Peer-review process
Peer-review is a process of manuscript evaluation performed by an independent expert in a certain research field. Peer-review implies academic discussion.
Before compiling the next issue, the editor-in-chief and the editorial board rely on the topics of the articles and form a list of reviewers based on their expertise in the subject field. This allows to uphold the high academic level of the journal. Upon approval of the Editor-in-Chief, the executive secretary mails out invitations for review using exclusively the journal's e-mail posted on the official website.
When manuscripts are received by Multiphase Systems, they are initially checked by the executive secretary to determine whether the papers meet the scope, aims and purposes of the journal and correspond to the formal requirements to articles (number of characters, tables and figures, the format of the references etc.) Manuscripts that do not meet the standards of the journal are rejected without going through peer-review.
Multiphase Systems use double-blind peer review. Meaning that both the authors’ and the reviewers’ personal data are not disclosed throughout the reviewing process. Each reviewer receives from the editorial office a blinded manuscript without any signs of the authorship (including self-identifying citations and references to the previous research papers), and each author receives a fully anonymized review. Communication between the author and the reviewer takes place through the official e-mail of the Multiphase Systems (multiphase.systems@mail.ru).
The reviewer guarantees to have sufficient expertise to assess the manuscript.
The reviewer guarantees to comply with the ethics (http://mfs.uimech.org/ethics,en) when reviewing the papers; the reviewers have an obligation to express their views clearly with supporting arguments and to avoid any derogatory comments or personal criticism of the author(s).
Conflict of interest: if the reviewer reveals a conflict of interest, competition, contacts with the author (authors) or the organization, the reviewer shall reject this manuscript for reviewing and report thereabout to the editorial board in writing (to the journal's e-mail).
The reviewer guarantees to reveal, if the manuscript submitted for review contains any observations or conclusions previously published elsewhere; in addition, the reviewer is obliged to report, if the references are missing relevant citation. If anything mentioned above is detected, the reviewer will notify the journal's editorial board thereof in writing (to the journal's e-mail multiphase.systems@mail.ru).
Once the review is completed, the reviewer provides the editorial board with a reasonable resolution on the manuscript. The resolution shall contain specific recommendations (recommended for publication, recommended for publication subject to minor revision (specified), recommended for publication subject to major revision (specified), not recommended for publication). All reviews shall be sent to the authors with the reviewers anonymized. If the reviewer's conclusion states recommended for publication subject to major revision, after the author revises the manuscript, the editorial board may re-submit the manuscript for a repeated review.
Multiphase Systems consider an article recommended for publication, if the article has at least two positive reviews. However, the final decision on publishing the manuscript is made by the Editor-in-Chief with regards to the opinions of the reviewer and the editorial board.
The editorial board stores reviews during 3 (three) years.
The term of review at Multiphase Systems, shall not exceed two months since the article is submitted for review.