Peer Review Process

The stages of the journal publishing process are as follows:

Every manuscript submitted to INOVA: Journal of Innovation and Community Development undergoes a rigorous editorial evaluation and Double-Blind Peer Review process to ensure scientific quality, originality, and contribution to community development. During the review process, the identities of both authors and reviewers are kept confidential to maintain fairness and objectivity. Any information that may reveal the identity of the authors is removed before the manuscript is sent to reviewers.

The editorial process begins with Manuscript Submission through the Open Journal Systems (OJS). The Editorial Team then conducts an Initial Editorial Screening to ensure that the manuscript complies with the journal's focus and scope, author guidelines, publication ethics, and submission requirements. Manuscripts that pass this stage proceed to a Similarity Check using plagiarism detection software.

Manuscripts that meet the journal's requirements are assigned to a Section Editor according to their subject area and are subsequently sent to at least two independent reviewers through a Double-Blind Peer Review process. Reviewers evaluate the manuscript based on the originality of the community service program, its impact and benefits to society, the quality of the implementation methods, clarity of presentation, accuracy of the discussion, and its relevance to the journal's focus and scope.

Based on the reviewers' recommendations, the editor will make one of the following decisions:

1. Accept – The manuscript is accepted for publication without further revisions or with only minor editorial revisions.
2. Minor Revision – The manuscript requires minor revisions before it can be accepted.
3. Major Revision – The manuscript requires substantial revisions and may be returned to the reviewers for Re-Review after revision.
4. Reject – The manuscript is rejected because it does not meet the journal's scientific standards, falls outside the journal's scope, or contains significant methodological weaknesses.

Authors are expected to revise their manuscripts carefully by addressing all reviewer comments and ensuring the accuracy of the manuscript, references, tables, figures, and supporting data. After the revision process is completed, the Editor-in-Chief makes the Final Decision regarding the manuscript.

Accepted manuscripts proceed to the Copyediting, Layout Editing, and Author Proofreading stages to ensure the quality of the language, formatting, and layout before publication. Once all stages have been completed, the article will be published in INOVA: Journal of Innovation and Community Development, which is published twice a year, in January and July.

The time required to reach a final decision may vary depending on the number of review rounds, the responsiveness of reviewers and authors during the revision process, and the overall quality of the submitted manuscript.