Editorial Stages

Editorial Stages

Introduction

This page is intended to explain to authors and other participants in the publication process the main editorial stages. Let's start by defining the key terms:

  • Manuscript — an unpublished research submitted by the author or authors to the Journal.

  • Peer Review — expert evaluation of the manuscript by independent specialists in the field covered by the research.

  • Double-Blind Peer Review — a type of review where neither the author nor the reviewer knows each other's identities.

  • Copy Editing — the process of adjusting the text of the manuscript in accordance with literary and linguistic standards.

  • Layout — preparation of the manuscript in the format of a research article for publication in the next issue of the journal.

  • Article — published research presented as a scientific text, formatted and laid out in accordance with the requirements of the Journal, and containing publication details.

The editorial process includes several stages:

1. Preliminary Review of the Manuscript's Thesis (optional)

If you have doubts about whether your work matches the journal’s theme, you can use the form for a preliminary review of the thesis: LINK. The editorial team will contact you with further instructions and discuss publication possibilities.

2. Submission of the Manuscript and Accompanying Documents

All the details regarding manuscript submission and required documents can be found here: LINK

3. Editorial Review of the Manuscript

At this stage, the editorial team reviews the manuscript and its accompanying documents. Rejection of consideration is possible for the following reasons:

  • Incomplete set of accompanying documents.

  • The research topic does not correspond to the journal's scientific focus.

  • Incorrect manuscript formatting.

  • The presence of plagiarized content from already published sources. More on plagiarism can be read here: LINK

4. Peer Review

At this stage, the responsible editor assigns reviewers to the manuscript. Usually, there are three reviewers, although a minimum of two is required. The peer review process takes about a month, but delays may occur due to the workload of reviewers. The editorial team strives to control this process, but if there are significant delays, the reviewer may be replaced. Upon completion of the review, the author will receive one of three decisions:

  • Accept the manuscript.

  • Return for revision with deadlines and recommendations from the reviewers (the revised manuscript should be uploaded in the "Versions" section).

  • Reject the manuscript. Rejected works will not be reconsidered.

If the reviewers' opinions differ, the editorial team may send the revised manuscript for a second round of peer review after receiving the corrected version of the manuscript.

5. Copy Editing

After the author receives the final editorial decision to accept the manuscript, the managing editor organizes the structure of the next issue. The accepted manuscript is then sent to the copy editing stage.

The copy editing process begins long before the formation of the next issue, but not earlier than the publication of the previous one (the editorial team lacks the resources to maintain continuous work on this stage). During this stage, the manuscript is sent to a copy editor, who proofreads the manuscript text, corrects minor errors, and indicates significant ones requiring the author's intervention. After the copy editing is complete, the manuscript is sent to the author(s) by email for approval of minor corrections and agreement on major ones. The author(s) return the manuscript with final corrections within the specified timeframe.

6. Layout

After copy editing, the manuscript is sent to the layout designer, who formats the article according to the issue's structure. The preliminary layout is sent to the author via email along with a form for making corrections and instructions on payment for editorial services. After approval or correction of the layout, the author submits the final revisions to the editorial team.

7. Publication

Once all preparatory stages are completed, the article is published in the next issue of the journal with DOI registration. The author is automatically notified of the publication.

8. Post-Publication Stage

After publication, the editorial team:

  • sends the issue's materials to the WoS and Scopus databases (the editorial team cannot provide exact indexing times, as this process is carried out by the employees of these databases. Unfortunately, the editorial team cannot influence this process);

  • publishes the materials on Cyberleninka and DOAJ;

  • prepares the articles for inclusion in the RISC (this process takes from two weeks to a month);

  • distributes the articles on social networks (including academic ones), as well as in the official Telegram channel: https://t.me/galacticamedia

We hope this guide has helped you understand the publication process. If you still have questions, feel free to reach out via our emails.