Peer review policy

Peer review applies to every record: a manuscript cannot be accepted, whatever its record type, until a peer review has been completed. Records published before this rule, and any record with no completed review recorded, are labelled that way and are not shown as peer reviewed.

The default model is double-anonymous: reviewers do not see author names or affiliations and authors do not see reviewer identities. An administrator can set single-anonymous or open review. The model used for a manuscript is fixed when review starts.

Reviewers must hold the reviewer role, declare any conflict of interest when they accept an invitation, and cannot review a manuscript they submitted or authored. Submitted reviews cannot be edited or deleted.

A submission cannot be accepted until at least one review is completed. A paper is shown as peer reviewed only when completed reviews are recorded for it.

Authors receive reviews only after the editor has made a decision. Confidential comments to the editor are never shown to authors.