St Petersburg University Journal of Economic Studies


PROVISIONS
for reviewing manuscripts submitted for publication in the journal


Preamble

These provisions are made in accordance with the order for publication in scientific journals as sponsored by St Petersburg State University (SPbSU) and accepted by the editorial board of the St Petersburg University Journal of Economic Studies (SUJES).

Main provisions

1. All manuscripts submitted for publication in SUJES should be registered by the board secretary and state the date of receipt. Decisions about acceptance (including the date of publication)/rejection/return for revisions is taken by the chief editor of SUJES and communicated to the author no later than 60 days after the receipt of the manuscript.

2. All manuscripts (scholarly articles, bibliographical and dissertation reviews, etc.) submitted for publication in SUJES are subject to a three-stage procedure for quality control:
(1) formal review by the Board secretary of SUJES (relevance for the journal, checks for plagiarism, fulfillment of formal requirements, page length, headings, structure, layout, key words, abstract in Russian and English, bibliography, correct use of figures and data, formulas, calculations, equations, contact details, consent of contributing authors for publication in SUJES, etc.);
(2) preliminary review by the Editor-in-Chief and/or Executive editor (conformance of content to the topic stated in the heading, relevance and significance of the topic, scientific novelty, level of theoretical research, unauthorized or excessive citing of text, illustrations, tables, etc.);
(3) substantive review (anonymous/blind). All remarks made by reviewers are forwarded to the author for consideration. The author shall respond to these comments point by point and present both the reviewed version of the article and a list of responses.

3. Formal and preliminary reviews to be held within 15 days of the receipt of the manuscript by the editorial board of SUJES. Should the manuscript be rejected after the preliminary review, the author is to be informed in writing (by e-mail).

4. Manuscripts may be rejected at any stage of the review process. Submissions rejected in the first two stages of review are not discussed at board meetings, although board members will be informed of such rejections. The author will receive the board’s feedback in writing by e-mail (see Appendix).

5. All manuscripts, not rejected after the first two stages, are subject to peer-review by at least two specialists in a sphere close to that of the submitted manuscript. The specialists should have either a degree of a candidate or doctor of sciences as awarded by the State Commission for Academic degrees and titles or by leading Russian educational institutions, or an equivalent degree awarded by leading foreign institutions. The Chief Editor of SUJES can authorize additional reviews by previous or new reviewers, including manuscripts resubmitted by the authors after their revision.

6. Peer review can be conducted by any qualified specialists, including members of the editorial board (with at least one reviewer from outside St Petersburg State University), provided there is no conflict of interest (e.g. prior subordinate relationship between author and reviewer, scientific supervision or co-authorship, etc.). The reviewer should inform the editorial board of any such conflicts of interest and withdraw from the reviewing process. The author of the manuscript may indicate an objection to a reviewer.

7. Unless the reviewer agrees in writing, his personal details are not disclosed to the author.

8. After the peer review process, the author receives a consolidated report with comments, recommendations for revision and publication conditions.

9. Peer review should provide answers to the following questions:
(1) Whether the author of the manuscript is familiar with currently published research in the chosen economic field;
(2) How the manuscript relates to existing literature, previously published data, and current research in the field;
(3) Whether there is unauthorized or excessive citing of text or other violations of scholarly ethics;
(4) Whether there is scientific novelty;
(5) Whether there is and if so, what is the manuscript’s practical application;
(6) accuracy of the manuscript- whether findings and conclusions are in line with presented data, if the manuscript meets general and specific requirements regarding structure of publication, language and style, use of terminology, visualization of numeric data, diagrams, drawings and formulas, proper formatting of footnotes/endnotes, accuracy of bibliography, etc.;
(6) Whether the manuscript is of interest to readers.

10. Following the review, the reviewer should:
(1) Recommend the manuscript for publication as written;
(2) Recommend the manuscript for publication, with the suggestion that the author consider the reviewer’s comments (but at the discretion of the author);
(3) Recommend the manuscript for publication, providing the author takes into account comments made by the reviewer and introduces revisions;
(4) Recommend rejection, subject to the author’s right to resubmit the manuscript;
(5) Recommend rejection of the manuscript without the right of resubmission.

11. The review can be made in the form of a table (see Appendix) with obligatory comments and recommendations.

12. No more than two revisions of the submitted manuscript are allowed. A manuscript revised and resubmitted by the author four months subsequent to the receipt of the review shall be considered to be submitted for the first time.

13. The editorial board of SUJES must ensure that the reviewer preserves confidentiality of any information concerning the manuscript submitted for review. The reviewer should confirm in writing the obligation not to disclose the existence of the manuscript and its content, personal details of the author, etc. The reviewer should not engage in discussions of the manuscript with third parties. The reviewers may not refer to the reviewed manuscripts prior to their publication.

14. Positive review is not the only requirement and does not directly result in the publication of the article. The final decision about the advisability of publication shall be taken by the editorial board and recorded in the meeting report.

15. Reviews shall be kept in the central editorial office of St Petersburg State University (the original) and in the editorial office of the Journal (a copy) for 5 years from the date of publication or rejection. All reviews of published and rejected manuscripts shall be sent to the central editorial office of St Petersburg State University along with the articles included in the latest edition of SUJES. Failure to produce a complete set of reviews may lead to delays or discontinuing publishing of the issue.


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