Peer Review Process

Manuscripts will be submitted for consideration of the Editorial Board, which consists of a multidisciplinary team of experts who are members of renowned research institutions.

PRELIMINARY REVIEW

All manuscripts submitted to the journal undergo an originality analysis using an anti-plagiarism program that detects the level of authenticity and accepts up to a maximum of 15% similarity. During this preliminary review phase, the editorial coordinator may contact the corresponding author to request resubmission of the manuscript with the necessary corrections within 15 days.

Subsequently, the manuscript is referred to the editor or a member of the Editorial Board, who will determine its relevance to one or more thematic axes of the journal; otherwise, it is returned to the author.

PEER REVIEW

Manuscripts are evaluated according to Horizonte Médico (Lima) journal’s guidelines, which aim to ensure the quality and integrity of the manuscripts submitted for publication. Then, they are assessed by (internal and external) peer reviewers who are experts from the same field as the authors. Peer reviewers’ participation is always anonymous and ad honorem.

Peer review is conducted by double blind peer review—i.e., reviewers do not know the identity of the manuscripts’ authors, and authors do not know the identity of the reviewers.

Manuscripts submitted for the journal’s different sections—i.e., original articles, brief communications, review articles, case reports and opinion articles—are assessed by at least two peer reviewers. In the case of manuscripts written in English, at least one of the referees will be a native English speaker or a member of an institution from an English-speaking country. Manuscripts submitted for sections such as the editorial, history, biosketch and letter to the editor are only evaluated by the Editorial Board, unless the evaluation of an external reviewer is required.

Peer reviewers’ grading may be as follows: a) The manuscript is recommended to be published with no modifications. b) The manuscript should be published after the implementation of some corrections and improvements. c) The manuscript is rejected for the moment, but it is recommended to make corrections and submit a new version. d) The manuscript is rejected with observations not subject to validation.

Based on the peer reviewers’ observations, the Editorial Board will decide if the manuscript is to be published or rejected, or if recommendations should be sent to the authors.

RESPONSE TO OBSERVATIONS

The author should submit the corrected version of the manuscript, indicating the modifications applied and answering the reviewers’ comments in thirty (30) days.

The Editorial Board has the authority to resend the corrected manuscript to the peer reviewer before considering its publication. If the recommendations have been favorably met, the manuscript will be published.

The average time of the editorial process, as from the reception of the manuscript to its publication, varies from two (2) to four (4) months.

FINAL PROCESS

Approved manuscripts will undergo a final editing process. Manuscripts in PDF format will be sent to the authors for their examination. They will be allowed to modify only the style and translation but not the content. Reviewed manuscripts should be returned by the authors during a period of seven (7) days; otherwise, the Editorial Board will consider the final version as accepted.