Peer-reviewing

All manuscripts of scholarly content (research and review articles, etc.) undergo mandatory pre-publication evaluation (peer review).

The Journal applies double-blind peer review: the author does not know who is reviewing the manuscript, and the reviewer does not know whose manuscript is being reviewed. Peer review is conducted only on an anonymized (de-identified) version of the text.

The Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, or Executive Secretary initiates the review process. The manuscript is sent to two reviewers; in disputed cases, a third reviewer may be invited.

Reviewers are recognized specialists in the manuscript’s subject area who have publications in the relevant field within the past five years. Reviewers may be internal (members of the Editorial Board) or external independent experts.

Any conflict of interest must be disclosed. If a conflict of interest exists (affiliation, joint projects, employment within the same department/laboratory, etc.), the reviewer must inform the Editorial Office and decline to conduct the review.

Reviewers follow the principles of research ethics: the review must be objective, respectful, and constructive; personal criticism of the author is unacceptable. Evaluation criteria include the relevance of the topic, scholarly novelty, the correctness and verifiability of results, the depth of research and completeness of the material, the quality of argumentation and historiographical/bibliographical coverage, and the clarity and logic of presentation.

Possible outcomes of the review are “reject”, “revise”, or “accept”. Revisions may be minor (without a second round of peer review) or major (with a second round of peer review).

The time required to prepare a review, as a rule, does not exceed 60 days from the date the manuscript is assigned to the reviewer. The overall editorial evaluation period, including revisions, is approximately 45–50 days for minor revisions and 60–90 days for major revisions and re-review.

The author receives the anonymized comments and recommendations of the reviewers, as well as an official notification of the decision. Reviews are stored by the publisher and the Editorial Office for five years; upon receipt of an official request, the Editorial Office provides copies of reviews to the authorized bodies. All reviewers work on a voluntary basis, without additional remuneration.