Submissions which
are clearly not suitable for the Journal are declined at the initial review
stage on the joint decision of the Editor and one further member of the
Editorial Board (who receives the submission in anonymised form). If an
article is declined at the initial review stage, the author may expect to
be notified within two weeks. All other submissions are circulated at the
Editor’s discretion to a minimum of two academic referees, at least one of
whom will normally be a member of the Board; where appropriate, submissions
may also be assessed by other specialist readers. In order to ensure
maximum impartiality, all submissions are circulated to reviewers
(including to those on the Board) without indication of authorship. The
process of refereeing necessarily takes time, but authors may expect to
receive a verdict within four to five months of submission. The Journal does not currently have a backlog of papers awaiting
publication. Detailed comments are normally sent only to authors of
submissions which have been sent for full peer review, or which are thought
suitable for resubmission. Authors are frequently invited to revise
submissions in the light of such comments.