1. The MATRIX Editorial Board reserves the right to publish or not submitted manuscripts and informs the authors of its decision within a reasonable time frame. Commitment form will be sent to the author/s for accomplishment to assure the commitment to the journal’s process up to completion.
This decision is supported by an evaluation of the manuscripts based on the two stages:
a) First stage: Initial assessment by the Editorial Board, which decides on the manuscript’s submission based on the criteria set by the MATRIX Editorial Board such as: significance/relevance to the theme, scientific rigor of the manuscript, originality of manuscript, findings/conclusions are literature or data-based, overall contribution to the field, and writing style/composition/clarity as well as the manuscript’s conformity to the submission guidelines contained in this document. The author will be notified if his/her paper passed the initial assessment to undergo the next stage.
b) Second stage: If the manuscript passed the initial assessment, the manuscript will undergo a rigorous evaluation by expert reviewers through a double-blind peer review system in which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties. Reviews resulting from this process will be used as a basis for the final decision on the manuscript’s publication. During this time, the review takes 2-3 months and is the most difficult task in the process. We are asking for the authors’ patience during this tedious stage.
2. The MATRIX Editorial Board will notify the author whether the Editorial Board has accepted or rejected her manuscript for publication. The recommendation of the reviewers may be: Accepted, accepted with minor revisions, accepted with major revisions, and rejected. Manuscripts accepted with revisions will undergo a new evaluation of the revised paper to make the final decision on its publication. Full acceptance is only given when all the recommended revisions are addressed. The recommendations of the reviewers may include:
Accepted. The manuscript would be suitable for publication in its current form (after copy editing and proofreading).
Accepted with revision. The manuscript could be suitable for publication after the author(s) have responded to the reviewer’s comments and made changes where necessary. These changes could include redoing experiments or a substantial rewrite of
several sections.
Rejected. The manuscript is not suitable, and it should not be considered further. There are many reasons for the decline: faulty premise, sparse or old literature, faulty referencing, poor methodology, weak analysis, etc.
3. In the case of manuscripts submitted to the second stage of evaluation are not accepted for publication, the editor will inform the authors of the reasons for this decision, generally attaching the reviewers’ opinions and sending them to the authors.
4. The author will be receiving a notification for publication once his/her paper is accepted. In this stage, the paper will undergo grammar check, proofreading, editing and overall layout. Also, acknowledgement of publication to be signed by the author confirming and giving the rights for the publication.
5. Release of issue.