All received submissions are first read and evaluated by the MSURJ Editorial Board, on the basis of the publication criteria set out in the Author Instructions, Publication Rights Agreement, and the Editorial Policies. Rejected submissions are returned to the authors, with an evaluation of the manuscript if requested. Authors are free to submit revised manuscripts at any time.
The short-listed articles (including supplementary material) undergo the peer-review process. Copies of the manuscript are sent to the selected reviewers, who are knowledgeable professors or graduate students in the given field. MSURJ uses a doubly anonymous peer review, meaning that reviewers do not know the identities of a piece's authors and the authors do not know the identities of the reviewers. MSURJ accepts recommendations by authors for inclusion or exclusion of peer reviewers; however, MSURJ does not guarantee that these recommendations will be followed. Upon receipt of the reviews, the comments are combined with those of the Editorial Board to reach a decision of the article’s suitability for publication. The editors are ultimately responsible for the decision on manuscript acceptance or rejection.
The conditional publication decision, comments from reviewers, and, if requested, an evaluation of the article justifying the decision are forwarded to the author. In order for publication of the article to proceed, outstanding issues in the manuscript must be amended in accordance with the recommendations. It is the responsibility of editors to evaluate, according to arguments of the reviewers and authors, whether such issues have been adequately addressed, including by continued discussion with reviewers especially in the cases of differing opinions.
An accepted manuscript is copy-edited and prepared for its publication layouts and various formats. Upon request, authors are given a final proof of the article in press for approval.