Peer Review Process
All manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Societal Sustainability (JSS) undergo a rigorous, fair, and transparent double-blind peer-review process.
Upon submission, each manuscript is initially evaluated by the Editorial Office to ensure that it falls within the journal’s scope, complies with the submission guidelines, meets the required standards of academic quality, and satisfies the journal’s ethical policies. Manuscripts that do not meet these preliminary requirements may be returned to the authors without external review.
Suitable manuscripts are assigned to an Associate Editor and sent to at least two independent expert reviewers with relevant expertise. The identities of both authors and reviewers remain anonymous throughout the review process to ensure impartiality and minimise potential bias.
Reviewers evaluate manuscripts based on their:
- Originality and academic significance
- Relevance to societal sustainability
- Methodological soundness
- Theoretical or practical contribution
- Ethical compliance
- Clarity and quality of presentation
- Reliability and reproducibility of the findings
Based on the reviewers’ reports and the Associate Editor’s recommendation, the Editor-in-Chief makes the final editorial decision. Possible decisions include Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Reject. Authors receive constructive comments intended to improve the quality and clarity of their manuscripts. Revised manuscripts may be returned to the original reviewers for further evaluation when necessary.
JSS is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards throughout the peer-review process. Editors and reviewers must treat submitted manuscripts as confidential documents, evaluate them objectively and fairly, disclose any conflicts of interest, and complete their assessments within the requested timeframe.
Editorial decisions are based solely on the academic quality, originality, significance, and relevance of the submitted work, without discrimination based on nationality, gender, ethnicity, institutional affiliation, religion, political beliefs, or other personal characteristics.
Authors are responsible for submitting original work that has not been published previously and is not under consideration by another journal. Manuscripts must be prepared according to the journal’s Author Guidelines and may be submitted in Microsoft Word (.docx) or LaTeX format.
The Journal of Societal Sustainability (JSS) follows the ethical principles and best practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), ensuring fairness, transparency, confidentiality, and integrity throughout every stage of the editorial and peer-review process.
