Manuscript Submissions:
The Review Process

Currently, the SCJ has an average time to first decision of approximately 90 days. Once the author submits a manuscript it moves through the following process:

An SCJ editor reads the submission and completes a technical check. Manuscripts must have an argument, fit within the journal's chronological, interdisciplinary, and thematic focus, appropriate and complete references throughout using the Chicago Manual of Style, and no evidence of the author's identity in the body of the manuscript or the file name. This process can take a week or more to complete. If the manuscript fails the technical check, it is sent back to the author to revise, which adds more time to the process. 

Once a submission has passed the technical check, it is assigned to an editor who reads the manuscript and invites a potential reviewer either from the SCJ Editorial Committee, the author's list of Suggested Reviewers, or a field specialist. All these reviewers are topic experts and volunteers. Potential reviewers are asked to respond within 14 days. Potential reviewers are encouraged to complete their reviews within 30 days of agreeing to review, but depending on the time of year and the reviewer, this can take far longer. If the first review is inadequate or if the reviewer agrees but regrettably does not submit a review, this process begins again.

After the topic expert reviewer has submitted their review, the editor sends the manuscript to a second reviewer, who is one of the SCJ's Senior Editors. They read the manuscript with an eye to its fit with the SCJ's global interdisciplinary mandate and readership. They also have 14 days to respond to invitations to review and another 30 days to submit their review. While the author's identity is shielded throughout the review process, the comments of the first reviewer are provided to this reviewer.

After the Senior Editor submits a review, the manuscript returns to the Editor, who rereads the manuscript alongside the reviews and makes a decision. The decision after the first round of review is either “reject” or that major or minor revisions are required before further consideration. (In a very few instances—roughly one per decade—the decision is “accept.”) A decision of “revise” results in an invitation to revise and resubmit. The author is then informed through the SCJ's PeerTrack system and the reviewers' comments are made available. Given the necessity of all these stages, an average review time of 90 days or more is understandable.

If the submission has received a decision of "Revise and Resubmit," and the author agrees to undertake revisions according to the reviewers' instructions, they have three months or more in which to revise their submission. Editors are happy to extend this period if necessary. After the author has submitted a revised manuscript with a detailed discussion of their engagement with the reviewers' suggestions, there is another period of review, likely in the 45-60-day range, before a final decision is made. The manuscript always returns to Reviewer 2. In some instances, but not all and depending on the topic and scope of revisions requested, Reviewer 1 is also invited to read the revised manuscript. Some manuscripts will be sent back for a second round of revision, which necessarily extends that period until final acceptance or rejection.