Peer Review and Editorial Policy

Peer review is of paramount importance both for the journals and for the researchers who author the papers. Peer reviewing procedure not only elevates the standards of scholarly communications in manuscripts but also supports the authors to improve the quality of their papers. In fact, the outcome for publication is the result of incessant attempts of the reviewers who assess and refine each paper before publication. However, expert knowledge of editor-in-chief in each scientific journal cannot be compatible with the topic of every article submitted. Therefore, the constructive comments and feedbacks of various reviewers, meticulously selected for each topic, guarantee the quality of the published papers and accelerate the process of decision making by the editor-in-chief. Journal of Reproduction and Infertility (JRI) affiliated to Avicenna Research Institute (ARI) adheres to such systematic procedure and is committed to apply double-blind peer reviewing process based on the COPE’s Code of Conduct and Best Practices and ICMJE's Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.

1. Peer Reviewing Process

The decision to publish a paper is based on an editorial assessment. After the submission of the paper, the editor-in-chief verifies the relevance of the article to the journal's policy for publishing and then assigns associate editors for initial evaluation. The prime purpose is to decide whether to select the paper for blind reviews and to make a swift decision for non-eligible manuscripts. Papers which do not meet basic requirements or are unlikely to be published because of their lack of novelty or irrelevance to the discipline may be rejected at this point in order to avoid delays to authors who may wish to seek publication elsewhere. Authors can expect a decision from this stage of the review process within 1-2 weeks of submission. Next, after preliminary evaluation by editorial team, associate editors suggest peer-reviewers, who are national and international authorities in the selected fields with requisite subject area expertise (usually three). If the manuscript is not approved for further evaluation, they ask the editor-in-chief to reject the paper without peer reviewing (Fast rejection). Otherwise, the authors may be asked to respond to the questions raised by reviewers and submit the revised paper after covering all comments. We exert our best effort to ensure that the authors’ identities remain undisclosed during the peer review process.  The review process is deemed to be completed within 4 weeks of the decision to review although sometimes delays occur and authors are advised to be patient for 6 weeks at the latest from submissions before contacting the journal. Upon receiving the papers from authors, the reviewers check for the authors’ feedbacks on their comments and evaluate all sections of the manuscript. If the paper is thoroughly refined by the authors, the paper will be revised by editors (Both content and language) in the last round of review and it is put in the queue for publication. The editor-in-chief reserves the right to the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of the manuscripts.

2. Editorial Independence at JRI

Our editorial policy is in congruence with principles of editorial independence presented by the WAME (World Association of Medical Editors). Moreover, JRI adheres to the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) Policy on “The Relationship between Journal Editors-in-Chief and Owners”. Briefly, the editor-in-chief has the autonomy and full authority over the journal’s editorial content based on his discretion including the time for publication of articles and the final revisions. Validity of the work and its significance from the viewpoint of readers determine the editorial decision to go further with the manuscript rather than policies or commercial interests of the owner.

JRI has been published by Avicenna Research Institute (ARI) affiliated to the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR) since 1999. It has greatly contributed to publication of cutting-edge scientific papers in collaboration with Iranian Society of Embryology and Reproductive Biology (ISERB) since 2015.

4. Conflicts of Interest

Assigned associate editors and reviewers should inform the editor-in-chief of any potential conflicts with the submitted manuscript; for instance, any conflicts resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions should be announced. In facing with financial or non-financial, professional or personal, and any conflicts that arise in relation to an organization or an individual, editors and reviewers must inform the editor-in-chief that research is not transparently done and the requirement of full disclosure by authors of all conflicts of interest relevant to a submitted manuscript is overridden.

5. Funding Disclosure

Apart from declaring conflicts of interests, JRI also requires that authors specify any sources of funding (institutional, private and corporate financial support) for the work reported in their paper. Funding statement is published in the final article which contributes to the translucent quality of the journal. Any suppliers of materials should be named and their location (city, country) included if appropriate.

6. Confidentiality

JRI keeps all details about a submitted manuscript confidential. Moreover, our reviewers and editorial do not reveal the status of a paper publically, both its acceptance or rejection. Also, the identity of reviewers is confidential unless having permission to unfold them. Authors, reviewers, and editors must mutually make their correspondence confidential unless explicitly stated otherwise. 

7. Fair play

The editor assesses the manuscripts for their intellectual content irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors. JRI may share necessary information with relevant parties when possible misconduct is detected.

8. Fees, Copyright, and Licensing Publication Fees

JRI, as an open-access journal, is committed to providing a rigorous publication platform for both authors and readers. As the “open access” journal is sponsored by the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), there is no publication fee for submitting and publishing the manuscripts. As a not-for-profit publisher, journal costs including editorial assistance, article production, editing and indexing are covered by Avicenna Research Institute.

9. Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with JRI agree to retain copyright and publishing rights without restrictions and grant the journal right of first publication. They give the permission to the journal to publish and distribute the work under a final agreement that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and primal publication in JRI.

Moreover, authors who submit manuscripts profess and acknowledge that their submission to JRI is not simultaneously under consideration for publication in another journal and has not been published elsewhere before this submission.

The opportunity is provided for the authors to have separate, contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the JRI’s published version of the work (e.g., publish it in a book chapter), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in JRI.

10. Appeals

A formal appeal letter must be submitted by the authors with clear-cut evidence in cases of opposite viewpoints. Given the generally accepted standards and policies of the journal, appeals are considered only on the basis of (i) reviewers’ potential technical and knowledge-based errors or mistakes in their assessment of the manuscript, (ii) new information or discovered data that has been elicited from recent papers since the submission of the manuscript, and (iii) evidence for potential conflicts of interest of reviewers and editors. The duration span to submit the appeals against the conclusive verdict of the editor-in-chief would be within 14 days of the decision notice. The person in charge for the final decision is the editor-in-chief who will consult with the associate editors for appropriate further advice; therefore, appeal letters must be addressed to the editor-in-chief and emailed to journal@avicenna.ac.ir

11. Withdrawal of Manuscripts

According to the rules established by COPE, all the journals undergo meticulous evaluation. Once the editor-in-chief is assigned to check the submitted manuscripts, he is the responsible person to decide which article among all submitted manuscripts has to be published. The final decision concerning copyright and legal issues and also plagiarism issues is made by the editor-in-chief. Articles published in a specific journal will remain online for an infinite period of time. Once approved, the paper will undergo no more changes and the final version will be published. However, under specific circumstances which seldom happen, a specific article must be withdrawn or removed from a journal. The most important incidence is infringement of professional ethical codes such as multiple submission, unethical or fraudulent use of data, plagiarism, and unreasonable claim of ownership or copyright.

In such cases, the editor-in-chief has the sole right to decide what to do with the article. Therefore, based on his discretion, the article can be withdrawn from the journal.