Peer Review Policy and Guidelines
Scholarly contribution of peer reviewers entails specialized knowledge and skills. Their sustained efforts account for the efficient selection of research papers and maintaining the quality of published academic work. Peer reviews, in conjunction with the editorial/advisory board reviews, help to reach the editorial or publication decisions as well as provide feedback to authors so that they may improve upon their research.
LLIDS follows a double-blind peer review policy which entails that the identities of both the author(s) and the reviewer(s) are kept confidential from each other. To ensure the same, we enforce that the reviewers are chosen from different institutions than the authors. Reviewers are selected keeping in mind that their subject area as well as their level of educational qualifications match with that of the author. Authors are encouraged to participate in the peer review process.
The Peer Reviewers are to abide by the following guidelines:
- To be objective and constructive in their reviews, so as to help authors improve upon their work; to support their comments with appropriate arguments/examples; and to refrain from hostile or personal comments/criticism about the author.
- To not check the files sent for Peer Review through any plagiarism checker, as they tend to include the uploaded copy in the plagiarism report generated by the LLIDS team, which essentially fudges up the plagiarism results for us.
- To declare all potential conflicts of interests, discussing the same with the LLIDS team if they are unsure whether something constitutes a relevant interest.
- To withdraw from the review process if one feels unqualified to assess the contribution or cannot provide an assessment in a timely manner as discussed with the editorial team.
- To help identify any uncited sources/statements within the submission, and to bring to attention any similarity or overlap between the submission and any previously published work the reviewer may be aware of.
- To respect the confidentiality of the double-blind peer review policy followed by LLIDS, by keeping the contents and details of all submissions as well as their reviews confidential, during and after the peer-review process. Any information regarding the submission may not be discussed/shared with anyone else without the approval of the editor.
- To not use unpublished information disclosed in a submission for their own research purposes without the authors’ explicit written consent. Reviewers will notify the editorial team and excuse themselves from reviewing manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships/connections with any of the authors or institutions connected to the papers.
- To not use information obtained during the peer-review process for their own or any other person’s or organization’s advantage or disadvantage, or to discredit others.
- To provide up-to-date and accurate personal/professional information to LLIDS. This information should include a specific description of their expertise, current university/institute affiliations, graduated/pursuing educational degrees, research interests, and any other information pertaining to academic engagements.