Peer Review Process
The journal welcomes the submission of articles that satisfy the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence in the disciplines covered by its scope and will publish only original articles. The journal may include editorials as well as book reviews from time to time.
All articles published in TERRA are double-blind peer-reviewed by scholars who are experts in the subject/topic areas and in the discipline or methodological approach used. The main criterion for publication in TERRA is that the paper must make a clear contribution substantively, theoretically or methodologically, to the body of knowledge as per journal scope.
Submitted manuscripts are initially reviewed by the Editor in Chief for suitability. At this stage, the article is not fully reviewed but checked for compliance in terms of the journal scope, style and presentation. Articles rejected at this stage are those that have not met the journal requirements.
Subject to submission of all required documents, and meeting all requirements, manuscripts are double-blind peer-reviewed by two independent expert readers in the field who remain anonymous throughout the process. Articles are only published if reports submitted to the journal are positive and if the author/s have made any revisions and/ or corrections which might have been deemed necessary. Articles are assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
Our steps in the process:
Reviewers are asked to select one of the decisions regarding the submission as stated below:
- rejection: The manuscript is not accepted outright.
• revise and resubmit: The manuscript is not accepted in its current form, but the author is encouraged to resubmit in the future after substantial changes have been made.
• accept with minor revisions: The manuscript is accepted with only a few minor suggestions for improvement.
• accept with major revisions: The manuscript is accepted under the condition that the author revises the draft as stipulated by the reviewer and editors.
TERRA Journal reserves the right to reject the publication of any manuscript that fails to implement the suggested revisions. After the completion of revisions, the author must send a final electronic version to the editor in MS Word format. The final version must conform to the expected conventions outlined. Final drafts that fail follow the conventions will be returned to the author. The editor will contact the author if there are any unresolved issues in the draft. If the content of the passes initial editing, the author will be sent galley proofs when the typesetting is complete. If corrections are required, they should be corrected in the galley proofs and submitted to the editors by the deadline requested. The amount of time from submission to publication depends on numerous factors, but usually takes more or less 90 days.
Our goal is to ensure a high standard of scholarship with an in-depth substantive review prior to all publication. Overall quality and originality is assessed in terms of structure, narrative, themes, methods and contribution to the body of knowledge. Authors may thus be expected to effect changes and make adaptations and revisions as stated above, where appropriate before publication of any manuscript. We provide open access so that articles are available to all to read and at no charge.
Legal notice: The responsibility for opinions conveyed and for the accuracy of facts published in articles legally rests exclusively with the individual authors.
