1. Research articles are reviewed accordingly to JPA’s “Manuscript Review Guidelines.” The process takes about two to three months. Factors that influence the editorial board’s decision of an anonymous peer review include: relevancy, academic value, research ethics, the proportion of citations and interviews, and citations from unpublished papers, etc.
2. After the primary review of the editorial board, the manuscript is delivered to an anonymous peer review panel consisting of two referees to determine whether manuscript is to be “accepted,” “accepted after modification” or “rejected.” Summarizing the two referees’ suggestions, the manuscript will be handled as indicated in the following table:
3. In situations when both referees suggest “review after modification,” the author(s) should modify the manuscript according to the suggestions and attach a modification description table. The manuscript will be forwarded to the original referees for a second review. The referees will determine whether to accept or reject the manuscript based on the modifications. If the referees fail to reach an agreement, the manuscript will be forwarded to a third party for review.
4. When the referees’ decision is divided into “review after modification” and “rejected,” the chief editor should invite the member of the editorial board of the publisher or two off-campus editors to decide whether the manuscript should be rejected or forwarded to another referee for a second opinion based on the “rejected” recommendation.
5. If the third party’s opinion is either “accepted” or “accepted after modification,” the manuscript will be published. If the suggestion is “review after modification,” the author(s) should modify the manuscript according to the suggestions and attach a modification description table. The manuscript will be sent back to the third party to determine whether it is “accepted” or “rejected.”
6. The editorial board still needs to conduct a final review of manuscripts which have undergone peer review and labeled as “accepted” or “accepted after modification. For example, all manuscripts should meet the criteria of ethics in writing; the author(s) must submit their manuscripts to a plagiarism detection program. Manuscripts that have passed the detection may be published.
7. Manuscripts that need to be “modified for a second review” or adopt the suggestions when “accepted after modification” should complete the modification within two weeks upon receiving the suggestions. Manuscripts returned past the deadline will not be processed.
8. The editorial board reserves the right to modify the format of the accepted manuscript.
