Peer review
Peer review is a process by which a scientific work or manuscript is assessed by other persons (usually fellow peers in the same area of research) that are skilled and competent enough to accomplish a fair and independent assessment in terms of novelty, formality and scientific significance of the paper. The peer review process helps editors to make a final decision on acceptance or rejection of the paper for the journal. The whole process depends mainly in the good predisposition and trust of the professional and academic community and requires that all professionals involved behave in a responsible and ethical manner. It is, therefore, a critical and central part of Revista Española de Podología in the process of generation of knowledge
Peer review process in Revista Española de Podología is a prepublication process, double-blind (reviewers and authors are mutually anonymous) or not blinded if reviewers and authors mutually agree, closed (but it can be open if reviewers and authors agree) and in which reviews are not published and mediation with reviewers and authors are made by editors. All papers published in Revista Española de Podología have been reviewed by at least two external reviewers designated by the editor of the journal. This peer review process is carried out in original papers, reviews and clinical cases types of manuscripts of the journal.
Journal editor in charge of the paper will judge comments of the reviewers and can reject papers that are considered not appropriate for the journal or can suggest some changes of the manuscript to the authors. Once the review has finished, the manuscript can fall in one of these categories that will be notified to the corresponding author of the paper:
1.
Accepted for publication: manuscript will be published without changes.
2.
Review: authors are suggested to perform some changes suggested by reviewers or the editor; those changes can be considered as Major changes when important changes in the structure or the main body of the manuscript are suggedd or Minor changes, when changes suggested are not so important for the main body of the manuscript.
3.
Rejection of the paper: the paper is not considered for publication in the journal. The rejection of the paper is not always due to quality of the papers; Not related topics would be a major rejection issue.
Authors can track the whole process of their manuscripts in the authors’ submission system in the following URL (http://plataforma.revesppod.com/Account/Login.aspx). They can follow the status of the paper in each moment of the editorial process.
Sometimes reviewers can face the review of the manuscript without any guide or without knowledge of its ethical responsibilities. Journals have the obligation to report transparency polices to the peer review process and reviewers have the responsibility of performing the review in a professional way and following the ethical standards of the journal. For that reason, Revista Española de Podología has developed a guideline for reviewers who face the peer review process in the journal. This guide is intended to help reviewers to accomplish its work of review of the manuscript in a professional manner and maintaining top ethical standards accepted in the scientific community.
Guideline to Reviewers in Revista Española de Podología
In any case of author’s disagreement or disconformity with the review process or decisions taken with the manuscript during the prepublication or even the postpublication period, the editorial board of the journal will follow the flow charts of good practices and behavior designed by COPE (Code of Publishing Ethics) that can be checked in the following link: https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Flowcharts