{"id":1157,"date":"2026-06-28T08:23:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T08:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/?page_id=1157"},"modified":"2026-06-28T08:23:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T08:23:19","slug":"3-editorial-and-peer-review-policy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/publishing-policies\/3-editorial-and-peer-review-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"3. Editorial and Peer Review Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>3.1 Purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Editorial decisions are guided exclusively by scholarly merit, originality, methodological rigour, ethical integrity, and contribution to knowledge. The publisher safeguards editorial independence from commercial, political, institutional, ideological, or personal influence at every stage of the publishing process.<\/p>\n<p>This policy should be read together with the Publication Ethics Policy, Research Integrity, Authorship Policy, and related publishing policies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.2 Initial Editorial Assessment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Every proposal and manuscript undergoes an initial editorial evaluation to determine its suitability for publication.<\/p>\n<p>The assessment considers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>originality and intellectual contribution;<\/li>\n<li>scholarly significance;<\/li>\n<li>methodological soundness;<\/li>\n<li>relevance to the publisher&#8217;s mission;<\/li>\n<li>ethical compliance;<\/li>\n<li>clarity of presentation;<\/li>\n<li>suitability for digital publication; and<\/li>\n<li>potential international readership.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Manuscripts that fall outside the publisher&#8217;s scope or fail to meet minimum scholarly standards may be declined without external review.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.3 Peer Review<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Depending on the nature of the publication, Rupkatha Books may employ:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Double-Blind Peer Review;<\/li>\n<li>Single-Blind Peer Review;<\/li>\n<li>Independent Expert Review;<\/li>\n<li>Editorial Review; or<\/li>\n<li>other recognised review models appropriate to the discipline.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Editorial Board determines the most appropriate review process for each publication and communicates this to authors.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.4 Selection of Reviewers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Reviewers are selected on the basis of recognised expertise, research achievements, disciplinary knowledge, independence, and the absence of conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n<p>Rupkatha Books is committed to building a diverse international reviewer community representing different regions, institutions, scholarly traditions, languages, and methodological perspectives.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.5 Responsibilities of Reviewers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Reviewers are expected to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>evaluate manuscripts objectively and constructively;<\/li>\n<li>maintain strict confidentiality;<\/li>\n<li>disclose actual or potential conflicts of interest;<\/li>\n<li>identify ethical or scholarly concerns;<\/li>\n<li>assess originality and academic contribution;<\/li>\n<li>provide evidence-based recommendations; and<\/li>\n<li>complete reviews within agreed timeframes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Peer review should contribute to improving scholarship while maintaining fairness, professionalism, and respect for authors.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.6 Editorial Decisions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Editorial decisions may include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>acceptance;<\/li>\n<li>acceptance subject to minor revisions;<\/li>\n<li>invitation to undertake major revisions;<\/li>\n<li>further peer review where necessary; or<\/li>\n<li>rejection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All decisions are based solely on academic merit and compliance with the publisher&#8217;s editorial and ethical standards.<\/p>\n<p>Reviewer reports are normally shared with authors while preserving reviewer confidentiality where applicable.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.7 Revision Process<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Authors invited to revise their manuscripts should respond systematically to reviewer and editorial comments.<\/p>\n<p>Revised submissions may undergo further editorial assessment or additional peer review, depending on the nature and extent of the revisions.<\/p>\n<p>Failure to submit revisions within the agreed-upon timeframe may result in withdrawal of the manuscript from consideration.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.8 Editorial Independence<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Editorial independence is fundamental to the integrity of scholarly publishing.<\/p>\n<p>Editorial decisions shall never be influenced by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>publication charges or funding arrangements;<\/li>\n<li>institutional partnerships;<\/li>\n<li>commercial interests;<\/li>\n<li>political or ideological considerations;<\/li>\n<li>nationality or institutional prestige;<\/li>\n<li>personal relationships; or<\/li>\n<li>any protected personal characteristic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The sole basis for publication is scholarly quality.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.9 Confidentiality<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>All proposals, manuscripts, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, and unpublished materials shall be treated as confidential.<\/p>\n<p>Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff shall not disclose or use unpublished material except for legitimate editorial purposes or where required by law.<\/p>\n<p>Confidentiality obligations continue after completion of the editorial process.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.10 Appeals<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Authors who believe that an editorial decision resulted from a procedural error, conflict of interest, or demonstrable misunderstanding may submit a written appeal.<\/p>\n<p>Appeals must present substantive scholarly or procedural grounds rather than disagreement with academic judgement.<\/p>\n<p>Appeals are considered by the Editorial Board, whose decision shall normally be final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>3.1 Purpose Editorial decisions are guided exclusively by scholarly merit, originality, methodological rigour, ethical integrity, and contribution to knowledge. The publisher safeguards editorial independence from commercial, political, institutional, ideological, or personal influence at every stage of the publishing process. This policy should be read together with the Publication Ethics Policy, Research Integrity, Authorship Policy, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1148,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1157","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1158,"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1157\/revisions\/1158"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}