Peer Review Process
Peer Review Process
The article received is initially screened by the editorial office and if it is found incomplete in terms mandatory statements, authors details and not as per guidelines, is sent back to author for compliance. If the content is found to be out of scope of the Journal of Agrometeorology, the article is rejected without review. After initial screening, it is assigned to a Theme Editor for further processing. Each article is sent to atleast 2 independent reviewers for peer review. The journal follows the double-blind review process in which authors and reviewers’ names are not disclosed. Hence, authors names, affiliations and other potentially identifying information are removed from the text of the manuscript before sending it to the reviewers. OJS also provides a link 'how to ensure all files are anonymized' during upload.
Reviewers are expected to respond to the editor's request within a week time (7 days) to accept or decline the request and if the request is accepted, 3-week time (21 days) to submit the reviewers’ comments. With any delay in the time lines, the reminders are sent. If any reviewer declines the request or does not respond to the request, the manuscript is withdrawn and is sent to the another reviewer.
Guidelines are provided to the reviewers. Reviewers are requested to submit the detail comments in space provided “For Authors and Editor”. A separate window is provided for specific comments “For Editor only”. Reviewer is also advised to add the comments, if he/she wishes, on the manuscript in Review track mode and upload the file.
After receiving the comments from both reviewers, the reviewed manuscript along with the reviewer's comments is sent to authors for revision. Over and above, editor may also add his/her comments, if required. Authors are also advised to adheres to the guidelines on presentation of title, affiliations, present address, abstract, scientific nomenclature, text and reference presentation etc as per journal style in the online system as well as on the manuscript.
If the reports of both referees disagree with regard to the suitability of the paper for publication, the editor gives his/her own remark over and above the reviewer’s comments. The article is rejected on the basis of comments of reviewer(s).
The revised manuscript submitted by the Author along with the reply of author to comments of reviewers, is again sent to one of the reviewers for checking and verifying the modification made by the author. The favourable comments received from the reviewer on the revised manuscript is taken into consideration for accepting the manuscript.
The manuscript is again sent to the Author if reviewer/editor ask for inclusion of more information in the form of table, figs or references etc.
Editor's decision independently or in consultation with editorial board, is final.
Journal of Agrometeorology holds the right to edit in or out the comments in a review report if the Editor-in-Chief finds the use of an offensive language or the disclosure of confidentiality. Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject a paper at any stage without assigning the reason and his decision would be final.
Post Publication Corrections, Retractions, and Editorial Expressions of Concern
Journal of Agrometeorology follows the COPE guidelines for post publication corrections, retractions and editorial expression of concern.
We aim to ensure the integrity of the academic record of all published or potential publications. Whenever it is recognized that a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement, or distorted report has been published, it must be corrected promptly and with due prominence. If, after an appropriate investigation, an item proves to be fraudulent, it should be retracted. The retraction should be clearly identifiable to readers and indexing systems.
Corrections
Errors in published papers may be identified in the form of a corrigendum or erratum when the Editor-in-Chief considers it appropriate to inform the journal readership about a previous error and makes a correction to the error in the published article. The corrigendum or erratum will appear on the web page of that publication article.
Retractions
Journal of Agrometeorology would consider retracting a publication under the following events:
- There is evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of a major error (eg, miscalculation or experimental error), or as a result of fabrication (eg, of data) or falsification (eg, image manipulation)
- It constitutes plagiarism
- The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution to previous sources or disclosure to the editor, permission to republish, or justification (ie, cases of redundant publication)
- It contains material or data without authorisation for use
- Copyright has been infringed or there is some other serious legal issue (eg, libel, privacy)
- It reports unethical research
- It has been published solely on the basis of a compromised or manipulated peer review process
- The author(s) failed to disclose a major competing interest (a.k.a. conflict of interest) that, in the view of the editor, would have unduly affected interpretations of the work or recommendations by editors and peer reviewers.
The journal will issue a retraction notice by clearly identifying the article which will be linked to the retracted article wherever possible. The retraction will be freely available to all readers and will include who retracted the article and the reason for retraction.
Editorial expressions of concern
Where substantial doubt arises as to the honesty or integrity of a submitted or published article, journal editors may consider issuing an expression of concern. However, expressions of concern should only be issued if an investigation into the problems relating to the article has proven inconclusive, and if there remain strong indicators that the concerns are valid. Under some rare cases, an editorial expression of concern may also be issued when an investigation is underway but a judgment will not be available for a considerable time.
The expression of concern will be linked back to the published article it relates to.
