Peer Review Process
Before being accepted for publication, all articles received by the editorial board of Historical Geography Journal are subjected to thorough scientific expertise:
1. The editorial board determines whether the article complies with the general requirements of the journal (its thematic scope, presence of the required metadata, formatting, and the quality of illustrations). If the article fails to meet these requirements and it does not follow the submission guidelines it is not considered further. All articles are checked for plagiarism on submission.
2. The editorial board sends the article to the reviewers. All articles sent to the journal are subject to double-blind peer review, which means that the reviewers have no knowledge of the author’s personal information, and vice versa. All reviewers are recognized experts on the subject of peer-reviewed materials who have published on the article’s subject matter during the last three years.
3. A typical peer review should address the following criteria:
- How original is the paper?
- How methodologically sound is the article?
- How representative is its source base?
- Is the argument of the article clear and coherent?
- Is the work of others adequately cited?
- Does the author demonstrate basic composition skills? How readable is the paper?
4. Depending on the results of the review, the article may be accepted for publication without substantial corrections or declined. If the article is declined, the author receives a considered explanation. The article may also require correction and editing, in which case it will only be accepted for publication after all the necessary changes are made. If the reviewers’ ratings seriously differ, the editorial board makes final decision on publication.
5. In case of disagreement with the reviewer, the author may forward an argumentative response to the editorial staff. The editorial board has the right to take the reviewer’s side or to find another reviewer whenever appropriate.
6. If the article is accepted for publication, the authors are contacted to be informed on the date of publication. Prior to its publication, the final version of the article shall be sent to the author in order to revise the corrections.
7. Reviewing of articles is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Higher Attestation Commission under the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
8. The editorial board stores reviews for five years. The editorial board undertakes to submit reviews to the Higher Attestation Commission under the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation upon request.
9. There is no fee for reviewing articles.