Peer Review Process and Editorial Procedures

Manuscripts submitted as Article and Review (article types) are reviewed as rapidly as possible with reviewers asked to provide responses within 30 days. An editorial decision is generally reached within 7 weeks of submission unless the paper is highly specialised, in which case longer time may be required to find reviewers who are prepared to contribute.

Manuscripts submitted as Miscellanea (article types) are not considered to be strictly research papers and should not be treated so. They are evaluated by a member of the Editorial Board or a selected reviewer. Such materials are published if they fit the aims and scope of the journal, are relevant for the target audience and meet all formal criteria.

Manuscripts submitted as Editorial (article types) are not subject to review.

Peer Review Process

The reviewing process in Acta Informatica Pragensia is double-blind and consists of two stages.

Stage 1 — Initial Checks

The originality of the manuscript is assessed as well as the suitability of the topic. The Managing Editor will consult the journal’s Editor-in-Chief or the Associate Editor or the Special Issue Editor(s) (or an Editorial Board member in the case of a conflict of interest) to determine whether the manuscript fits the scope of the journal (or a special issue) and whether it is scientifically sound. After these checks, all submissions are checked for plagiarism by iThenticate (for manuscripts in English) and Odevzdej (for manuscripts in Czech and Slovak). Manuscripts that have passed Stage 1 will proceed to Stage 2, where the content of the manuscript is rated. A reject decision at this stage will be final and cannot be revoked.

Stage 2 — Peer Review

An Academic Editor (an expert in the field, usually selected from the Editorial Board to avoid conflicts of interest) or a Special Issue Editor(s) is assigned to each manuscript. The content of manuscripts is reviewed anonymously by at least two independent reviewers (double-blind peer review process) or, in the case of Miscellanea, by a selected Editorial Board member or a reviewer.

In the case of special issues, the entire process is controlled by the Editor-in-Chief or a selected Editorial Board member. In the event of a conflict of interest, a member of the Editorial Board is called upon to ensure the peer review process as an Academic Editor. The peer review process is overseen, and the individual actions or decisions are executed by the Academic Editor or Special Issue Editor(s) through the editorial system.

Editorial Decision and Revision

The Academic Editor, Special Issue Editor(s) or the Editor-in-Chief decides on the manuscript's acceptance/revision/rejection based on referee reports received from independent reviewers. The responsible editor may confer with other members of the Editorial Board and/or the Special Issue Editor(s) in making this decision. The author(s) are informed about the decision in writing via e-mail. All reviewer comments should be responded to in a point-by-point fashion. Where the authors disagree with a reviewer, they must provide a clear response. Referee reports are internal material of the Editorial Board and are archived. A claim to publication of the paper is not legally enforceable.

Production and Publication

Once accepted, the manuscript will undergo professional copy-editing (incl. English proofreading), proofreading by the authors, final corrections, pagination and publication on the Acta Informatica Pragensia website.