Editorial Work and Peer Review Procedure

All articles that have been checked for correct formatting in accordance with the requirements of the journal, as well as for plagiarism, undergo a further review procedure. Peer review is a mandatory component of passing a manuscript for publication in a journal.

The peer review process in Al-Farabi journal is carried out through the practice of closed (“blind”) double peer review. Scientists with doctorate and candidate degrees, as well as a doctors of philosophy (PhD), specializing in scientific direction of a submitted manuscript, are appointed as peer reviewers.

Reviewing process is carried out on a confidential basis. A manuscript of an article is sent to a peer reviewer through the electronic platform without attribution and author’s (authors’) data. A "Reviewer’s Instruction Booklet", which contains the main principles that have to be reflected in the evaluation of a manuscript, is sent to a peer reviewer. They contribute to an objective assessment of quality and content of submitted article.

The reviewer assesses the quality of the presented work based on the criteria of scientific character, the relevance of the stated topic, the degree of novelty of the presented provisions or the novelty of the chosen research direction, the professional quality of the presented material, which reflects the palette of research discourse - discussions, the degree of elaboration of the problem, mastery of the material of primary sources, the reliability of the presented facts and materials, etc. He has the right to reject the article according to these criteria, justifying his position in the review.

After receiving a review of a manuscript, which contains an assessment of possibility of publishing an article only after corrections, taking into account a peer reviewer’s comments, a review is sent to an author (authors) via the electronic platform without indicating reviewer's data as a reply to author's answer with the wishes to eliminate comments made and make corrections to the text of manuscript. Author can, without responding to comments, eliminate them in article text and send it back to scientific editor.

After receiving a response to the comments made by peer reviewer and making changes and corrections to article text, sending it back to the editorial office, all materials are sent to the reviewer for re-reviewing.

A manuscript, which received positive reviews from two experts and the scientific editor, is recommended for publication in the journal of socio-humanitarian research "Al-Farabi" in the order of their acceptance for publication. Manuscripts approved by the editorial board are transferred to the executive secretary of the journal for formation of the next issue of the journal.

In case of receiving one negative review of manuscript, and the other positive, manuscript is sent to the third peer reviewer or member of the editorial board, who is a specialist in the thematic focus of article, and who gives his opinion on the subject of publication. The final decision on publication / rejection of manuscript is made after receiving the third review or an editorial board member’s opinion by the editor-in-chief of the journal "Al-Farabi".

Upon receipt of two negative reviews, manuscript is rejected, and author is notified for correspondence.

Reviews of article manuscript are stored in electronic format on the electronic platform of the journal for 3 years.