Review process

All articles that are part of a special issue or of the miscellaneous section of apropos [Perspektiven auf die Romania] undergo a multi-stage peer-review process to ensure the scientific and editorial quality of each article. All submissions are reviewed by the editorial team and at least one independent external reviewer who is an expert in the relevant field of research in a double blind peer review process.

In the review process we can rely on the support of our editorial and scientific advisory board as well as alternating reviewers who are selected according to their domain of expertise to fit precisely the topic of the article under review.

Contributions in the Review, Workshop, Discoveries, Espace Contemporain, Essay and Forum sections are subject to careful editorial scrutiny. If necessary, the editorial review may be complemented by an external review.

For the Premiers Travaux section, which is intended to offer outstanding students the opportunity to publish the results of very good and innovative term papers and theses, a comprehensive revision and adaptation to the format of a journal article is necessary. This process will be closely monitored by the lecturers submitting the proposals and the editorial team.

The procedure described below applies to all sections of the journal which undergo an external double blind peer review process. The editorial team aims to publish high quality articles and to develop them further with the authors during the review and editorial process. The successful publication process (from submission to publication of an article) takes on average 48 weeks. Only in exceptional cases it may take longer.

1 | Article preselection

As a first step, all submissions are reviewed by the editorial team. The following basic criteria must be met:

  • The submission fits thematically within the scope and selected section of the journal.
  • The manuscript has not been previously published elsewhere.
  • The journal's submission guidelines have been followed.
  • The article is coherent and clearly written (including language and grammar). If an article is submitted in a language that is not the author's native language, the article must be proofread by a native speaker before submission.
  • The article promises a relevant contribution to its field of research.
  • An abstract, a biographical note and keywords are provided in the language of the article and in English.

Articles that do not meet the basic criteria are usually rejected during the article preselection process.

2 | Review

All submissions will be reviewed by at least one independent external reviewer who is an expert in the relevant field of research. The following review criteria must be met:

  • Ethical guidelines: The guidelines of the journal are met.
  • Relevance: The content of the article fits the journal's scope and readership.
  • Originality: The article pursues an innovative research question or methodological approach.
  • Research questions: The research questions are presented clearly and understandably within the article.
  • Background: The theoretical and scientific background is presented in detail and is included in the discussion.
  • Methods: Scientific methods are appropriate to the subject matter, applied carefully and described transparently.
  • Results: Results and conclusions are clearly presented and discussed in a comprehensible way.

3 | Assessment

The evaluation is performed based on the reviews and leads to one of the following options:

  • accept for publication
  • accept for publication with minor revision
  • accept for publication with significant revision
  • declined for publication

4 | Revision

The authors have the opportunity to revise the manuscript based on the reviews and editorial comments as well as to respond to questions and comments from the reviewers.

5 | Editorial decision and final proofreading

The editorial team makes a final decision directly or after consultation with the reviewers.

  • accept for publication
  • re-evaluation by the previous reviewers or a new reviewer ➟ step (2)
  • decline for publication

Accepted publications andergo a final, careful proofreading (linguistic accuracy and readability, completeness of the references, formal compliance with submission guidelines).