Thank you for acting as a peer-reviewer for the JRS.
All peer-reviewers must be registered in our online submission system – register here.
If you are already registered, please login as Reviewer and submit your reviews.
Please follow the Journal Reviewer Instructions.
Peer-review process
All papers submitted to the JRS undergo a peer-review process, unless the paper is submitted as a contributed article (see details Author Instructions).
Peer-review papers are expected to meet scientific and academic standards and can include articles types: Original Road Safety Research; Road Safety Data, Research & Evaluation Methods; Road Safety Policy & Practice; Road Safety Case Studies; Road Safety Evidence Review; Road Safety Best Practice Guidance; Road Safety Theory; Road Safety Media Review and Perspective on Road Safety (see details under Article Types).
Submissions for peer-review are refereed on the basis of quality and importance for advancing road safety, and decisions on the publication of the paper are based on the value of the contribution the paper makes in road safety. Once a paper is submitted, the Editor-in-Chief and/or Managing Editor initially review the submission. Authors are notified if their paper is judged to be outside of the JRS’ scope or lacks originality or message that is important to the readers of the JRS. Papers that pass the initial screening process will be sent out to a minimum of three peer reviewers selected on the basis of expertise and prior work in the area. Additional peer reviewers may be called on at the discretion of the Editor(s), e.g. in the case of a disagreement between referees’ opinions. The names of the reviewers are not disclosed to the authors. Each submission is peer-reviewed by a minimum of three experts in the field.
Based on the recommendations from the peer-reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief makes a decision, in consultation with the Managing Editor and/or Editorial Board when needed, to accept or reject a manuscript, or to request revisions from the author/s in response to the comments from the reviewer/s. Authors are informed of the decision on the suitability of the manuscript for publication after the first round of review. As a rule of thumb, manuscripts can undergo only one major revision. Any editorial decisions regarding manuscript acceptance by the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor are final and further discussions or communications will not be entered into in the case of a submission being rejected.
Contributed articles
When a paper is submitted under the non peer-review stream, the accepted article will be published as a contributed article. Contributed articles are not restricted to strict academic standards as peer-review papers are. These articles may be particularly suited to authors who do not work in academic settings but generate evidence, insights and solutions that help improve road safety outcomes e.g. police, community organisations, program implementers, local councils.
Contributed articles can include articles types: Original Road Safety Research; Road Safety Data, Research & Evaluation Methods; Road Safety Policy & Practice; Road Safety Case Studies; Road Safety Evidence Review; Road Safety Best Practice Guidance; Road Safety Theory; Road Safety Media Review; Perspective on Road Safety; Correspondence/Letter to the Editor (see details under Article Types).
Submissions for contributed articles are assessed on the basis of quality and importance for advancing road safety, and decisions on the publication of the paper are based on the value of the contribution the paper makes in road safety. Once a paper is submitted, the Editor-in-Chief and/or Managing Editor initially review the submission. Authors are notified if their paper is judged to be outside of the JRS’ scope or lacks message that is important to the readers of the JRS. Papers that pass the initial screening process will be reviewed in detail by an Editor and an additional reviewer may be called on at the discretion of the Editor(s), e.g. in the case of contentious contents that need expert assessment. The Managing Editor makes a decision, in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief and/or Editorial Board when needed, to accept or reject a manuscript, or to request revisions from the author/s in response to the comments from the reviewer/s. The names of the reviewers are not disclosed to the authors. As a rule of thumb, manuscripts can undergo only one major revision. Because of the nature of this review process, contributed articles are likely to have a faster turnaround compared to peer-review papers.
For both peer-review and contributed articles, one or more of the reviewers may require a major revision or reject the paper because of content that may otherwise be of general interest to readers but is not at the level expected of a caliber of a scientific journal paper.
For JRS-related enquiries please contact:
Dr Chika Sakashita
JRS Managing Editor
journaleditor@acrs.org.au
