Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to Jurnal Aceh Medika go through double-blind peer review: reviewers do not know the identity of the authors, and authors do not know the identity of the reviewers. The process follows the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers and is managed in this website (OJS).

Stages

  1. Submission. Authors submit through this website. Submissions by e-mail are not accepted.
  2. Initial screening (target: 7 days). The editor checks fit with the Focus and Scope, completeness of the submission files, the article template, and the similarity report.
  3. Similarity check. Manuscripts are checked with similarity detection software. Manuscripts with an overall similarity above 20%, or a large match to a single source, are returned to the authors or rejected (see Plagiarism Screening).
  4. Peer review (target: up to 21 days per round). At least two reviewers who are experts in the field and are not from the authors' institution are invited. If a reviewer does not respond within 7 days, another reviewer is invited.
  5. Editorial decision. The Editor-in-Chief decides, based on the reviewers' recommendations, to accept the manuscript, request minor revision, request major revision, or decline it. If the reviewers disagree, an additional reviewer is invited.
  6. Revision (up to 30 days). Authors answer every reviewer comment in a response table. Revised manuscripts may be sent back to the original reviewers.
  7. Acceptance and production. Accepted manuscripts are copyedited, typeset, and proofread. Authors approve the final proof before publication.

Review criteria

Reviewers assess originality, fit with the scope, clarity of the research question, soundness of methods and ethics, quality of analysis and discussion, whether the conclusions are supported by the results, and the quality and currency of the references.

Reviewers

Reviewers must declare any conflict of interest, must keep manuscripts confidential, and must not use generative AI tools during review (see the Generative AI Policy).

Manuscripts by editors

Manuscripts written by members of the editorial team are handled by an editor who is not involved in the work, and the author takes no part in the decision.