Peer Review Process

Introduction
IJIMSR follows a strict peer review system ensures the quality of the manuscript. All submitted manuscripts undergo a peer review process before publication.

Double Blind Peer Review
IJIMSR employs a double-blind peer review process to limit the bias.

A double-blind peer review system is an anonymous review system whereby the identity of the author(s) of a manuscript is concealed from the selected reviewers. All details that may enable a reviewer to identify the author(s) of a manuscript are removed from the manuscript before the manuscript is sent to the reviewer. Similarly, the reviewers’ identities are also concealed from the author(s) when sending the reviewers’ comments to the author(s).

The Peer Review Process
IJIMSR employs a three-stage review process – editorial office, external review and editors’ decision.

The first stage of the review process takes place in the editorial office and finished within 48 Hrs. On submission, a manuscript is reviewed to ensure that it meets the minimum requirements of the journal before it is sent to external reviewers. At this stage, the manuscript is reviewed for the following

• Possible plagiarism: The manuscript is evaluated to compare the level of similarity with
• other published works. IJIMSR uses iThenticate to detect similarity in the submitted manuscript. Manuscripts that have high level of similarity with other works (including the author(s) previous works) are rejected at this stage. Authors are provided with the similarity report together with the decision to reject the manuscript.
• Scope: Once the level of similarity index of the manuscript is judged to be appropriate, the content of the manuscript is checked to ensure that it fits within the scope of IJIMSR. The manuscript still undergoes the usual peer review and may be accepted or reject if it is not suitable.

• Recent references: We suggest the authors to cite more recent articles, preferably, that were published within the last five years.

• English Language: IJIMSR publishes full text of articles only in English language. Manuscripts are checked for the structure, organization, correctness and clarity of the language as it adheres to the journal's Instructions for Authors. The editorial office usually makes correction to minor grammatical errors in such a manner that it does not alter the manuscript. However, in situations where language is substantially difficult to comprehend, the manuscript is returned to the author to improve clarity of the language.

Manuscripts that fail in this first stage of the review process are returned to the author(s) for modification and resubmission.

Once a manuscript successfully completes the editorial office review process, it proceeds to the second stage.

The second stage of the review process employs the double-blind review system. Three external reviewers are selected from our database, editorial board of the journal having subject area expertise to review the manuscript. The reviewers are invited to review the manuscript by sending them the abstract of the manuscript within 48 Hrs. Upon acceptance to review the manuscript, the full text of the manuscript is sent to the reviewers after the author(s) details have been concealed. Reviewers are given 10 days of time to complete the review process.

Upon the receipt of first two reviewers’ comments, are sent to the editor of the journal. The editor reviews the manuscript and makes one the following decisions

• Accept as it is
• Accept with minor correction
• Requires major corrections
• Send revised manuscript for review again
• Reject

The accepted manuscripts are scheduled for publication.