• Paper Selection and Publication Process

    2020-12-07

    1. Submission Acknowledgement

    When you submit a manuscript online, you will receive a submission acknowledgement letter sent by the online system automatically. For email submission, the editor or editorial assistant sends an e-mail confirmation to the submission’s author within one to three working days. If you fail to receive this confirmation, please check your bulk email box or contact the editorial assistant by email: ch@ideasspread.org

    2. Basic Review

    The editor or editorial assistant determines whether the manuscript fits the journal’s focus and scope. Next a check for the similarity rate is done using CrossCheck, powered by iThenticate. Any manuscripts out of the journal’s scope or containing plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, are rejected.

    3. Peer Review

    We use a double-blind system for peer review; both reviewers’ and authors’ identities remain anonymous. The submitted manuscript will be reviewed by at least two experts: one editorial staff member as well as one to three external reviewers. The review process may take 4-12 weeks.

    a) Editor Assigns Reviewers
    Reviewer Selection: The editor chooses reviewers based on their expertise in the relevant field. Reviewers are usually external experts who are knowledgeable about the topic of the manuscript. The reviewers are not given the author’s identity, affiliation, or other identifying details.
    Conflict of Interest Check: Reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that might bias their review, such as previous collaborations with the authors or professional rivalry. If conflicts are detected, the editor assigns alternative reviewers.
    b) Reviewing Process
    Evaluation Criteria: Reviewers assess the manuscript’s originality, methodology, data quality, analysis, conclusions, and overall contribution to the field.
    Feedback and Recommendation: Reviewers provide detailed comments, suggest necessary revisions, and recommend one of the following decisions: accept, minor revisions, major revisions, or reject.
    c) Feedback to Authors
    Anonymous Reviewer Comments: The editor consolidates and anonymizes the reviewers' comments. Authors receive this feedback without seeing the reviewers’ names or affiliations, along with specific editorial guidance for revisions if applicable.
    Revision and Resubmission: Authors revise the manuscript based on the feedback and resubmit it. The revised manuscript may go through additional rounds of review if significant changes were made.
    d) Final Editorial Decision
    The editor weighs the reviewers’ comments and recommendations before making the final decision. This might involve further consultation with the reviewers if discrepancies exist in their evaluations.

    4. Notification of the Result of Review

    The editor notifies the author of the Result of Review, which could be acceptance, additional revisions, or rejection. The result of review will be sent to the corresponding author and forwarded to other authors.

    5. Article Processing Charge is Paid

    If the submission is accepted, the authors revise paper and pay the Article Processing Charge (200.00USD).

    6. Publication Notice

    The authors and readers will be notified and invited to visit our website for the newly published articles.

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  • Reviewer Recruitment

    2020-12-07

    Manuscripts submitted to CH are reviewed by at least two experts. Reviewers are asked to evaluate the quality of the manuscript and to provide a recommendation to the external editor on whether a manuscript can be accepted, requires revisions or should be rejected. The reviewer, as an editorial member, of Ideas Spread plays an essential role in the peer review process. Whether a submitted paper is published, mostly depends on the evaluation of reviewer. Therefore, we sincerely welcome specialists and scholars to join us.

    The Requirements of Reviewers

    • Reviewers should possess a doctoral degree in relevant field of the journal;
    • Hold a teaching or research position at a university or academic institution;
    • All the submitted papers are written in English, so reviewers must be fluent in English;
    • Reviewers have enough time to finish the review task and include feed back in the appointed time;
    • Accept or decline any invitations quickly, based on the manuscript title and abstract;
    • Suggest alternative reviewers if an invitation must be declined;
    • Request an extension in case more time is required to email related journal editor;
    • Reviewers are required to follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)’s COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers

    How do you Become a Reviewer of Ideas Spread?

    This is a voluntary job, no payment★. If you are interested in the reviewer position of Culture and History (CH) and meet all the requirements above, please download and fulfill the application form, and then contact the journal editor for submitting your application. The editorial board will assess your qualification based on your application form and give you feedback as soon as possible. After that, you will be added into our editorial board. It is noteworthy that we will recognize our most extraordinary reviewer to be the Honorary Editor-in-Chief.

    1. Complete the application form.  Download Here
    2. Send your application form to ch@ideasspread.org

    Prospective reviewers may also be interested in the Publons Academy, which provides training in how to conduct peer review.

    For further guidance about writing a critical review, please refer to the following documents:

    1. COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Committee on Publication Ethics.
    2. Writing a journal article review. Australian National University: Canberra, Australia, 2010.
    3. Golash-Boza, T. How to write a peer review for an academic journal: Six steps from start to finish.

    Your participation as a reviewer is key to maintaining the high quality and impact of CH. Peer review is the foundation of scholarly communication- help advance this important field through your expertise!

    For questions about the reviewer role or application process, please contact us.

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