Complaints and Appeals

The journal’s editorial board adheres to the relevant COPE guidelines when handling complaints and appeals.

Procedure

In the event of a complaint and/or an appeal regarding an editorial decision, the following procedure applies:

1. Any complaint or appeal is initially reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief responsible for the journal and/or the handling editor who was directly involved in the editorial process.

2. The Editor-in-Chief may engage two members of the editorial board who have relevant experience serving on the editorial boards of other journals and who can contribute their expertise to help resolve the dispute and properly assess the circumstances described in the submission, as well as to ensure appropriate application of the journal’s editorial policies and publication ethics standards.

Complaint regarding the scientific quality of a manuscript (e.g., an appeal against rejection)

In an appeal, the author must provide a detailed justification addressing each of the reviewers' comments point by point.

The Editor-in-Chief will review the arguments of both the author(s) and the reviewers and make one of the following decisions:
(1) Reject the appeal due to a lack of merit in the claims presented;
(2) Uphold the appeal and take appropriate action.

The complainant will be informed of the decision with an explanation. The decision regarding the appeal is final. The editorial office does not engage in further correspondence with the authors of a rejected manuscript following the final decision.