About the Journal
Focus and Scope
The focus of this journal is in Health Regulation and Policy, Human Resources Management, Medical Record Management, Quality Management of Health Services, Public Health Management, Hospital Accreditation, infection control management and patient safety, health organization and organizational behaviour in hospital, healthcare services, healthcare quality and patient safety, health facilities management, hospital accreditation, patient and employee satisfaction, pain management, inpatient and out-patient management, health insurance, health policy and healthcare informatics etc.
This journal includes the leadership, management and administration of public health systems, hospitals and hospital networks.
- Clinical Department Management
- Clinical Ethics
- Clinical Risk
- Health Data Management
- Health Economics
- Inpatient Management
- Nursing Management
- Out-Patient Management
Peer Review Process
PEER REVIEW PROCESS
Hospital Management Studies Journal (HOMES JOURNAL) is a double blind and peer reviewed international journal. Every paper submitted to HOMES JOURNAL for publication is subject to peer review. The peer review in this journal is an evaluation of the submitted paper by two or more individuals of similar competence to the author. It aims to determine the paper's suitability for publication. The peer review method is employed to maintain standards of quality and provide credibility of the papers published in this journal. The peer review at HOMES JOURNAL proceeds in 9 steps with description as follo
1. Submission of Paper
The corresponding or submitting author submits the paper to the journal. This is carried out via an online system supported by the Open Journal System (OJS). But to facilitate authors, HOMES JOURNAL temporarily also accepts paper submissions by email.
2. Editorial Office Assessment
The submitted paper is first assessed by the HOMES JOURNAL editor. The editor checks whether it is suitable with HOMES JOURNAL focus and scope. The paper’s composition and arrangement are evaluated against the journal’s Author Guidelines to make sure it includes the required sections and stylizations. In addition, an assessment of the minimum required quality of the paper for publication begins at this step, including one that assesses whether there is a major methodological flaw. Every submitted paper which pass this step will be checked by Turnitin to identify any plagiarism before being reviewed by reviewers.
3. Appraisal by the Editor-in-Chief (EIC)
The Editor-in-Chief (EIC) checks if the paper is appropriate for the journal, sufficiently original, interesting, and significant for publication. If not, the paper may be rejected without being reviewed any further.
4. Invitation to Reviewers
The handling editor sends invitations to individuals who he or she believes would be appropriate reviewers (also known as referees) based on expertise, closeness of research interest, and no conflict of interest consideration. The peer review process at HOMES JOURNAL involves a community of experts in a narrowly defined field of health policy, health system, health planning, health care management, who are qualified and able to perform reasonably impartial review. The impartiality is also maintained by double blind peer review process employed in this journal. That said, the reviewer does not know the author’s identity, conversely the author does not know the reviewer’s identity. The paper is sent to two reviewers anonymously.
5. Review is Conducted
The reviewer allocates time to read the paper several times. The first read is used to form an initial impression of the work. If major problems are found at this stage, the reviewer may feel comfortable rejecting the paper without further work. Otherwise they will read the paper several more times, taking notes so as to build a detailed point-by-point review. The review is then submitted to the journal, with a recommendation to accept, or reject it, or else with a request for revision (usually flagged as either major or minor) before it is reconsidered.
6. Journal Evaluates the Reviews
The EIC and handling editor considers all the returned reviews before making an overall decision. If the reviews differ widely between both reviewers, the handling editor may invite an additional reviewer so as to obtain an extra opinion before making a decision.
7. The Decision is Communicated
The editor sends a decision email to the author including any relevant reviewer comments. Reviewers' comment are sent anonymously to corresponding author to take the necessary actions and responses. At this point, reviewers are also be sent an email or letter letting them know the outcome of their review.
8. Final Steps
If accepted, the paper is sent to production. If the article is rejected or sent back to the author for either major or minor revision, the handling editor will include constructive comments from the reviewers to help the author improve the article. The author should make corrections and revise the paper per the reviewers’ comments and instructions. After revision has been made, the author should resubmit the revised paper to the editor supplemented with a cover page containing a check list that declares points of correction and revision that have been made. If the paper was sent back for revision, the reviewers should expect to receive the revised version, unless they have opted out of further participation. However, where only minor changes were requested this follow-up review might be done by the handling editor. If the editor is happy with the revised paper, it is considered to be accepted. The accepted papers will be published online and all are freely available as downloadable pdf files.
