Peer Review Process

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to RIIS undergo double-blind peer review, ensuring the mutual anonymity of authors and reviewers.

1. Initial editorial screening

On submission, the manuscript is assigned an identification code and assessed by the editorial team for: fit with the aims and scope of the journal; compliance with submission guidelines; minimum scientific and methodological quality; ethical compliance (ethics committee approval, informed consent, protocol registration, where applicable); similarity index obtained through Turnitin screening. Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements are returned or rejected at this stage, with reasons, normally within 15 working days.

2. Reviewer selection

Each manuscript is sent to a minimum of two independent reviewers, selected for their expertise in the scientific and methodological area of the work. Reviewers from the authors' institution, with recent co-authorship, or with any other conflict of interest are not invited. The journal seeks institutional, geographical and methodological diversity within its reviewer body.

3. Assessment criteria

Reviewers comment on: originality and relevance; clarity and justification of the research question; appropriateness and rigour of the methodological design; adequacy of the analysis; consistency between results, discussion and conclusions; ethical compliance; currency and pertinence of the references; clarity of academic writing.

4. Decision

Reports may recommend acceptance, acceptance with minor revisions, major revision or rejection. Where reviewers disagree, a third report is sought. The final decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief, based on the reports, the editorial team's assessment and compliance with the journal's scientific, ethical and formal standards.

5. Subsequent stages

Review supervision; technical and documentary editing; final approval by the authors; typesetting and layout; DOI assignment and continuous publication.

6. Submissions by editorial team members

Manuscripts authored by members of the editorial team or the Editorial Board are handled by an independent editor, with the author's access to the workflow blocked on the platform, and are subject to the same criteria.

7. Transparency and recognition

RIIS publishes annually the list of reviewers who collaborated with the journal, together with editorial statistics for the preceding year: number of submissions received, rejection rate, median time to first decision and median time to publication.