Refereeing System
The refereeing system shall adopt a three-stage evaluation process: Initial Appraisal, Double-Blind Peer Review, and Editorial Board evaluation. Upon receipt, the submitted manuscript will be subjected to an appraisal by the Editor-in-Chief/Publication Team. This initial appraisal will include a plagiarism check using the plagiarism detection software Turnitin. This process shall ensure that each manuscript fits the objectives, scope, and standards of the IRJSTEM. It will likewise establish the significance, technical soundness, and originality of the manuscript (the similarity index should not be more than 15%). The result of the initial appraisal shall determine whether the manuscript will be endorsed for an external review or be returned to the author/s for revision. An author accepts the responsibility of preparing the research paper for evaluation by independent reviewers and revising it prior to submission.
The review process should not be used as a means of obtaining feedback at the early stages of developing the research paper. Reviewers and editors are responsible for providing a constructive and prompt evaluation of the submitted research paper based on the significance of its contribution and the rigors of analysis and presentation using a standard Peer Review Evaluation Form provided by the IRJSTEM. The manuscripts will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that they are being submitted to one IRJSTEM at a time and have not been published, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere.
All receiving manuscripts will be duly acknowledged. IRJSTEM will not return the unaccepted manuscripts. Accepted manuscripts will be sent to two (2) expert reviewers following the double-blind review process. Each manuscript is also assigned to a member of the editorial team, who will based on the comments from the reviewers takes a final decision on the manuscript. Within a period of 2 to 3 weeks, the author/s will be informed of the reviewers’ comments and acceptance or rejection of the manuscript. After the author/s revise the manuscript based on the reviewers’ comments, suggestions, and recommendations the Editor-in-Chief of IRJSTEM will do the final review. Articles accepted would be copy-edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Page proofs will be sent to the first contributor, which has to be returned within three days. Correction received after that period may not be included.