What are the stages of Peer Review?

Please note, the time spent in review is unique to each paper, ranging from a few weeks to several months, depending on submission quality and reviewer availability. Due to this, we are unable to give estimate timeframes for each stage of the peer review process.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 1. Initial Checks
• 2. Double-Anonymized Peer Review
• 3. First Decision
• 4. Revision
• 5. Final Decision

1. Initial Checks

Upon submission of an article, Sage will conduct a thorough review to ensure that the article meets the journal’s standards in terms of scope, language quality, anonymity, plagiarism, and authorship integrity. Should any concerns arise during this assessment, the manuscript might either be sent back for modification or be rejected outright.

At this stage, authors may receive an immediate rejection, also known as a ‘desk reject’. This occurs when a paper is rejected before making it to the peer review stage. Depending on the editor’s rationale behind the desk reject,  authors are advised to consider submitting their work to an alternative journal or revise and resubmit the manuscript for consideration once more. 

2. Double-Anonymized Peer Review

Following the completion of our initial checks, your manuscript will proceed to the peer review stage. We will extend invitations to potential reviewers and await receipt of at least two comprehensive and complete evaluations. Most of our journals follow a double-anonymized peer review process, which ensures the anonymity of both authors and reviewers remain confidential. The duration of the peer review stage may vary depending on the subject matter of your article and the availability of reviewers. Should a reviewer opt out of assessing your manuscript, they may offer insights into their decision, which could range from concerns over the manuscript’s language quality or the robustness of the study, to personal time constraints. A pattern of declines from reviewers, particularly if the abstract is cited as a contributing factor, may compel us to consider rejecting the manuscript. This highlights the critical significance of crafting a well-articulated abstract.

Not all journals use the double-anonymized Peer Review method, please see our Types of Peer Review webpage to learn more about the different types of Peer Review.

At Sage we offer open peer review on some journals through our Transparent Peer Review program, whereby reviews are published alongside the final article, allowing research to be published in a completely open format. The names of the reviewers may also be published, depending on the reviewers’ preference. This approach gives readers access to the peer review process, from submission through to publication. By publishing reviewer comments, authors can demonstrate that their manuscript has been through a rigorous peer review process, and reviewers and editors can gain recognition for their work. Please visit our website for a list of Sage journals that offer open peer review.

3. First Decision

Upon completion of the peer review process, your review panel will submit their recommendation to our Editorial Office After the proposed decision has been ratified by the editor, you will be informed of the outcome via an official decision letter. For further details regarding your decision, please visit What does my decision mean?

4. Revision

We kindly request that you thoroughly examine the feedback provided by your review team to minimize the need for multiple rounds of review. To expedite the review process, please indicate any changes made in a letter to your reviewers and in the revised manuscript. If you choose not to implement advised alterations, please provide a rationale behind this decision. Although employing ‘track changes’ or colour differentiation in text is acceptable, we advise against the overuse of highlighting to maintain the document’s legibility.  Upon submission of your manuscript’s updated version to our peer review platform, please ensure the removal of any prior drafts Kindly upload a clean copy of your revised manuscript for us to forward to Production. Should you require an extension on your revision deadline, please contact our Editorial Office via email. We also remind you to refrain from submitting your revised manuscript as a new entry. 

5. Final Decision

Upon the conclusion of the peer review process, the editor will render a final decision on your paper and you will be notified via email. If your paper is accepted it will be subjected to additional verifications to confirm the currency of the files, and the accuracy of the author information. We may conduct another plagiarism check on the manuscript using our software to ensure that no issues have arisen during the revision process. If we do not receive a clean copy of your manuscript, we will request one at this stage. Your paper will then be exported to our Production team to begin the proofing and publishing process.