Peer Review

The peer-review procedure involves the analysis and critical assessment of scientific manuscripts by expert reviewers who are not members of the journal’s editorial board.

The aim of the peer-review process is to enhance the scientific quality of published papers by:

  • Selecting for publication only those papers that are valuable and relevant to the journal’s topics and research areas.
  • Rejecting papers that are inappropriate in terms of quality or do not fit the journal’s profile.
  • Improving the individual quality of published articles following critical evaluation by independent specialists.

Peer-Review Stages

Preliminary Stage

All submitted papers are assigned a reference number, which is used throughout the process to ensure impartiality and confidentiality. Within seven days, the author will receive a confirmation message containing information about the peer-review process and the assigned reference number.

During this stage, the editorial board verifies that the submitted paper is unpublished, is not under review by any other Romanian or international academic journal and complies with the provisions of Romanian Law No. 206/2004 regarding good conduct in scientific research.

Editorial Board Review

This stage involves an initial evaluation of manuscripts by the editorial board members to identify and select papers that align with the journal’s scientific focus. The evaluation is conducted on two dimensions:

  • Content: The paper addresses a topic within the field of social sciences, is original, has substantial scientific content, and contains no major logical or scientific deficiencies.
  • Form: The paper adheres to the journal’s house style and includes all mandatory elements (e.g., keywords, abstract).

Expert Peer-Review
Expert peer-review is conducted by two reviewers who are members of the Romanian and international scientific community and are specialists in the specific area of the submitted paper. Reviewers are selected from among collaborators who have agreed to participate in the peer-review process.

The review is carried out using a standard peer-review form, which is provided to the reviewers along with the manuscript. Reviewers evaluate the paper within an agreed timeframe, considering the following criteria:

  • Scientific quality (scientific foundation, level of originality, etc.).
  • Relevance and impact (originality and relevance of sources, clarity and accuracy of argumentation, expected impact).

Reviewers will not participate in the peer-review process if they cannot complete the evaluation within the given timeframe or if they detect any conflict of interest with the author(s) of the paper.

The expert peer-review concludes with the reviewers providing specific comments regarding the form and content of the manuscript and assigning one of the following recommendations:

  • Accepted for publication without changes.
  • Accepted for publication, subject to specific changes.
  • Rejected.

If there are major discrepancies between the recommendations of the two reviewers, the editorial board will appoint a third expert reviewer. The author will be provided with the reviewers’ recommendations while maintaining full confidentiality between the author(s) and the reviewers.

After the author resubmits the revised manuscript, it will be sent back to the same reviewers, who will assess its suitability for publication. The final decision regarding the publication of a manuscript rests with the Editorial Board.