Manuscripts submitted to RIAL will initially be analyzed by the editors to assess compliance with the thematic scope of the journal and the Author Guidelines, as well as the quality of scientific writing, adherence to grammatical standards of the language, and similarity checking of the manuscript using anti-plagiarism tools.
At this stage, the manuscript may be rejected, returned to the authors for revision, or forwarded to the assistant editor, according to the area of knowledge, for the continuation of the evaluation process.
After approval in the first stage, the accepted manuscript will be sent to two specialists from institutions distinct from that of the manuscript's origin for peer review, based on scientific excellence criteria.
If necessary, a third specialist may be appointed when previous evaluations result in doubts regarding the acceptance or rejection of the manuscript.
RIAL employs a double-blind peer review system, where reviewers do not know the names and affiliations of the authors, ensuring anonymity and confidentiality throughout the evaluation process.
To ensure the application of the double-blind peer review system, the manuscript must be prepared by the authors so that the names and respective affiliations of the authors are included only on the Title Page, submitted in a document separate from the Text Structure.
Reviewers will have up to four weeks to evaluate the manuscripts and justify their decision to accept, reject, or recommend corrections or adjustments.
After receiving the reviews, editors will have up to one week to analyze the reviewers' recommendations and return the decision to the authors. If modifications are requested, authors will have up to three weeks to resubmit the manuscript, which may be re-evaluated by the same reviewers in a new round of evaluation.
The final decision regarding the publication or not of the manuscript will be made by the associate editors and the chief editor.
Editorial Evaluation Timelines
The period between submission and approval or rejection is approximately 4 to 6 months, with the following average timelines considered:
- Preliminary evaluation: 21 days
- Reviewers' evaluation: 30 days
- Analysis of reviewers' recommendations by the editors and return to authors: 10 days
- Correction and resubmission of the manuscript: 21 days
- Re-evaluation (when necessary): 30 days/re-evaluation.
RIAL values quality and speed in the editorial evaluation process. However, some circumstances may influence timelines, such as:
- When there is refusal of the invitation or failure to meet the deadline for submitting the review without justification. In this situation, the editor will select another reviewer and initiate a new evaluation cycle.
- When there is disagreement in the decision between two reviewers, the editor should invite a third evaluator and initiate a new evaluation cycle.
- When the reviewer or author justifies the need for an extension of the deadline for submitting the review or correction.
- When there is a need for new rounds of evaluation.
In addition to peer review, style review and layout review are part of RIAL's editorial process. In the style review, the manuscript approved for publication will be subjected to analysis of scientific writing style and standard of the Portuguese and/or English or Spanish language. RIAL reserves the right to introduce changes to the originals to maintain the homogeneity and quality of the publication, while respecting the style and opinions of the authors.
In the layout review, the graphic proof of the revised manuscript, in PDF (Portable Document Format), will be sent to the email address of the corresponding author for review within a maximum period of two days. RIAL may request higher resolution figures whenever necessary to maintain the quality of the publication.