Peer Review Process

ALS is a blind peer-review journal. All submitted articles in this journal undergo peer review, based on internal editor screening and at least three anonymous referees.

The entire blind peer review process consists of two (2) stages internal peer review and external peer review. The primary aim of blind peer reviewing is to decide whether the article should be published and to improve it before publication with the help of our top reviewers.

Internal Peer Review Process

All submissions first go through an internal peer-review process. It is a necessary triage, as there are chances that the article will not go further for external peer review.

The assigned editor scans the article with the antiplagiarism software, sistemantiplagiat.ro. If the article passes the scanning process, then it will be further analyzed in terms of:

The theme of the article, i.e. if it fits the scope of the journal;
The article follows the template of the journal;
The report of the antiplagiarism software – the papers that do not exceed CS 1 - 50%, and CS2 - 5% of information taken from other sources;
The superficiality of the article - little new information is provided;
Important flaws in the scientific method;
Unprofessional presentation, etc.

Articles can be rejected at this stage. This process normally takes a week.

If the article may be of interest, it is then sent further for external blind peer review.

External Blind Peer Review Process

The assigned editor sends further to reviewers based on their expertise in the field and the absence of conflict of interest. At least three reviewers are assigned to this task. When the reviewers agree to further review, they receive access to the full article, a deadline, and a review form. The reviewers have no access to the data of the author(s). The reviewers’ names are also unknown to the manuscript author(s).

The assigned reviewer analyses the article in terms of:

quality;
originality;
relevance.

The maximum time for this process is of three weeks. After the reviewing process, the authors receive by e-mail one of the following decisions: accept the submission, request revisions, or decline submission. The assigned editor has access to the entire process. Depending on the decision the corresponding author must follow the instructions received by e-mail. In case of “accept submission”, the author needs to send by e-mail the final article with all the data of the author(s) according to the template within the mentioned deadline. For “request revisions” the corresponding author needs to revise and send the final article to the editor as instructed. The editor will revise and see if the changes were made as required. In case of “decline submission”, the author may resubmit the article, after revising it.