Editorial Process, Peer-Review and Production:
Articles submitted to TMP journals are subject to strict peer-reviewing. In most journals, the process is single blind peer-review (the reviewers know the authors’ identities, but the authors do not know the reviewers’ identities). Some journals operate double blind peer-review (the reviewers do not know the authors’ identities until the paper has been published). The TMP online submission system, incorporates online tools for manuscript submission, peer-reviewing and editorial decision making. Reviewers and external editors do not need to have an account with the TMP submission system in order to finish the tasks assigned to them. Rather, the system will recognize the reviewers and external editors through one-time usable IDs found in the URLs. Editors-in-Chief and Guest Editors can view articles submitted to their journal or Special Issue via Susy at any time.
The Instructions for Authors page on the website of each TMP journal guides authors through preparing and submitting their manuscripts.
Once a manuscript is submitted, the submission is received by the in-house Managing Editor, who will subsequently coordinate the whole editorial process for the manuscript: peer-review, decision making, possible author revisions, manuscript acceptance, copyediting, English editing, proofreading and final publication. An in-house Assistant Editor will be assigned to the submitted article and will send review invitations.
At least two reports per manuscript are collected for each manuscript—three if the first two differ substantially. Reviewers must hold a PhD, cannot have published with the authors in the past three years, and must have recent publications in the field of the submitted manuscript.
The Editor-in-Chief, Guest Editor, or a suitable Editorial Board member can make the final acceptance or rejection decision for a manuscript, usually after the author’s revisions. We typically allow no more than two rounds of major revisions.
After the acceptance of an article for publication, the in-house editorial staff organize the production of the paper, which entails copyediting, English editing and final production in preparation for publication on the journal website. All journals are structured in yearly volumes and either monthly or quarterly issues. Nevertheless, articles are published online immediately after their acceptance and production.
In many TMP journals, Academic Editors who have made the acceptance decision for a manuscript, after full peer-review, have the option to include their name and role as the Academic Editor on the published manuscript. This is at the Academic Editor’s discretion. Guest Editors of Special Issues are required to have their name(s) included on manuscripts they have accepted for publication.