The Peer-Review Process (v. 0)

Note: This draft version 0 is applicable since 01/01/2015 and until 24/04/2017, pending approval by the Board of Directors and the General Assembly. Next version.

Climanosco is the first scientific journal aimed at providing climate science articles in an accessible manner for a general public without prior scientific knowledge, directly written by climate scientists. The Peer-Review Process serves two goals:*

  1. It ensures that the content of each article is scientifically sound and reflects in an unbiased manner the current scientific knowledge.
  2. It makes sure that each article is readable and intelligible to a large public without prior scientific knowledge.

To achieve these two goals, Climanosco has designed a unique Peer-Review Process which is an adaptation of the standard process used in high standard scientific journals. It uses the full potential of the Internet to foster public discussion and enables rapid publication and translation of scientific articles. The Peer-Review Process, with all associated Manuscripts, Review reports and the Open Discussion, is archived and is fully available to members. All Review reports and Comments are named after their Authors. This ensures transparency of the process.

Schematic of the Peer-Review Process

The individual steps of the Peer-Review Process are explained hereafter:

  1. Submission of Manuscript and Editor Assignment
    1. A Manuscript is submitted electronically by the author.
    2. The office evaluates whether the Manuscript meets the minimal requirements (1-2 weeks).
    3. The office can suggest editorial corrections to the authors. The authors then respond to the office with a corrected Manuscript within 2 weeks.
    4. If the Manuscript is deemed unacceptable, the office communicates the reasons to the authors, possibly with suggestions for improvement before re-submission, or can recommend the authors to turn it into a Manuscript Invitation. Further revision is not allowed at this stage.
    5. If the Manuscript is deemed acceptable, it is posted and archived, accessible to members (usually within 1-4 weeks of submission)
  2. Preliminary Discussion
    1. The Preliminary Discussion is optional for Authors who have already published a Manuscript with Climanosco; it is mandatory otherwise.
    2. The goal is to provide the Authors with an initial feed-back on their Manuscript and to allow them to make some adjustment before finalizing their submission.
    3. All members can contribute to the Preliminary Discussion by posting comments and replies.
    4. The Preliminary Discussion is open for a period of two weeks.
    5. Authors are free to make adjustments to their Manuscript during the Preliminary Discussion and for another two weeks until the deadline for the finalization of submission. Authors are responsible for finalizing their submission before this deadline.
    6. Authors are expected to describe the adjustments they carried out to their Manuscript in its comments area before the deadline for finalization of submission. The comments area remains open to Authors until this deadline.
  3. Assignment of an Editor covering the relevant subject areas.
  4. Assignment of Scientific and Non-scientific Referees
    1. The Editor finds two Scientific Referees whose expertise cover the Manuscript and who agree to write a Review report within 3 weeks. The Scientific Referees are chosen from the list of names proposed by the authors upon submission, if necessary expanded with names of other scientific members of Climanosco who have the appropriate expertise, or of other scientists from the scientific community. No Scientific Referees are needed for Paraphrased Manuscripts that are authored (or co-authored) by one of the main authors of the original scientific article. In this particular case, this author can also acts as Scientific Referee. For other Paraphrased Manuscripts where one of the authors of the original scientific article accepts to act as Scientific Referee, then no further Scientific Referee is sought. No Scientific Referees are needed for Translated Manuscripts.
    2. The Editor finds two Non-scientific Referees who agree to write a Review report within 3 weeks. The Non-scientific Referees are randomly chosen from Climanosco’s member list. All Manuscripts are assigned two Non-scientific Referees without exception.
  5. Open Review (3 weeks)
    1. The Referees have 3 weeks to write their Review report and submit them to Climanosco.
    2. All members can read the Manuscript and post a Spontaneous Review report.
    3. Each member can submit only one Review Report for a Manuscript.
    4. The Review reports must be written in English. For Translated Manuscripts, the Review reports must also be submitted in English.
    5. The Review reports and the names of the corresponding Referees and contributors are hidden until the closing date of the Blind Review period.
  6. Open Discussion (2 weeks)
    1. All members can contribute to the Open Discussion by posting comments, suggestions and questions concerning the Manuscript and in the light of the Review reports.
  7. Final response (3-4 weeks)
    1. After the closing of the Open Discussion period, the authors have 2 weeks to write and submit a point-by-point authors reply to all comments and questions raised in the Review reports and to the most significant points raised in the Open Discussion.
    2. Based on the Review reports, the Open Discussion and the author’s reply, the Editor publishes a recommendation for the authors, with a short description of the revisions to be made to the Manuscript if necessary.
    3. The Editor sets the definitive level of the Manuscript (Introductory, General or Focus Manuscript).
  8. Submission of the Revised Manuscript and formal decision (3-4 weeks)
    1. The authors have two weeks to prepare a Revised Manuscript and submit it electronically.
    2. The Revised Manuscript is posted on Climanosco.
    3. The Editor publishes a formal decision as to accept or reject the Manuscript. If the Manuscript is accepted, the Editor can request the authors to make last minor corrections to the Revised Manuscript before publication on Climanosco.
    4. In case of rejection of the Manuscript, the Editor may suggest changes to the Revised Manuscript that might lead to an acceptable new Manuscript, or to turn the Manuscript into a Manuscript Invitation.
  9. Publication of the final version of the Article (1-2 weeks)
    1. In case of acceptance, the authors have one week to perform the last minor changes requested by the Editor to the Revised Manuscript.
    2. The Final Manuscript is then typeset and proofread a last time by both authors and Editor.
    3. It is finally posted on Climanosco under Published Articles with a direct link to the Manuscript, its revised version(s), the Review reports and the Open Discussion.
    4. Since that moment, the Published Article is freely accessible to everybody. The submitted Manuscript, Revised Manuscript(s), Review reports and the Open Discussion remain accessible to the members of Climanosco.

The timing indicated above is approximate and will depend on the availability and response times of Editors, Referees, and Authors.

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