Peer review – procedure and stages

What is the publication process for two positive peer reviews?

First possible situation

If the manuscript receives two positive reviews and there is no advice or recommendations for the author:

– The manuscript is sent to the editors of the journal / editors of issue and proofreaders.

– After edits, proofreading and corrections, the manuscript is submitted in the final version to the Editorial Board and the issue editors.

– The manuscript is prepared for preprint.

– The manuscript is prepared for online publication.

– The manuscript is published on the websites (in Bulgarian and English) of Rhetoric and Communications Journal respectively in pdf and html formats.

 

Second possible situation:

First stage

If the manuscript receives two positive reviews, but the reviews contain advice and recommendations for the author, these advice and recommendations are sent anonymously to the author by the issue editors and the Editorial Board. The author must within 2 weeks:

– Make revisions in light of the guideline regarding the structure and content of the initial version of the manuscript.

– Make improvements and refinements to the text in relation to the recommendations on research methods and methodology.

– Edit the bibliography, references and citations according to the guideline of Rhetoric and Communications Journal, APA style, 7th edition (2020), and the recommendations of the reviewers.

– Correct grammatical and punctuation errors, make style and language edits.

– Correct omissions identified by the reviewers.

– Make transcriptions of the sources in Cyrillic alphabet if this is noted in the review.

– To send the edited manuscript to the journal email address.

 

Second stage

– The manuscript revised by the author send by e-mail to reviewers.

The author’s revised manuscript is sent by e-mail to the reviewers.

– The reviewers inform the Editorial Board and the issue editors whether the author has corrected the errors.

Third stage

– If the manuscript meets the criteria, it is sent to the editors and proofreaders of the journal in Bulgarian and English, respectively.

– After the edits and corrections, the manuscript is submitted in the final version to the issue editors.

– The manuscript is prepared for preprint.

– The manuscript is prepared for online publication.

– The manuscript is published on the websites (in Bulgarian and English) of Rhetoric and Communications Journal respectively in pdf and html formats.

Third possible situation:

– If the initial reviewers find that errors have not been corrected, the manuscript is resubmitted to the author.

– The author must correct the deficiencies within 2 weeks.

– If the initial reviewers find that the author’s edited manuscript does not meet the criteria, it is rejected outright.

 

How is the author informed about the publication of the manuscript?

– Authors are informed by email that the manuscript has been published.

– If the author finds omissions and errors in the article already published online, he/she informs the Editorial Board. Errors are corrected by the editors and the online editor. The author is informed within one week.

– Confidentiality is guaranteed. Authors of manuscripts receive only the notes and recommendations on the text given by the reviewers.

 

What is the publication process if there is one negative and one positive peer review?

– If there is one negative review, a revision of the manuscript is allowed.

– The Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board and the issue editors.

– In such cases, it is possible to send invitations to other reviewers to review the manuscript, as well as an editorial review form.

– If the second review is positive, the manuscript will be referred for editing first by the author and then by the issue editors.

– If a negative review is again received, an invitation is sent to a third reviewer. If the reviewer agrees, the manuscript is sent anonymously, as well as an editorial review form. If the third reviewer’s review is negative, the manuscript is finally rejected.

What is the publication process if there are two negative reviews by two independent reviewers?

– If there are two negative reviews, the manuscript is rejected.

– The author of the manuscript is notified by email of this, providing substantiated information and reasoning based on the reviews.

– The author is informed that he/she may offer the manuscript for publication elsewhere at his/her discretion.