Peer Review Policy

The Journal of Global Smallholder Studies (JGSS) follows an article submission and peer review process via our Open Journal System (OJS), which can be accessed through the official journal website: https://www.smallholderstudies.com/

The JGSS accepts and publishes two types of articles: research articles and review articles. All articles submitted to the JGSS, including those submitted upon the Editor’s invitation, are subject to a rigorous peer review process.

All manuscripts undergo peer review by at least two independent reviewers who have relevant expertise in the particular paper, followed by a final acceptance/revision/rejection decision by the Editor-in-Chief or another Academic Editor approved by the Editor-in-Chief.

The JGSS utilises a single-blind peer review system, in which the reviewers know the authors' names and affiliations, but their reports to the authors are kept anonymous. This system is a traditional model that is well-known within the academic community and favoured by many reviewers for its capacity to streamline the review process.

Peer reviewers are selected from the qualified Editorial Board members or qualified reviewers from our specialist database, or based on specific recommendations; they may also be new reviewers identified by web searches for related articles. Authors are welcome to suggest potential independent reviewers in their Cover Letter when submitting their manuscripts, but the JGSS reserves the right not to follow these suggestions.

Reviewers are selected based on their expertise, relevance to the manuscript's subject, reputation, and availability, and they must have no conflicts of interest with the author(s). All reviewers will be carefully selected by the Editors for each submitted manuscript and must fulfil the following criteria:

• Hold a PhD degree or be a recognised expert in the field;
• Have no conflicts of interest with the author(s) or the submitted manuscript;
• Not be affiliated with the same institution as the author(s);
• Not have co-authored publications with the author(s) within the previous five years;
• Have recent publications in the field of the submitted manuscript.

All manuscripts submitted by editors, employees, or members of the Editorial Board are processed in the same manner as other unsolicited manuscripts. To avoid any conflict of interest and to ensure transparency, editors are precluded from handling their own manuscripts. The final decision regarding publication will be made by other editorial board members with no conflicts of interest with the author(s).

The JGSS has an average turnaround time from submission to decision of 4-8 weeks.

No information about the reviews is published on the article page.

All articles published in the JGSS include the dates of submission, revision, acceptance, and publication on the article page.

Author Appeals: The JGSS adheres to the COPE guidelines regarding appeals over editorial decisions and complaints. Authors may submit a formal appeal regarding a rejected manuscript by sending an email to editor@smallholderstudies.com. Appeals will be considered only for manuscripts that have been peer-reviewed, not for those rejected outright by the journal editorial team. An appeal must be submitted by the corresponding author of the manuscript. The appeal must provide a detailed justification and point-by-point responses to the comments made by the reviewers and/or academic editors.