FAQ
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Procedures for external peer review

Procedure description

Preliminary Evaluation

Manuscripts received are first checked by the Editorial Office in accordance with the requirements and policies of Geoinformatica Polonica. Incomplete manuscripts that are not prepared according to the journal's guidelines may be returned to the Authors with suggestions for revisions. Authors receive a reference number upon registering the manuscript with the Editorial Office. The editor reviews each received manuscript and then: sends it to Reviewers, rejects the manuscript, or returns it to the Authors with suggestions for correcting the presentation of data.

 

As part of the submission process in the Editorial System, Authors confirm the originality of the article, the validity of authorship, the transfer of copyright, and compliance with the review process. The Editorial Office applies an anti-plagiarism procedure. The Editorial Office should inform the author of the expected maximum processing time for the article.

 

Reviewer Recommendation

Authors may recommend potential Reviewers. However, if the Editors of Geoinformatica Polonica identify a violation of the conflict of interest rule, such reviewers will not be considered. Reviewers are also asked to report any conflicts of interest. Authors may also exclude the names of potential Reviewers they wish to exclude from the review process at the initial submission stage. The Editorial Office will consider these requests as long as they do not interfere with an objective and thorough evaluation of the submission.

 

Transfer of Copyright

Geoinformatica Polonica requires the exclusive assignment of copyright from all authors at the time of manuscript submission. The manuscript will undergo the Review process after the transfer of copyright is completed. Upon acceptance, all published manuscripts become the permanent property of the owners of Geoinformatica Polonica and cannot be published elsewhere without the written consent of the Authors.

 

 

Review Process

Registered manuscripts, after passing the preliminary verification, are sent to at least two independent Reviewers outside the author's institution for scientific evaluation. The review process in Geoinformatica Polonica is confidential (double-blind), meaning that the Author and Reviewer remain anonymous to each other. The review is in written form and ends with a clear recommendation for either acceptance for publication or rejection of the article via Editorial Portal.

During the manuscript evaluation, the Reviewer considers the following aspects:

  • Does the title of the paper correspond to its content?
  • Do the obtained results contribute to expanding existing knowledge?
  • Are the applied methods appropriate, and is the material used for research sufficient?
  • Are the results properly interpreted and statistically processed, and are they adequately presented in tables and figures?
  • Has a literature review been conducted to familiarize the reader with the current state of knowledge on the research problem?
  • Have units of measurement been correctly applied?
  • Does the abstract capture the essence of the work?
  • Is the article written in correct and understandable English?

 

Upon receiving the reviews, Authors should consider all suggestions from Reviewers and additionally respond in writing to all comments, especially those with which they disagree (if any). Reviews are not publicly disclosed. Review reports are available to Authors (after making them anonymous) and to the Editorial Office of the journal. There is no direct interaction between Authors and Reviewers.

 

Acceptance

If one of the two reviews is negative, the Editor-in-chief refers the article to a third Reviewer. To assist the Editor-in-chief in making the final decision regarding the acceptance of the article for publication, the Reviewer should provide as much information as possible. A review that clearly presents both reasons for and against publication has equal or even greater value than a review containing only a direct recommendation.

 

The Editor-in-Chief informs the Authors of one of the following decisions:

  • the manuscript may be accepted with minor revisions,
  • the manuscript will be reconsidered after major changes - in this case, the acceptance of the manuscript will be reconsidered after the Author(s) submit the revised text along with detailed responses to the Reviewer's comments (within the time specified by the Editor).
  • the manuscript is rejected but the Editorial Office encourages resubmission after further experiments – this situation may occur when the article requires additional experiments or calculations to support the conclusions,
  • the manuscript is rejected, if the article contains serious flaws, lacks any original contribution, and is rejected without the possibility of resubmission to the journal.

 

If the manuscript is rejected, Authors have the right to appeal if they believe that Reviewers did not understand or appreciate certain points of the manuscript - in such a situation, the Editorial Office will decide whether there are grounds for reconsidering the manuscript.

 

After final acceptance, the manuscript will undergo professional editing, English language editing, author proofreading, final corrections, pagination, and publication on the Geoinformatica Polonica website.

 

Withdrawals

The manuscript may be withdrawn by the Authors (if researchers realize that there is an error in the text) or by the Editorial Office, which determines that the research has been previously published elsewhere (without reference in the text), the conclusions are unreliable, the text violates copyright, the Authors have violated professional ethics procedures or have not complied with legal regulations, or when the principle of conflict of interest of Authors, Reviewers, or Editors has been violated. The article may be withdrawn by the Author until the author proofreading of the text is completed.