JAARD is committed to rigorous, fair and constructive peer review.

JAARD follows a double-anonymous peer-review process, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from one another. Research manuscripts are normally evaluated by atleast two independent reviewers with appropriate subject expertise.

Members of the Editorial Board may submit manuscripts to JAARD; however, they will have no involvement in the review or editorial decision concerning their own submission. Such
manuscripts will be handled independently by another editor.

1. Submission
Manuscripts are submitted to the journal and acknowledged by the editorial office.

2. Editorial Screening
The Editor-in-Chief or designated editor conducts an initial assessment to determine whether the manuscript:
 falls within the journal’s aims and scope;
 demonstrates sufficient scholarly relevance and originality;
 meets basic methodological and ethical requirements; and
 conforms sufficiently to the journal’s submission requirements to proceed to review.
Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements may be declined without external review.

3. Peer Review
Manuscripts considered suitable for further evaluation are sent to reviewers with relevant subject expertise. Reviewers assess submissions with particular attention to originality, scholarly contribution, methodological or conceptual soundness, relevance, clarity and quality of presentation.

4. Editorial Decision
Following consideration of the reviewers’ reports, the editorial decision may be:
 Accept
 Minor Revision
 Major Revision
 Reject
The final publication decision rests with the journal’s editorial leadership.

Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions are made independently by the Editor-in-Chief and editorial team on the basis of scholarly merit, relevance and the journal’s editorial policies. The publisher does not influence decisions concerning the acceptance or rejection of individual manuscripts.

5. Revision
Where revision is requested, authors should submit:
 a revised manuscript; and
 a point-by-point response explaining how each reviewer comment has been addressed.
The normal period allowed for revision is 30 days, unless otherwise communicated by the editorial office. Revised manuscripts may be returned to reviewers where appropriate.

6. Final Decision
Authors are informed of the final decision after assessment of the revised submission and response to reviewers. Acceptance of an invitation to revise does not guarantee eventual publication.