Peer Review Process

Peer Review Process is a scholarly quality-assessment mechanism conducted before a manuscript is published. Manuscripts submitted to Research in Humanistic Futures of Education (RHFE) are evaluated by experts in relevant fields of education. Reviewers provide independent, objective, and constructive comments to assist the Editorial Team in determining the academic quality, originality, relevance, and suitability of each manuscript for publication.
KEY POINTS IN THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS
1 All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial screening by the Editorial Team.
2 Manuscripts that meet the journal’s requirements are assigned to at least two reviewers with relevant academic expertise.
3 Reviewers independently evaluate the manuscript and provide recommendations such as acceptance, revision, resubmission, or rejection.
4 The Editor-in-Chief considers the reviewers’ recommendations and makes the final editorial decision.

Peer review is an essential component of scholarly publishing. It functions as a quality-control mechanism through which experts evaluate the originality, theoretical contribution, methodological quality, ethical compliance, clarity, relevance, and educational significance of a manuscript. Reviewers provide recommendations, while the final publication decision remains the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief.
HOW DOES THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS WORK?
1 The Editorial Team examines whether the manuscript complies with the journal’s submission requirements, focus and scope, publication ethics, article template, and academic writing standards.
2 Eligible manuscripts are assigned to reviewers whose expertise is relevant to the educational topic, research methodology, and academic discipline of the submission.
3 Reviewers assess the manuscript and submit reports, comments, suggestions, and recommendations to the editor.
4 The editor evaluates the reviewers’ reports and communicates the editorial decision and revision requirements to the corresponding author.
PEER REVIEW MODEL
✓ Double-Blind Peer Review
RHFE applies a double-blind peer-review model. The identities of authors are concealed from reviewers, and the identities of reviewers are concealed from authors. Authors must remove names, institutional affiliations, acknowledgements, and other identifying information from the manuscript submitted for review.
PEER REVIEW STEPS
No. Stage Process Description
1 Manuscript Submission The author submits the manuscript through the journal’s Online Journal System.
2 Editorial Screening The Editorial Team checks the manuscript’s compliance with the journal template, focus and scope, ethical requirements, citation style, and submission guidelines.
3 Initial Editorial Assessment The Editor-in-Chief evaluates the manuscript’s originality, relevance, academic quality, ethical compliance, and suitability for review or desk rejection.
4 Reviewer Assignment The editor selects and invites at least two reviewers with relevant expertise and no conflict of interest.
5 Reviewer Response Invited reviewers accept or decline the invitation based on their expertise, availability, and absence of conflicts of interest.
6 Double-Blind Peer Review Reviewers assess the manuscript’s originality, theoretical foundation, methodology, findings, discussion, educational contribution, ethical compliance, and quality of presentation.
7 Review Recommendation Reviewers submit comments and recommend Accept Submission, Revisions Required, Resubmit for Review, or Decline Submission.
8 Editorial Decision The Editor-in-Chief evaluates the reviewer reports and determines the editorial decision.
9 Author Revision Authors revise the manuscript and provide a point-by-point response explaining how each reviewer comment has been addressed.
10 Further Review Revised manuscripts may be returned to the original reviewers or reassessed by the editor when additional evaluation is required.
11 Final Acceptance A manuscript is accepted after it has satisfactorily addressed the reviewers’ and editor’s comments and meets all journal requirements.
12 Copyediting and Production Accepted manuscripts proceed to copyediting, proofreading, layout preparation, metadata completion, and final online publication.
Editorial Independence
Reviewer recommendations are advisory. The final decision regarding acceptance, revision, resubmission, or rejection is made by the Editor-in-Chief based on the reviewers’ reports, the journal’s editorial standards, publication ethics, and the academic merit of the manuscript.