Peer Review Policy
Clifford has been proud to uphold high-quality standard and believes in the integrity of peer review. It means all Clifford publications have been through rigorous peer review, and their quality, validity, and relevance have been assessed by independent peers within the field.
Clifford enforces “double blind” reviewing, in which the referees and the authors remain anonymous to each other. The handling editors conduct a preliminary review of all submitted manuscripts and only those that meet the minimum criteria will be passed on to at least two expert referees for formal reviewing.
Whenever possible, referees are matched to the manuscript according to their expertise. Referees are asked to provide an assessment of the various aspects of a manuscript:
Context: Is the context of research explicitly and fully explained?
Originality and significance: Is it original as to thought and method (including data)? Does it clearly add to the knowledge and development of the field?
Data and methodology: Is it methodologically sound? Is the reporting of data and methodology sufficiently detailed and transparent?
Results: Are results clearly presented? Is there appropriate use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties?
Conclusions: Are conclusions and data interpretation robust, valid and reliable?
References: Does it correctly and exhaustively reference previous relevant work?
Ethics: Does it follow appropriate ethical guidelines?
The handling editors then make a decision based on the reviewers' advice, from among several possibilities:
Accept upon minor revisions
Accept upon major revisions
Reject, but indicate to the authors that further work might justify a resubmission
Reject outright, typically on grounds of lack of novelty, insufficient conceptual advance or major technical problems
The time required for the review process depends on the response of the referees. The typical time for the first round of the refereeing process is approximately 4-6 weeks, with a maximum of three months.
A final decision to accept or reject the manuscript will be sent to the author along with the recommendations made by the referees.