Review Process

^{Last update: 08/02/2022}

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System

Currently, Estudios de Deusto. Revista de Derecho Público uses a double-blind peer review system: mandatory anonymity for both the reviewer and reviewed author throughout the review process.

The Editor and the Managing Editor of the Journal with the participation of the Editorial Board and the advice of the Advisory Board will decide the publication of the works based on an external, anonymous and independent evaluation.

Reviewers 

The reviewers are professors, researchers and/or professionals who have accredited knowledge in the field of Public Law.

The reviewers collaborate voluntarily with the Journal and do so acting in accordance with the editorial policy of the Journal and its Ethical Guidelines. Their work is confidential and they cannot publish or disclose in any way their review work on a specific work or manuscript without prior authorization from the editor and the author. They can only make known their work as a reviewer of the Journal, the year or years in which they have carried out this task and the number of evaluations or revisions carried out.

Initial submission of manuscripts

The Editor, with the help of the Managing Editor, performs a first verification of the compliance of the submitted manuscripts with the editorial policy and submission guidelines.

In order to prevent plagiarism and unethical practices, TURNITIN software will be used to verify the originality of the manuscripts received by the Journal.

Manuscripts that do not meet the criteria indicated in the Guidelines for authors in terms of format, citation standards, languages or focus and scope of the Journal will be rejected without being evaluated. In the event that the rejection is motivated by questions of format or citation standards, the manuscript may be corrected and therefore it may be accepted and submitted to the corresponding peer review.

The authors must send the final manuscripts, not mere drafts that they must or want to modify later.

Appointment of reviewers and duties of reviewers

The Editor assigns the evaluation of the manuscripts received to two external reviewers.

Reviewers must confirm acceptance of the assignment within 7 days of receiving the Editor's invitation. If he does not, the Editor will assume that he cannot perform the assigned task and will contact another reviewer. For the evaluation of the assigned manuscript, the reviewer must use the standard form designed for this purpose. Reviewers should submit their reports to the Editor within 31 days of receipt of the manuscript for review.

The reviewer's report may contain the following recommendations:

1. Accept publication: the manuscript can be published as submitted.
   
   
2. Requires modifications: the manuscript can be published once minor modifications are made.
   
   
3. Requires substantial modifications: the manuscript needs substantial modifications and the modified version requires a second revision before it can be published in the Journal.
   
   
4. Reject publication: the manuscript must not be published in the Journal. 

In any case, the reviewers must justify their recommendation and must ensure that their identity is kept confidential in the report.

In addition, the evaluation process is subject to strict conditions of confidentiality. Neither the reviewers nor the authors will know their identities to avoid possible conflicts of interest. In this sense, the Editor and the Managing Editor of the Journal will have a strict duty of confidentiality. Similarly, all manuscripts received for review should be treated as confidential documents. They should not be shown or discussed with others, unless expressly authorized by the Editor of the Journal.

Final decision on publication

The Editor will prepare a decision letter based on the reviewers' comments, which will be emailed to the corresponding author, again within 7 days of receipt of the reviewers' reports. The Director's decision is final.

The Editor's final decision may consist of:

1. Accept publication: the manuscript can be published as submitted.
   
   
2. Requires modifications: the manuscript can be published once minor modifications are made.
   
   
3. Requires substantial modifications: the manuscript needs substantial modifications and the modified version requires a second revision before it can be published in the Journal.
   
   
4. Reject publication: the manuscript must not be published in the Journal.

In the event that the decision requires modifications, the Editor will send the author the comments or suggestions of the reviewers, as well as may add suggestions or comments of the Journal's Editor and Managing Editor.

The author may reject the modifications and consequently the publication of the manuscript in the Journal. If the author accepts the aforementioned modifications, he will have a period of 14 days in the event that minor or non-substantial modifications are required and 31 days in the event that substantial modifications are needed. If they do not meet this deadline, the publication of the manuscript may be rejected and, in any case, its publication may be delayed. If substantial modifications are required, in principle the reviewers who initially reviewed the manuscript will review the revised manuscript again. The Editor, once the reports from the reviewers have been received, will have a maximum period of 7 days to let the author know the final decision on the publication of the revised manuscript in the Journal. 

Duration of the review process

Our purpose is that the review process does not take too long for the benefit of the authors and the Journal itself. Once the manuscripts have been received, their receipt will be confirmed within 7 days and their initial acceptance will be confirmed so that they can be evaluated. Once accepted for review, the process can take 2-3 months. However, situations of force majeure may occur, that is, unforeseen and unavoidable situations that may delay this process for multiple reasons due to the circumstances of the Editor of the Journal and/or the reviewers who collaborate voluntarily. Therefore, if an author has not received a response in 3 months from the Editor, we would appreciate it if you could write to the electronic mail address of the Journal (revistaestudios@deusto.es), to the Editor (gordillo@deusto.es) or to the Managing Editor (belen.garcia@deusto.es).