Peer review process

Selection of contributions

Given that The Grove receives more submissions (articles, reviews and fiction/poetry) than it can publish, our peer-reviewers are asked to consider the quality and originality of each paper accepted for publication. In general terms, to be acceptable a paper must deal with one of the fields of study covered by our journal, be original, provide substantial evidence for its conclusions, and prove relevant for the specific field. Additionally, we will be looking for methodological rigour, theoretical consistency and innovation, stylistic merit, and academic seriousness. Manuscripts are evaluated without regard to the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.

The process has two different steps:

• Firstly, there is an internal review made by the editorial team. Each manuscript is carefully reviewed by the editors to ensure that it meets the basic requirements specified in the author’s guidelines, and that it is of sufficient quality to be sent to external reviewers. Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements are returned to the authors  so that they can meet the minimum requirements, i.e. word count, author’s guidelines, etc. If the topic is out of the scope, manuscripts will be rejected by the editors. This process will take between 3 or 4 weeks.
• Secondly, an external review is carried out. Submissions which meet the basic requirements are then sent out for blind peer review by at least two anonymous referees from a selected board of experts, guaranteeing that reviewers are independent from authors. Papers may be approved, rejected, or approved with modifications, in which case detailed reports will be sent to the author(s); the paper will be evaluated again unless the editors consider the modification of minor importance. For details, see the evaluation form used by the blind referees. This process will take approximately 2 months. The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted within 1 or 2 months depending on the requested revision.

Authors whose contributions are accepted will be kindly asked to review a manuscript for the following year’s issue. We will really appreciate their contribution.

The editors reserve the right to reject a paper if it does not meet the aforementioned criteria or if it has not been revised satisfactorily.

Revised versions should be accompanied with a short summary about the modifications authors have made and the author's response to the reviewer's comments.