Editorial Review and Publication

Authors will be informed of the manuscript’s receipt and editorial decisions by email. During the peer review process, authors can check the status of their manuscript on the Online Manuscript Submission System.

All submissions to HPR go through a double-blind peer review process to ensure content quality. In the first stage, a technical editor checks the format and style of the manuscript to assure its compatibility with HPR’s guidelines for authors. If authors have not considered the guidelines, the manuscript will be returned to the authors.

Editorial board members are informed of new submissions based on their expertise. They assess the submitted manuscripts initially for subject matter, scope compatibility, and novelty. Then the Editor-in-Chief continues the process based on the editorial board members' comments.

Based on the subject matter and the Editor-in-Chief’s decision, the manuscript will then be assigned to section editors. Section editors check the manuscript for content quality (with a focus on methodology, originality, and contribution to knowledge or practice) and English language fluency. The decision at this stage is fast reject, revise and re-submit, or assign to external reviewers for a detailed evaluation. External reviewers are selected based on their scientific background and experience, previous works, authors’ suggestions, and expertise. Every attempt is made to obtain at least 2 or 3 strong reviews of each manuscript. The Editor-in-Chief receives the reviewers’ comments and sends them along with a decision letter to the corresponding author.

HPR adheres to a double-blind peer review process that is fair and ensures the high quality of published articles. HPR’s reviewers are required to declare their conflicts of interest and maintain the confidentiality of the manuscripts they review. The review process takes 16 weeks at the utmost.

 

An HPR decision letter apprises the author of the status of the manuscript in four ways:

1. Acceptance: This decision indicates the manuscript can be published electronically. This process lasts one to two weeks. Before electronic publication, the corresponding author should verify a galley proof of the article. HPR supports the Advance Access initiative by which papers that have been copyedited and typeset but not yet paginated for inclusion in an issue of the journal appear online upon completion of the review process. Advance accessed papers will be placed in a queue to be published in one of HPR’s upcoming issues.

2. Minor Revision: Authors receiving this decision will be given comments on their manuscript and asked to submit a revised copy (showing all changes they have made to the manuscript using Track and Change or highlighted color) and a response to the reviewer’s file in which they need to respond to each and every comment made by the reviewers one by one (for each reviewer separately). Revisions should be submitted within 4 weeks of issuance of the decision letter; otherwise, authors will need to go through a resubmission process.

3. Major Revision: This decision gives the authors a chance to reorganize the manuscript to meet the required scientific criteria for another review process. Authors are also asked to submit a revised copy (showing all changes they have made to the manuscript using Track and Change or highlighted color) and a response to the reviewer’s file in which they must respond to each and every comment made by the reviewers one by one (for each reviewer separately). Revisions should be submitted within 4 weeks of issuance of the decision letter; otherwise, authors will need to go through a resubmission process.

4. Rejection: In most cases of rejection, methodological and scientific concerns are the main rationale. Causes of rejection will be sent to the authors to provide them with a chance for publication in other journals.

 

Appeals Process

Manuscripts resubmitted after minor or major revisions have been made go through the same process as the previous version. They are sent to the peer reviewers who reviewed the previous version of the manuscript as well as new ones if necessary or in case of controversy between peer reviewers. The final decision about the manuscript is made by the Editor-in-Chief.

 

Editing

Accepted manuscripts will be edited according to HPR’s Guide for Authors (this does not include language editing) and returned to the corresponding author for final approval. All contributing authors are responsible for all statements made in the manuscript during editing and production that are authorized by the corresponding author.

 

Corrections

Requests for the publication of corrections should be sent to the editorial office. Corrections will be reviewed by editors, published immediately, and linked online to the original paper.