Peer Review Process

1- The manuscript has to be prepared based on the information available in the guide for authorsfile. Then, the corresponding author has to submit the paper using the online submission system. Other information regarding the authors' affiliation as well as the obligation file has to be provided by the corresponding author.

2- The submitted manuscript is pre-screened by the editorial office. In this step, the checklist provided in the guide for authors file is cross checked with the authors’ submission. Moreover, the article is analyzed for possible un-acceptable similarities with other published papers.

3- If any necessary editorial correction is required, the paper is sent back to authors to carry out all requirements.

4- The editor in chief as well as the editorial board will briefly review the manuscript. Based on the subject of the manuscript, they will suggest six referees for the paper.

5- The paper is sent to six expert referees for review.

6- The referees will review the paper and will send their comments, the filled evaluation form as well as their score (about the quality of the manuscript) to the editor in chief. Three possible situations may occur:

a- If the reviewers believe that the paper is not suitable for publication in the journal, the paper will be rejected and the corresponding author will be informed.

b- If at least two reviewers believe that the manuscript requires minor or major revisions, the paper will be sent to the corresponding author along with the reviewers’ comments.

c- If the reviewers do not review the paper in the given deadline, the paper will be sent for new referees.

7- The corresponding author shall re-submit the revised manuscript withing the given deadline (at most two weeks). The authors are also asked to provide the editorial board and the referees by a separate file in which the reviewers’ comments are discussed point by point.

8- The revised manuscript is sent to a final referee to make sure all reviewers’ concerns have been addressed.

9- Based on the final comments of all reviewers, the editorial board will decide to either accept or reject the manuscript.

10- The corresponding author will be informed if the paper has been rejected or accepted. If the paper is accepted for publication, it will be automatically transferred to the publication office. The time required for an accepted paper to be published depends on the number of the accepted papers.

11- The publishing fee, 2000000 Rials, will be received from the authors of the paper.

12- It has to be noted that the review process is managed in a double-blind procedure. The average time for pre-screen of the manuscripts is less than 10 days and the average time for the whole review process is less than 5 months.