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Articles submitted to our journals are subject to strict peer-reviewing. The online submission system incorporates online tools for manuscript submission, peer-reviewing and editorial decision making. Until the Online System comes into full function, these tasks are undertaken manually using emailing.
All the Editors, Editorial Members and Reviewers will have their own login and password to enter in “Dashboard” where they can submit, edit or delete their comments.
The Guidelines for Authors on the webpages of each journal guides authors on how to prepare and submit their manuscripts. These instructions for the authors can be on the following links:
Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources
Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
Journal of Policy & Governance
Agrobiodiversity & Agroecology
Once a manuscript is submitted, the submission is received by the Editors of respective journal who subsequently coordinate the whole editorial process for the manuscript: preliminary review, peer-review, decision-making, possible authors’ revision, manuscript acceptance, copyediting, minor English editing, proofreading and final publication. Before actually conducting peer review of the manuscript, Editors screen the article through preliminary review process. Article acceptance, forwarding or rejection are elaborately explained in Review Process.
In case of major flaws in the English language composition of the manuscript, it is recommended to Language Service where the author(s) may get competent competitive services for improving their manuscripts.
The Editors will make the final acceptance or rejection decision for a manuscript, usually after peer review process. We typically allow no more than two rounds of major revisions.
Editorship: Editors (editor-in-chief, executive editor, technical editor, deputy editor, associate editor or member of the editorial board) are experts in the respective field and play central roles in the peer-review process. Editors are selected based on their excellent scientific qualification, and reputation in the field, plus their demonstrated commitment. They are expected to strictly follow guidelines to not only maintain quality of publications but also to ensure best possible publication ethics.
Confidentiality: Editors shall only access the submitted manuscripts for evaluation of quality and peer-review process. They shall not disclose any contents (full or partial) in any media (electronic or print) before the publication of the material or without prior written consent of the authors. Any idea or concept generated through the submitted manuscript shall not be used for personal benefits or financial gain.
Assessment of Manuscripts: Editors shall evaluate contents purely based on the scientific quality and advancement in the existing understanding. Decisions shall not be based on race, gender, geographical origin, religion, and ethnicity and on any other personal or commercial interests.
Flexibility and Cooperation: Editors are required to suggest and support the ethical standards, be willing to consider retractions, rectifications, and erratum and cooperate with authors to improve the quality of publications.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Editors shall not consider any submitted manuscript for the review process himself/herself where there is conflict of interests. In such situations, an alternative editor or member of the editorial board shall be considered.
Accountabilities: In case publisher suspect any form of misconduct, malpractice or unethical act, the matter shall be investigated promptly in agreement with authors and would be solved with diligence.
Rigorous Editing of Article: This is most serious step. No article can go into publishing without 2-3 rounds of rigorous editing by the Editors. It is deliberately performed to maintain high quality and compliance to standards set by Web of Science, Scopus, COPE, ISO4 and other available standards. After each of the rigorous editing, the authors are communicated seeking clarifications, corrections, additions, deletions and explanations on the questions or track changes suggested in the text by the Editors. This bilateral communication between authors and Editors goes on until the text of the article becomes error free and complete. In case, the response from authors delays, the article automatically delays in getting published.
Demonstration of Rigorous Editing Process: The rigorous process of editing is demonstrated in progressive steps through the following attached files:
Our routine editorial process includes very basic and simple editing of the text containing punctuation errors or limited to a maximum of 20 words corrections. In case, during the 1st editing process, an article is found to have more corrections in the English text (originally written or translated), the author is informed of no smooth reading of the text of the article, and it requires intensive English language corrections. Often, the Editor undertakes intensive editing/corrections of 1-2 paragraph(s) of the text to demonstrate to the author for a better understanding of the status of the text. Two options are given to the author at this stage: 1. Author can get corrections in the text from wherever he/she wants; 2. Author can get the service of our English Language Service for the corrections. In either of the cases, the cost incurred is to be borne by the author. Our journals actually need clean and smooth text for editing and publishing. The APC does not include this cost of language corrections or intensive editing work. Therefore, steps 3 to 6 in the editorial process (shown above) usually consist of intensive English language corrections in the text (as explained above) along with flagging the technical gaps in the draft paper. No article is published without the full satisfaction of the editors on the grounds of technical and language soundness.
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