Time to Online Publication

Overview

Journal of the Academic Forum adheres to international publishing standards as outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We maintain strict timeframes to ensure a transparent and efficient peer review process, allowing authors to easily track the status of their manuscripts via our online submission system.

Duration Breakdown

The overall duration of the publication process is divided into several key stages:

1. Initial Screening & Plagiarism Check (3-7 working days)

  • Technical Compliance Verification:
    • Ensuring proper formatting and a structured abstract that includes Purpose, Methods, Findings, and Originality.
    • Verification of keywords (3-6 terms).
    • Adherence to referencing style: APA 7th edition or IEEE.
  • Similarity Screening:
    • Conducted using Ithenticate.
    • Manuscripts must have ≤20% similarity, with less than 5% from any single source.
    • Manuscripts exceeding these thresholds will be desk-rejected.

2. Peer Review (7-30 working days)

  • Review Process:
    • Double-blind review by a minimum of two independent experts.
  • Additional Review Period (7-14 days) may occur if:
    • There are conflicting reviewer reports.
    • Ethical concerns arise (e.g., authorship disputes or data fabrication).

3. Ethical Compliance

  • Authorship Confirmation:
    • Must meet the ICMJE criteria.
  • Data Availability Statement:
    • Must adhere to the FAIR principles.

4. Revision Period (2-4 weeks)

  • Decision Types:
    • Accept (with Minor or Major revisions).
    • Reject (with detailed reviewer comments).
  • Author Obligations:
    • Submit a revised manuscript with highlighted changes and a point-by-point response letter.
    • A maximum of 30 days for resubmission; extensions require editorial approval.

5. Final Editorial Review (1-2 weeks)

  • Validation of Revisions:
    • Conducted by the Associate Editor (content) and Copy Editor (language).
    • CrossCheck will be performed on revised sections for text recycling.

6. Publication (7-14 days post-acceptance)

  • Pre-production:
    • DOI assignment (via Crossref).
    • Integration of ORCID for all authors (if available).
    • Proofreading (authors receive galley proof for final approval).
  • Post-production:
    • Early Online First publication within 48 hours of approval.
    • Author services include notification email with citation details (DOI, issue), PDF reprint, and a shareable link.

Publication Ethics

This document is based on the COPE Code of Conduct, the Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, and the Publishers' Code of Conduct.