Peer Review Process
The IEEE-TAS publishes only selected, peer-reviewed articles. Submitted articles will be given an initial assessment for suitability. Articles that do not pass this check will be un-submitted from the system and returned to authors under a very short deadline for re-submission. See policies about Suitability.
Articles will be checked for content shared with other publications and with other manuscripts submitted to the ASC 2012 special issue, using tools such as Ithenticate and Cross-Check. See the policy on re-use of material.
After submission, editorial staff will enlist two or more referees to evaluate the technical content and other aspects of the manuscript. Referees will provide comments via the standard IEEE-TAS Review Form, which is different than the special review forms used for past ASC’s.
Authors and referees should notice that, at the bottom of this review form, certain recommendations to the editor are made:
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A recommendation of “publish after major revisions” from the referee will be interpreted by the editors as a recommendation toreject the paper unless the subsequent stage reaches “publish after minor revisions” or “publish without alteration”. A paper with this recommendation needs substantial effort to correct major flaws, errors in logic, thought processes, or deficiencies in presentation. Authors should take care to respond to every issue raised by the referees and editor. Also, authors should explicitly summarize all changes in the manuscript. Authors may reject or rebut comments made by referees, and in this case an explanation and specific materials or changes to the manuscript should be pointed out. Upon receipt of the revised manuscript, the editor will evaluate the author responses and the changed content. A previous referee may be consulted a second time by the editor to confirm that concerns were indeed addressed by the changes in the manuscript. Also, new referees may be contacted for their opinion. |
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A recommendation of “publish after minor revisions” will be interpreted by editors to accept the manuscript for publication, provided that concerns are resolved in one pass between the editor and author. This recommendation usually applies to papers with minor flaws in presentation or content, which otherwise have good logic, convincing data, solid interpretations, and so on. Authors should take care to respond to every issue raised by the referees and editor. Upon return of a corrected manuscript, the editor will make a final decision, usually without further consultation with a referee. |
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| • | A recommendation to “accept the paper without alteration” is a clear signal to the editor to accept the manuscript. |
In summary, authors should notice that only 2 stages of revision are recommended under the IEEE review system for the special issue. Papers that do not improve at each stage will motivate editors to issue a reject decision under typical circumstances. A graphical summary of the peer review process, including statistics for past ASC conferences, appears here.
Also, authors should note that papers that are not returned in a timely manner may result in a deferral to the regular issue of IEEE-TAS.
In all cases, it is the editor who makes the decision to accept a manuscript for publication. Most ASC 2012 papers will be accepted by Technical Editors. Combined papers will be managed and accepted by special Combined Paper Editors. Area Lead Editors and the EIC shall be consulted for all papers facing rejection. That is, two editorial levels will evaluate recommendations before a reject decision is made.