All articles submitted to the WJAE are subjected to a double blinded peer-review process to ensure originality, quality and consistency. Please also visit Publication Ethics and Malpractice for additional information on the code of practice guides that we commit to follow.

The process consists of the following steps:
1)  Editorial desk evaluation: Submitted manuscripts are first evaluated by the Editorial Board for originality, consistency and suitability to the scope of the Journal. WJAE peer-review policy does not allow editors to accept any articles at this stage of the review (i.e. without sending the article to the reviewers) no matter how exceptional it is. However, articles that are insufficiently original, have serious scientific flaws, display a poor command of the English language, or are outside the scope of the Journal can be rejected directly by the Editorial Board. Note that board decision is final. Please note that WJAE uses several software solutions to control the originality of the manuscripts. In case of serious plagiarism, the manuscript is rejected immediately. Furthermore, the Journal keeps the rights to take any actions related to the issue, including the notification of the related authorities such as the authors' institutions.

Note that once the manuscript has passed the editorial desk evaluation, the submission must complete all remaining steps and cannot be withdrawn (except for the most compelling and inevitable causes). If the author(s) insist on withdrawal of the manuscript without any valid reason, the manuscript will be rejected since we assume that this is unacceptable behavior of the author(s) according to the publication ethics. Please consider that editors and reviewers invest significant time in the submission. In the case of manuscript withdrawal for any reason, efforts and time spent by the editors and the reviewers for the manuscript will be wasted. Further submissions by these authors can be rejected directly by the Editorial Board.

2)  If the manuscript passes the desk evaluation, it is assigned to a section editor, a member of the Editorial Team. The assigned section editor then sends the manuscript to at least two reviewers who are well-demonstrated expert in the field of the manuscript with relevant publications and/or other scientifically acceptable outputs. Reviewers are expected to hold a Ph.D. or, in rare cases, have at least ten years of working experience in the relevant field with proven proficiency. Reviewers are given six weeks to complete their reviews. However, in some cases, it can take more than six weeks for some articles to be reviewed. After six weeks, WJAE sends regular reminders to the reviewers.

3)  Once the review reports are received, the Editorial Board evaluates the reports and makes a decision based on the reviewers' comments and suggestions.

4)  The authors are notified about the decision.

     a)  If the decision is "Accept as it is" then authors are supplied with a copy editing version and asked to start the proofreading. The proofreading process should be completed within 2 weeks, latest.

     b)  If the decision is "Revisions Required" then authors are asked to revise their manuscript according to the reviewers' comments. The editorial board will evaluate the revised manuscript according to the reviewers' comments, and a final decision will be made for publication. Hence, the Editorial Board urges the authors to address each specific point made by the reviewers and justify their responses where appropriate. Listing how the authors have responded to each reviewer's comment is also considered a good practice. The revision process should be completed within two weeks, latest.

     c)  If the decision is "Resubmit for Review", the authors are asked to revise their manuscript according to the reviewers' comments. The revised version is sent back to the reviewers for the second round of review. Reviewers then write a new report and editorial board decides based on the new report. The final decision will be made on the manuscript's quality rather than the authors' progess.

     d)  If the decision is "Reject" or "Not suitable for WJAE" the author will be notified with the reviewers' reports helping them improve their manuscript. In the latter case, we will ask reviewers to suggest a relevant journal to the author when possible.

5)  Once review process is completed with an "Accept" decision, the authors will be asked to cooperate with WJAE editorial desk for copyediting and proofreading for timely publication of their article.

Note that decisions of the Editorial Board, who are responsible for the final decision, are final. Further, note that editorial board might change its decision if the due dates are not respected.