Refereeing procedure of the scientific periodical publication Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika

1. The scientific periodical publication Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika referees all the papers being submitted and matched the subject of the magazine. In case the material received does not match the subject, the article is not being considered, and the Editorial Office immediately informs the author. 

2. The paper is published after positive referee report/reports obtaining.

3. The basic method of refereeing is double-blind refereeing (neither the author knows the referee nor the referee knows the author). 

4. The number of referees, working with one material (article) is not limited. As a rule, the examination involved two specialists. 

5. The role of a referee can be adopted by all PhDs of the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University, as well as by academic and research workers of other higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation and foreign countries who are sufficiently qualified in the corresponding field of science, have an academic degree and prestige in the academic environment (including the members of the Editorial Board of the journal Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika). All the referees are well known scholars in their scientific fields and have the articles on the subject of a refereed article being published in the last 3 years. 

6. The right to choose the referee/referees belongs to the Editorial Office (Editor-in-Chief, First Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Executive Secretary). In case the referee refuses to evaluate the text (including refusal on the grounds of a conflict of interest), the editors select another expert. The Editorial Board has the right to appoint additional experts and/or conduct an independent examination.

7. The manuscript is accepted, rejected or returned to the author for revision only by decision of the Editorial Board. The decision of the Editorial Board shall be considered final. 

8. When evaluating the material, experts use a single electronic form of the report, where one of the 4 options for a decision should be indicated: accept (the article can be accepted as presented); accept subject to minor changes (the article does not require to be reviewed); accept subject to major changes (the article requires to be reviewed); to refuse. 

9. If the referee indicates the need for major changes to the article and the re-review, the manuscript is returned to the author without Editorial Board consideration. After the revision, the new version of the manuscript is sent to the same expert(s) which delivered the related report.     

10. Authors are obliged to take into account the comments of the referee(s) and/or the members of the Editorial Board and to make corrections. At the referee(s) request the author can get his/her/their contact information in order to optimize the work on corrections. Time for finalizing the texts is unlimited. 

11. Expert decisions "accept", "accept subject to minor changes" and "accept subject to major changes" are considered as positive, the expert decision "to refuse" is considered as negative. In case of receiving positive and negative reports for the same material, the editors involve the third expert to evaluate the article. 

12. The article is submitted to the consideration by the Editorial Board only if it received more positive reports than negative ones.

13. If there are two negative reports on the manuscript by two referees or one negative report on its revised version, the paper is rejected without being considered by other referees (including the members of the Editorial Board). If there are two negative reports from two different referees the article is rejected without consideration by the Editorial Board.   

14. When the paper is rejected, the Editorial Office sends the author a motivated refusal with report/reports attached. 

15. The referee reports are kept in the Editorial Office and Publishing House for 5 years, and the authors of the manuscripts can demand to get their copies. The Editorial Office is obliged to provide the Ministry of Education and Science with copies of referee reports if a proper inquiry is received. 

16. The refereeing process – from the date of (version of) manuscript submission to the date of making a decision by the Editorial Board or Editorial Office – usually is at least 1 month.