Manuscript Handling & Decision-Making Policy

Editors of the Journal of Pure and Applied Agriculture (JPAA) are entrusted with the responsibility of managing manuscripts with fairness, confidentiality, and efficiency. The following guidelines govern the handling and decision-making process:

Initial Assessment

Upon submission, editors must conduct an initial screening to ensure the manuscript fits the journal’s scope and meets basic quality standards. Manuscripts that do not meet these criteria may be rejected promptly without external review.

Assignment to Reviewers

Editors are responsible for selecting qualified, unbiased reviewers with relevant expertise. Reviewers should be free from conflicts of interest and be able to provide objective evaluations.

Confidentiality in Peer Review

Manuscripts and related information must be handled confidentially. Editors must ensure that manuscript content is not disclosed to unauthorized individuals. Editors should oversee a fair, impartial, and transparent peer review process, providing clear instructions to reviewers and avoiding bias.

Timeliness in Decision-Making

Editors must strive to handle manuscripts promptly at every stage to minimize unnecessary delays in the review and decision process. Editorial decisions (acceptance, revision, rejection) must be based on the scientific quality, originality, ethical standards, and relevance of the manuscript. Decisions should be clearly communicated to authors along with constructive feedback from reviewers.

Handling Appeals and Complaints

Editors must have a process to consider appeals or complaints regarding editorial decisions. Such cases should be reviewed fairly and impartially, with transparency in the final resolution. Editors should be vigilant for ethical issues such as plagiarism, duplicate publication, or fabrication of data. Suspected cases should be investigated following COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines and handled with appropriate confidentiality and seriousness.