Bulletin of
Vitebsk State
Technological
University

PEER REVIEW PROCEDURES OF THE JOURNAL
«VESTNIK OF VITEBSK STATE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY»

Before being accepted for publication all manuscripts shall be reviewed by two referees.

Executive editor registers manuscripts, within five business days reviews them for their compliance with the topics and if it meets the requirements of scientific articles, then the executive editor hands over manuscripts to the deputy editor-in-chief. The deputy editor-in-chief together with the executive editor and thematic editors arrange the peer review, appoint referees and hand over manuscripts to them. The peer review is held in blind manner. The identity of author(s) is hidden from reviewers.

The review process is aimed to evaluate manuscript in the following aspects: its content (logics of narration, reasonability, and validity) and its format (structure and presence of all required structure elements, correctness of links, tables, illustrations, formulae, and sources). The peer review report is a separate document signed by the reviewer and sealed by the institution where he/she works. The peer review report is send by both e-mail and as a hard copy.

The reviewer is a scientist with a degree in a field of the subject-matter of a manuscript. In their cover letter authors may indicate names of those expert-specialists who shall not act as reviewers for their manuscript due to the conflict of interests. This information is confidential and considered by the Editorial Board during the arrangement of peer review.

The reviewer produces the expert evaluation of content of the manuscript, content of the summary, relevancy of key words, correctness of links and presence of references, and gives assessment to manuscript quality in the following aspects: topicality, scientific novelty, applicability, compliance with formatting requirements, conclusion with clear statement explaining all reasons for which the manuscript deserves to be accepted/rejected, or to be revised. (A template of peer review report is provided).

The reviewer reads the article and provides critique for scientific content and formatting of the manuscript within 10 business days, and then he/she submits all the documents to executive editor. Executive editor registers peer review reports and hands over them together with the manuscript to thematic boards. In case of controversy the manuscript can be handed over to another referee.

Thematic boards hold meetings where they further read and discuss the manuscript considering the peer review reports received, and then they make decision whether to accept the manuscript for publication in the Journal or to request additional revision. The thematic board has the right to request authors for additional information and hold the review till the reply is received. If three negative reports are submitted the thematic board rejects the manuscript for evermore.

A thematic editor presents the manuscript at a manuscript meeting where the editorial board makes the final decision which includes one of the following: acceptance, request revision or rejection.