Peer Review Policy

JSHE operates a Double-Blind Peer Review process in which the identities of both authors and reviewers are concealed from each other throughout the entire review process. This model minimizes bias, protects reviewer independence, and ensures that manuscripts are evaluated solely on scientific merit.

When a manuscript is submitted through the OJS portal, an automated acknowledgement is issued to the corresponding author immediately with a Manuscript ID. Within five to seven business days, a Managing or Section Editor conducts an initial screening to assess scope fit, formatting compliance, plagiarism screening, completeness of ethics documentation, and minimum scientific quality. Manuscripts that pass screening are then assigned to two or three qualified reviewers within three to five days; invitations are sent along with the anonymized abstract. Reviewers have three to five days to accept or decline, and alternates are invited as needed. The review itself is expected to be completed within 14 to 21 days of acceptance.

Once all review reports have been received, the Associate Editor synthesizes the feedback and the Editor-in-Chief issues a decision — along with the full reviewer reports — within five to seven business days. Decisions include Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Reject. Authors who receive a revision decision must submit their revised manuscript along with a detailed point-by-point response letter addressing every reviewer and editor comment. Minor revisions are typically re-assessed by the handling editor within seven to fourteen days; major revisions are re-evaluated by the original reviewers within the same timeframe. Following re-review, a final Accept or Reject decision is issued within five days, and accepted manuscripts proceed to production. Post-acceptance production — comprising copyediting, typesetting, DOI registration, author proofreading, and online publication — is completed within seven to fifteen days. JSHE targets a Submission-to-First-Decision turnaround of 21 to 35 days and an Acceptance-to-Publication time of 7 to 15 days.