Peer Review policy

The Abhaya Nursing Journal peer review policy is to maintain the highest standards of publication ethics and support ethical research practices. The journal’s reviewers adhere to the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Peer review in all its forms plays a critical role in ensuring the integrity of the scientific record. This process relies heavily on trust and requires everyone involved to behave responsibly and ethically. Peer reviewers play a central and critical role in the peer review process, but too often perform that role without any guidance and may be unaware of their ethical obligations. The COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers set out the basic principles and standards that all peer reviewers should adhere to during the peer review process. It is hoped that these guidelines will provide useful guidance to researchers, serve as a reference for journals and editors in mentoring their reviewers, and act as an educational resource for institutions in training their students and researchers. Types of Peer Review

The Abhaya Nursing Journal uses ‘double blind’ review, whereby reviewers remain anonymous to the authors during and after the review process, while the identities of the authors are also kept anonymous to the reviewers. We encourage authors to submit a separate title page (full author information) from the main manuscript. A template is available in the Author Guidelines.

How are reviewers selected?

Where possible, reviewers are matched to papers based on their expertise. As our reviewer database is constantly updated, IJHS welcomes suggestions for reviewers from authors, although such non-binding recommendations are not always used. Manuscripts will be reviewed by a minimum of two independent reviewers. A decision will then be made by the editor.

Reviewer Report

Reviewers are asked to evaluate whether the manuscript:
Is original in its rationale and methods (including data)
Is sound in methodology
Is clearly presented and supports the conclusions
Refers appropriately and thoroughly to relevant previous work
Follows appropriate ethical guidelines, especially those relating to plagiarism
Clearly adds to the knowledge and development of the field

Proofreading is not part of the peer review process, but reviewers are encouraged to suggest language and style corrections to the manuscript. In the final round, the Editor-in-Charge will check for linguistic and style accuracy, and may suggest or implement corrections at this stage. In rare cases, the manuscript may be returned to the author for a full linguistic and stylistic revision.

Peer Review Process

After receiving an email with an invitation to review a journal article. The reviewer needs to respond by clicking on the reviewer response link whether or not to review the manuscript. After that, the reviewer can follow the steps on the website. The referee can fill in the comment box for the author or upload a file with comments. Each reviewer is required to make an initial decision by selecting the options below

Accept Submission: The manuscript meets the standards and is ready for further publication.
Revisions Needed: Minor revisions (can be reviewed by the referees or accepted by the editor).
Resubmit for Review: Major revisions (needs further peer review)
Resubmit to Elsewhere: Seems to be out of line with the focus and scope of the journal.
Reject or Decline Submission: Reject the submission because it has many weaknesses and does not meet the journal's standards.

How Long Does the Review Process Take?

The time required for the review process depends on the referees' responses. For Abhaya Nursing Journal, the typical time for the first round of review process usually takes an average of 4 weeks. Final repor
The final decision to accept or reject the manuscript will be sent to the author along with the recommendations made by the reviewers, including (if applicable) verbatim comments from the reviewers.

The Editor-in-Chief's decision is final

The reviewers notify the Editor-in-Chief, who is responsible for the final decision to accept or reject the article.