscript, but only changes to the title, author list, or technical errors will be permitted. All corrections must be approved by the publishing team. Asian Journal of Human Services reserves the right to make the final decision about matters of style and the size of figures.

Published 1 October 2024