Editorial Procedures and Peer-Review Process

Initial Checks

Upon receipt, all submitted manuscripts are initially reviewed by a Managing Editor to ensure they are properly prepared and adhere to the journal's ethical policies and author guidelines. Manuscripts that do not comply with the journal's ethical standards or fail to meet its criteria will be rejected prior to peer review. Manuscripts not prepared according to the guidelines will be returned to the authors for revision and resubmission. Following these initial checks, the Managing Editor will consult with the journal's Editor-in-Chief or other Editors to assess whether the manuscript falls within the journal’s scope and meets scientific standards. At this stage, no evaluation of the potential impact of the work will be made. Rejection decisions at this stage will be verified by the Editor-in-Chief.

Acknowledgment of receipt of the manuscript occurs within 12-24 hours.

Peer-Review

Once a manuscript has passed the initial checks, it will be assigned to at least two independent experts for peer review. A double-blind peer-review process is employed, ensuring that the identities of the authors remain unknown to the reviewers.

For regular submissions, the editor will select reviewers who are experts in the relevant fields, including recommendations from the Editor-in-Chief. These reviewers may also include members of the Editorial Board and other journal reviewers. Reviewers must not have any conflicts of interest, which include the following situations:

• Reviewers should not have published with any of the co-authors in the past three years.
• Reviewers should not be currently employed by or collaborating with any of the institutions affiliated with the co-authors.
• Reviewers should not be supervising or have supervised the doctoral work of the author(s), nor should they be supervised or have been supervised by the author(s).
• Reviewers should not have received any professional or personal benefit from the review process.
• Reviewers should not have a personal relationship (e.g., family or close friendship) with the author(s).
• Reviewers should not have a direct or indirect financial interest in the paper being reviewed.

It is not considered a conflict of interest if reviewers have collaborated with the authors on a project or co-organized an event.

The review process is expected to be completed within six weeks.

Editorial Decision and Revision

All articles, reviews, and communications published in Journal Suhuf undergo peer review and receive at least two evaluations. Review reports are collected, and the editor will send these reports to the authors along with all terms and conditions for publication. The editor will then communicate the managing editor's decision to the authors, which may be one of the following:

• Accept Submissions: The paper meets the journal’s criteria and will proceed to copyediting.
• Revisions Required: The paper is accepted in principle, pending minor revisions. Authors will be given one week to make these revisions based on reviewer comments.
• Resubmit for Review: The manuscript's acceptance is contingent upon major revisions. Authors must provide a point-by-point response to reviewer comments or a rebuttal if certain comments cannot be addressed. Typically, only one round of major revisions is permitted. Authors are given a maximum of three weeks to resubmit the revised manuscript, which will then be returned to reviewers for further evaluation.
• Decline Submission: The manuscript has significant flaws or does not make a substantial original contribution. Resubmission to the journal is not permitted.

If reviewers recommend additional experiments to support the conclusions, the manuscript will be rejected, and authors will be encouraged to resubmit after conducting further research.

Authors must address all reviewer comments in a point-by-point manner. Disagreements with reviewers should be clearly explained.

Author Appeals

Authors may appeal a rejection by sending an email to the Managing Editor of the journal. The appeal must include a detailed justification, with point-by-point responses to the reviewers' and/or Editor's comments. The Managing Editor will forward the manuscript and relevant information (including the identities of the referees) to the Editor-in-Chief, a Reviewer, or a member of the Editorial Board. The consulted Editor will provide advisory recommendations, which may include acceptance, additional peer review, or upholding the original rejection decision. A rejection decision at this stage is final and cannot be overturned.

Production and Publication

Upon acceptance, the manuscript will undergo professional copy-editing, English editing, proofreading by the authors, final corrections, pagination, and publication on the Jurnal Suhuf website. The journal will be printed within one to two weeks of online publication.

Correcting the Record

Authors or the corresponding author may request corrections to the published paper within one week of online publication in cases of critical errors. For further details, please refer to the statement on correcting the record.