Editorial assessment and quality assurance
Every manuscript is assessed for scholarly quality, methodological coherence, research integrity, and the relationship between evidence and claims.
The assessment model is proportionate to the article type, subject, research design, evidence base, and contribution. The purpose is to determine whether the work is sufficiently rigorous, transparent, well supported, and relevant for inclusion in the Journal's scholarly record.
Scholarly assessment criteria
Depending on the nature of the manuscript, assessment considers:
- the clarity, relevance, and significance of the research question, purpose, or problem;
- the appropriateness and transparency of the research design and methods;
- the adequacy, quality, and traceability of the evidence;
- the coherence, depth, and transparency of the analysis;
- the relationship between evidence, interpretation, and claims;
- engagement with relevant scholarship and the positioning of the contribution;
- appropriate contextualisation and attention to transferability or limits of generalisation;
- the accuracy and usefulness of limitations;
- the originality, value, or practical significance of the contribution;
- clarity of presentation and suitability for the intended readership.
Methods, evidence, and claims
The Journal does not prescribe a single research paradigm or method. Qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, experimental, observational, evaluative, participatory, design-based, review-based, and methodological work may be considered where the approach is appropriate to the research question.
Claims must remain proportionate to the evidence. Manuscripts should distinguish findings from interpretation, acknowledge uncertainty where relevant, and avoid theoretical, causal, population-level, or transferable claims that exceed the study design or evidence base.
Research-integrity assessment
Research-integrity assessment considers authorship and contributorship, originality, citations and references, ethics and consent where applicable, privacy and confidentiality, data handling, funding, conflicts of interest, material generative-AI use, and other disclosures relevant to the work.
Questions that affect the reliability or integrity of the manuscript may need to be resolved before substantive assessment or publication can proceed.
Additional expertise and review
Where a manuscript would benefit from expertise beyond the handling assessment, the Journal may seek input from an Editorial Board member, subject specialist, methodological adviser, or external reviewer.
The form and extent of additional review depend on the article type, subject matter, methods, complexity, and issues identified during assessment. Where formal external peer review is undertaken, it may be identified in the publication record.
Revision and publication decision
Authors may be asked to revise the manuscript in response to substantive editorial, methodological, integrity, or reviewer comments. Revision requests should identify the issues that need to be addressed and should be proportionate to the manuscript and evidence.
The Journal may approve publication, request further revision, or decline publication. Approval is based on the completed manuscript and its supporting evidence rather than on the reputation, seniority, institutional position, or publication history of the authors.
Conflicts and editorial independence
Editors, assessors, and reviewers should disclose relevant conflicts that could affect their judgement. An author does not make the final editorial decision on their own manuscript.
Where the Managing Editor or another person responsible for Journal operations is an author or has a material conflict, assessment and publication approval are assigned to a qualified non-author assessor or adviser without the relevant conflict.
Publication quality assurance
Before publication, the Journal checks the final publication record for completeness and consistency, including:
- author names, affiliations, ORCID iDs where supplied, and corresponding-author information;
- title, abstract, keywords, and article-type information;
- citations, references, and DOI metadata;
- ethics, funding, conflict-of-interest, contribution, AI-use, and data-availability statements where applicable;
- copyright and licence information;
- final publication files and article metadata.