Peer Review Process

Journal of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences (JAFES) is peer-reviewed online Journal published twice per year. Manuscripts are sent for review according to the double-blind referee process.

In order to protect the anonymity of the authors in the review process, authors are asked to submit two files:

  • Cover Page for Editors which contains the title of the paper, authors and affiliations.
  • Manuscript for Reviewers without author's names and affiliation.

All papers submitted for publication will be immediately subjected to editorial scrutiny. Every effort will be made to assess the papers quickly and the decision conveyed to the authors normally within 3 months of the receipt of manuscript. Galley Proofs of papers will be sent to the corresponding authors soon after acceptance.

 

REVIEW PROCESS

The double-blind peer review procedure is performed, which means that neither the author knows the reviewers nor the reviewers know the author. 

1) Submission of Paper

The corresponding author submits the manuscript to the journal using the online system: https://journals.ukim.mk/index.php/jafes/about/submissions.

After submission of the manuscript authors will receive submission acknowledgment.

Submission URL will allow the author to track the progress of the manuscript through the editorial process by logging in to the journal web site: https://journals.ukim.mk/index.php/jafes

2) Editorial Office Assessment

The journal Editors check whether the manuscript is organized according to the journal’s Author Guidelines in order to make sure it includes the required sections and stylizations. The quality of the manuscript is not assessed at this point.

3) Evaluation by the Editors

The Editors check if the manuscript fits the scope of the journal and is sufficiently original and interesting. If not, the paper may be rejected without being peer-reviewed.

4) Invitation to Reviewers

The Editors send invitations to two potential reviewers who would be appropriate to review the manuscript. The submission's abstract is sent to the reviewers in order to see if the manuscript is within their research interest. Potential reviewers consider the invitation taking into consideration their own expertise, conflicts of interest and availability. They can accept or decline the reviewing of the manuscript.

5) Reviewing process

The Editors ask the reviewer to read and review the manuscript in accordance with the Review Guidelines. The first read is used to form an initial impression of the work. If major problems are found at this stage, the reviewer may feel comfortable rejecting the paper without further work. After reading the paper, the reviewer takes notes in order to build a detailed point-by-point review. The review is then submitted to the journal, with a recommendation to accept or reject it, or with a request for revision (major or minor) before it is reconsidered. The Editors consider all returned reviews before making an overall decision. If the reviews differ widely, the editors may invite an additional reviewer so as to get an extra opinion before making a decision.

6) Decision sent to author

The Editors send a decision email to the author including any relevant reviewer comments allowing the anonymity of the reviewing process. After responding to the comments of the reviewers the author is sending the corrected manuscript to the Editors.

7) Final decision

If the manuscript is rejected or sent back for either major or minor revision, the Editors should include constructive comments from the reviewers to help the author improve the manuscript. Also, an email is sent to the reviewers to let them know the outcome of their review. If the paper was sent back for revision, the reviewers should expect to receive a new version. Where only minor changes were requested this follow-up review might be done by the Editors.

8) Production

When it is accepted, the manuscript is sent to production and it will be published in JAFES.

 

Editor-Reviewer and Editor-Author communication during manuscript reviewing process is through the journal online system: https://journals.ukim.mk/index.php/jafes/about/submissions.