Peer Review Policy

Fatima Journal of Sugarcane, Chemical and Crop Sciences (FJSC) utilizes an online manuscript submission, peer-review and editorial tracking system to facilitate an efficient, transparent and rigorous publication process. The journal is committed to providing timely editorial decisions while maintaining high standards of scientific quality and research integrity.

The journal aims to provide an initial peer-review process within approximately 4–6 weeks, depending on the subject area, availability of suitable reviewers, and the complexity of the manuscript. Publication timelines following acceptance depend on the completion of editorial, production and author-proofing procedures.

Initial Editorial Assessment

All manuscripts submitted to FJSC undergo an initial editorial screening before being considered for external peer review. The editorial office assesses each submission for:

  • Compliance with the journal's aims and scope

  • Basic scientific and methodological quality

  • Originality and relevance

  • Ethical and publication requirements

  • Completeness of the submission

  • Compliance with manuscript preparation guidelines

  • Potential plagiarism or inappropriate text overlap

Manuscripts that do not meet the journal's basic requirements or fall outside its scope may be returned to the authors or declined without external peer review.

Editorial Evaluation

Following the initial screening, eligible manuscripts are assigned to the Editor-in-Chief or an appropriate handling editor for an editorial assessment.

The editor evaluates the manuscript's scientific relevance, originality, methodological soundness, significance and suitability for the journal.

Manuscripts considered suitable for further evaluation are sent for external peer review.

External Peer Review

FJSC follows a single-blind peer-review process, in which the identities of reviewers are not disclosed to authors.

Research manuscripts are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject experts with appropriate expertise in the relevant scientific discipline.

Depending on the manuscript and subject area, additional reviewers may be invited when necessary.

Reviewers are requested to assess, among other considerations:

  • Originality and scientific contribution

  • Scientific validity

  • Methodological rigor

  • Quality and interpretation of data

  • Appropriateness of statistical analysis

  • Relevance of the literature

  • Clarity and organization

  • Reproducibility and transparency

  • Ethical considerations

  • Overall significance to sugarcane, crop, chemical or related agricultural sciences

The final editorial decision is based on the reviewers' recommendations together with the independent judgment of the handling editor.

Editorial Decisions

Following peer review, the editor may reach one of the following decisions:

Accept
The manuscript is accepted without substantial further changes.

Minor Revision
The manuscript requires limited corrections or clarification before a final decision.

Major Revision
Substantial revisions are required before the manuscript can be considered further.

Reject and Resubmit
The manuscript requires significant improvement and may be considered as a new submission after substantial revision.

Reject
The manuscript is not considered suitable for publication in the journal.

The corresponding author is informed of the editorial decision through the online submission system and/or registered email address.

Revision of Manuscripts

When revisions are requested, authors should submit:

  1. A revised version of the manuscript; and

  2. A point-by-point response to all reviewer and editorial comments.

The response should clearly indicate how each comment has been addressed and identify the corresponding changes made in the revised manuscript.

Authors should respond to every substantive reviewer comment. Where an author disagrees with a reviewer recommendation, a clear scientific justification should be provided.

A revised manuscript may be returned to the original reviewers, sent to new reviewers, or evaluated solely by the handling editor, depending on the extent and nature of the revisions.

Final Editorial Decision

A manuscript is formally accepted only after all substantive scientific and editorial issues have been satisfactorily addressed.

Acceptance is based on the editor's assessment of the revised manuscript and, where applicable, the reviewers' recommendations.

The journal reserves the right to decline a manuscript at any stage before formal acceptance if significant scientific, ethical, methodological or publication-related concerns are identified.

Production and Proofreading

After formal acceptance, the manuscript proceeds to the production stage.

Authors will receive page proofs or an electronic proof of the formatted article for final checking.

At the proof stage, authors are expected to check primarily for:

  • Typographical errors

  • Formatting errors

  • Author names and affiliations

  • Figures and tables

  • Equations and symbols

  • References

  • Other production-related errors

Substantive changes to the scientific content, results, conclusions or interpretation are generally not permitted at the proof stage unless specifically approved by the editorial team.

Authors should return corrections within the timeframe specified by the production office to avoid delays in publication.

The journal reserves the right to make final decisions concerning formatting, house style, article presentation, figure dimensions and placement, and other production matters.

Publication of Accepted Articles

Following completion of the production process and final author approval, accepted articles are prepared for online publication.

Articles may be published online individually or as part of a scheduled journal issue, depending on the journal's publication workflow.

Each published article is assigned the appropriate bibliographic and digital identifiers in accordance with the journal's publishing and indexing arrangements.

Commitment to Timely and Rigorous Publication

FJSC aims to balance speed with scientific rigor. The journal seeks to provide authors with timely editorial decisions while ensuring that manuscripts receive appropriate and independent scholarly evaluation.

The stated review period is an approximate target rather than a guaranteed publication timeframe, as the duration of peer review may vary according to reviewer availability, manuscript complexity, revision requirements and other editorial circumstances.

The journal's primary objective is to publish original, scientifically sound and meaningful research that advances knowledge in sugarcane, crop sciences, chemical sciences and related areas of agricultural and agro-industrial research.