General FAQ

The Editorial Process

Is Scholarly Research Exchange a peer-reviewed journal?

Yes, Scholarly Research Exchange is a peer-reviewed journal that employs a transparent peer review system. In order for a submitted manuscript to be accepted for publication, it must receive positive review reports from a minimum of two independent reviewers. Moreover, once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, the names and evaluations of each reviewer are displayed alongside the published article. In addition, each of the reviewers can opt for publishing a commentary on the manuscript, which will be displayed alongside the final published article. This model of transparent peer review provides the journal's readers with a more in-depth analysis of each published article, and it enables reviewers to present a more nuanced evaluation of the articles that they review.

Who is responsible for choosing reviewers during the peer review process?

In addition to the reviewers that are identified by the journal's Editorial Office, authors will be asked to suggest potential reviewers for their manuscript. Once a reviewer has been suggested, the Editorial Office evaluates the suggested reviewer's experience based on their publications in the field, and the citations that these publications have received. In addition, the Editorial Office checks to make sure that there are no conflicts of interest between the authors of the manuscript and the proposed reviewers.

Who makes the final editorial decision in the review process?

The final decision as to the acceptance of an article is based on the evaluations of each of the peer reviewers. In addition to any written comments, each reviewer is asked to rate the manuscript on a scale from zero to five stars, with the following meanings:

	Outstanding Quality
	Minimum Publishable Quality
	Erroneous or Useless

In order for a manuscript to be accepted for publication, at least two reviewers must rate the manuscript with one or more stars, and the average ranking of all of the reviewers must be at least one star. Once an under-review manuscript has fulfilled these requirements, the authors will be able to finalize the review process and have their manuscript published, or they can choose to resubmit a revised version of the manuscript and conduct an additional round of review. Once an article is published, the comments and evaluations made by each of the peer reviewers will be published on the journal web site, along with the names of each reviewer.

Is this model of peer review open to abuse?

As is the case with any model of peer review, there exists the potential for abuse in the journal's peer review process. However, by making the review process transparent, Scholarly Research Exchange hopes to eliminate much of the abuse that exists within the traditional system based on "blind" peer review.

In order for a manuscript to be published in Scholarly Research Exchange, it must have at least two approved reviewers who are willing to publicly recommend its publication. Moreover, each of the peer reviewers must be evaluated by the Editorial Office before they can be assigned to review a manuscript, and part of this evaluation includes a check to see whether there are any conflicts of interest between the authors of the manuscript and the proposed reviewer. Finally, the commentaries and evaluations of each reviewer are made public once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, and readers are able to read and respond to these evaluations, helping to expose any cases of abuse that may occur.

Reader Comments

Is anyone free to comment on an article?

While the articles published in Scholarly Research Exchange are open for anyone to read, the ability for a user to comment on, or evaluate, a published article will be limited to members of the scientific research community. Before submitting a comment or evaluation of an article to Scholarly Research Exchange, users must first create an account with the journal. Once they have created an account, they will be asked to enter the DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) of one or more of their published articles in scholarly journals. Comments submitted to Scholarly Research Exchange will be subject to moderation.

Are anonymous comments allowed?

Anonymous comments and evaluations are not permitted in Scholarly Research Exchange. Before posting a comment or evaluation, users must first have an active account in the system, which contains their name, affiliation, and the DOIs of one or more of their published articles. All comments and evaluations will be publicly linked to the person who submitted them to the journal.

Do I need to leave a written comment if I want to rate an article, or vice versa?

It is not necessary to submit an article evaluation in order to submit a comment, nor is it required to submit a comment in order to submit an article evaluation. However, while users are allowed to make multiple comments on the same article, they will only be able to submit one evaluation per manuscript.

Are the comments on Scholarly Research Exchange moderated?

The comments on Scholarly Research Exchange are moderated by the Editorial Office in order to ensure that they are substantive and appropriate. In addition, the Editorial Office reserves the right to remove any comments that are found to be inappropriate after they have been posted online.

Open Access Publishing

Do I need to subscribe to the journal in order to read an article?

No. Scholarly Research Exchange is an open access journal, meaning that all interested readers are able to freely access the journal online, with no subscription or registration barriers. In addition, articles are published using a "Creative Commons Attribution License," which permits the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction of an article in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.

What is a "Creative Commons Attribution License?"

A "Creative Commons Attribution License" is a license that enables users to freely read, download, redistribute, reuse, and reproduce an article without permission, as long as its original creators are properly cited.