Rules and Regulations of the Review Process

1. A manuscript is accepted for consideration only if it meets the requirements of Authors’ guidelines of “Russian Juridical Journal”. Specific directions for preparing articles can be found on the Journal’s website.

2. Upon submission, the editor shall register a manuscript in the Registration journal specifying the date of its submission, title, name of the author and the author’s place of work. Simultaneously, an individual registration number shall be assigned to the manuscript. Plagiarism is checked and the manuscript and information about the author are evaluated from the point of view of compliance with requirements of Authors’ guidelines of “Russian Juridical Journal”.

3. The editor shall refer for a review an "impersonal" manuscript (all information about the author is excluded from the manuscript) by e-mail along with the standard review form to an Editorial board member, responsible for the corresponding research area or the scientific discipline who has publications on the topic of the manuscript for the past 3 years. In case the Editorial board member is absent or the manuscript is submitted by an Editorial board member the editor shall refer the manuscript for review to an external reviewer/expert (see para 10).

4. The reviewer shall assess the manuscript within the period of 2 weeks starting from the manuscript’s receipt. Upon expiration of this period, the reviewer shall send the review or the reasonable rejection to review the manuscript by e-mail.

5. “Russian Juridical Journal” recommends using a standard review form for reviewing. The reviewer in the review form fills in the standard fields, where he assesses the relevance, novelty, structure of the manuscript, style, the culture of citation, if there are comments or recommendations, the reviewer indicates them in special fields of the review form. The reviewer can recommend the manuscript for publication; recommend for publication after revision / taking into account the comments; discommend the manuscript for publication. If the reviewer recommends the manuscript for publication after revision / taking into account the comments or discommends the manuscript for publication, the review should indicate the reasons for this decision. Reviews are stored in the editorial office for 5 years. Upon receipt of the corresponding request by the editorial office of the journal, copies of the reviews are submitted to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

6. After receiving the review, the editor sends the “impersonal” review to the author by e-mail. If the author of the manuscript does not agree with the comments of the reviewer, he can submit reasoned objections. After considering such objections, the editor can send the manuscript to another Editorial board member, responsible for the corresponding research area or the scientific discipline who has publications on the topic of the manuscript for the past 3 years.

7. In a manuscript sent by the author to the Editorial Office after the removal of comments, all the changes made by the author must be indicated. All corrections should be listed in the cover letter. If the author does not agree with the certain comments of the reviewer, he must submit a reasoned objection in the cover letter. A manuscript sent by the author after the removal of the comments is considered in the general order (paras 3–6). In the Registration journal, a note is made about the date of receipt of the new edition of the manuscript.

8. The manuscripts shall be discussed at the Editorial board meeting and the final decision on their publishing shall be made. Based on the decision taken, a letter is sent to the author by e-mail on behalf of the editorial board. If there are comments the letter provides guidance on completion of the manuscript; if the manuscript is not accepted for publication, the reasons for such a decision are indicated. The letter also informs in which issue the article will be published.

9. In a manuscript sent by the author to the editor after the removal of the editorial board's comments, all corrections made by the author must be indicated. The list of corrections made should be indicated in the cover letter. A manuscript sent by the author after the removal of the comments is considered in the general order (paragraphs 3–8). In the journal of registration of manuscripts, a note is made about the date of receipt of the manuscript new edition.

10. External reviewers /experts can be engaged in cases as follows: the absence of the Editorial board member in a certain field; an Editorial board member rejects to review the manuscript; the Editorial board disagrees with the opinion of the Editorial board member expressed in the review; the manuscript is submitted by an Editorial board member. At the next meeting, the Editorial Board shall make a decision to refer to a scientist who has expertise and publications in a particular scientific area for the past 3 years. On behalf of the Editorial Board, this scientist shall be requested to make a review. The manuscript, the standard review form shall be attached to the request.