Peer review involves thoroughly evaluating manuscripts submitted to journals by experts who are typically not part of the editorial team. This unbiased, independent assessment is fundamental to scholarly work, including scientific research, making peer review an integral part of the scientific process. Its purpose is to enhance the accuracy, clarity, and comprehensiveness of published manuscripts and aid Editors in deciding which ones to publish. However, peer review doesn't guarantee the quality of a manuscript or reliably detect scientific misconduct. Peer reviewers provide guidance to editors on how a manuscript can be improved and its suitability for publication in that journal. Ultimately, editors make the decision on whether and under what conditions manuscripts are accepted, using reviewers' feedback as assistance. Not all submitted manuscripts need to undergo external review; editors may return manuscripts deemed unlikely for publication without external review, allowing authors to submit elsewhere promptly and optimizing reviewers' and editors' time. Editors of peer-reviewed journals are also encouraged to periodically disclose statistics about their review process, such as submission numbers, acceptance rates, and average times from submission to rejection or publication for transparency.
The Future Energy (FUEN) journal accepts submissions through its online system. Authors are required to submit a cover letter along with their manuscripts, as well as copyright and conflict of interest forms.
- FUEN Journal uses a double-blind peer-review process before publishing newly submitted manuscripts.
- All submissions are initially assessed by the Editorial Board for suitability for the journal and checked for similarity to other published work. Papers with a low level of originality, i.e. whole plagiarism/plagiarism-in-part/self-plagiarism are rejected. Only original papers not published in other journals/conference proceedings can be published in the FUEN Journal.
- Papers deemed suitable are then sent to at least three independent reviewers to assess their scientific quality. The reviewers are recruited from entities outside the Authors’ home institution.
- The reviews are done using a form and conclude with an unambiguous recommendation as to whether the article should be published or rejected. The form is automatically available after acceptance of the invitation for the review process. If two reviews are negative, the paper is rejected, and authors get a motivated refusal along with reviewers’ remarks. If one review is negative and two others are positive, the paper is sent to the fourth reviewer.
- The Editorial Board is responsible for the final decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of articles. The decision of the Editorial Board is final.
- The whole review process takes 5-7 weeks.
- The final publication date depends on the number of manuscripts already waiting for publishing.
The detailed Journal peer review process is based on the following Flow Diagram:
