Peer Review Process
All manuscripts submitted to Svāsthya will undergo a rigorous screening and review process to ensure that they fit into the journal's scope and are of sufficient academic quality and novelty in the field. Svāsthya uses double-blind peer review, which means that the authors are not told who the reviewers are and the reviewers are not told the authors of the manuscript. The process will be:
- Initial screening. A newly submitted manuscript will be screened by the assistant editor for basic submission requirements and by one of the Editor-in-Chief for its conformity to Svāsthya Manuscripts that fail to pass the initial screening will be rejected without further review.
- Peer-review. If the manuscript passes the initial screening stage, it will be assigned to a handling editor, who will then send it to at least two experts in the relevant field to undergo a double-blind peer-review.
- First decision. A decision on a peer-reviewed manuscript will only be made upon the receipt of at least two review reports. At this stage, a manuscript can either be rejected, asked for revisions (major or minor), or accepted. If it is accepted, the manuscript will be returned to the submitting author for formatting. The final decision to accept the manuscript will be made by the Editor-in-Chief based on the recommendation of the handling editor.
- Revision stage. A manuscript that requires revisions will be returned to the submitting author, who will have up to three weeks to format and revise the manuscript, following which it will be reviewed by the handling editor. The handling editor will determine whether the changes are adequate and appropriate, as well as whether the author(s) sufficiently responded to the reviewers' comments and suggestions. If the revisions are deemed to be inadequate, this cycle will be repeated (the manuscript will be returned to the submitting author once more for further revision).
- Final acceptance. Once the revisions are deemed capable by the handling editor, the manuscript will be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief for a final acceptance decision. The Editor-in-Chief will review once again and ensure the manuscript has met all journal requirements.
- Copyediting and proofreading. Manuscripts that will be accepted go through a copyediting process to check for grammar, writing style, and format consistency as per the journal guidelines. Authors will be asked to proofread the copyediting results.
- Typesetting. The journal production team will perform typesetting or layout of the manuscript according to the Svāsthya journal template.
- Galley proofing. The typesetting result (galley proof) will be sent to the author for a final check before publication. Authors are requested to check carefully and inform if there are any minor errors.
- Online publishing. Once the galley proof is approved, the manuscript will be published online on the Svāsthya journal website. The manuscript will be assigned a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for unique identification.
- Indexing. The editorial team will register the published article with relevant indexing databases to increase visibility and accessibility.