Reviewer Guidelines

General Responsibilities

Reviewers are asked to evaluate manuscripts with regard to originality, methodological and mathematical soundness, clarity of presentation, validity of the results and conclusions, and relevance to the scope of JSMM. Review reports should be objective, constructive, respectful, and sufficiently detailed to assist both the authors and the editors.

Confidentiality and Use of Artificial Intelligence

Manuscripts under review are confidential documents and must not be shared, reproduced, cited, or used for personal or professional advantage. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, manuscript files, or any part of their content to generative artificial intelligence tools or other external AI systems. Such tools must not be used to generate, draft, or substantially prepare the reviewer’s assessment. Reviewers remain fully responsible for the content, accuracy, confidentiality, and integrity of their reports.

Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers should decline an invitation when a conflict of interest may affect, or reasonably appear to affect, their impartiality. This includes recent collaboration, shared institutional affiliation, close personal or professional relationships, or direct academic or commercial competition with the authors.

Review Criteria

Reviewers should consider whether the manuscript:

• presents an original and relevant contribution;
• uses appropriate and scientifically sound methods;
• provides correct and adequately supported mathematical or statistical arguments;
• presents results clearly and interprets them appropriately;
• provides conclusions that are supported by the analysis;
• cites relevant literature appropriately; and
• is clearly written and logically organized.

Ethical Concerns

Reviewers should inform the editor of any suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate citation practices, data irregularities, unethical research practices, or other concerns related to research or publication integrity.

Timeline

Reviewers are normally asked to submit their reports within four weeks of accepting the invitation. If additional time is required, reviewers should contact the editorial office as early as possible.

Anonymity

JSMM follows a single-blind peer-review process. Reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors, and reviewer reports are not published.

Reviewer Recommendation and Final Decision

Reviewers may recommend one of the following:

• Accept
• Minor Revision
• Major Revision
• Reject

Reviewer recommendations are advisory and form part of the editorial assessment. The final editorial decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief, who considers the reviewer reports, the manuscript, and any other relevant editorial considerations before making the final decision.