Peer Review Process

The rigour of a peer review system ensures the quality of a research article. Mobility Humanities employs a rigorous peer review system. All submitted manuscripts undergo a peer review process before publication via ScholarOne Manuscripts.

The review process is an important aspect of the publication process. It enables authors to improve their manuscripts and aids (guest) editors in making decisions on manuscripts.

The Journal employs a double-blind peer review system. A double-blind peer review system is an anonymous review system whereby the identity of the authors of a manuscript is concealed from the selected reviewers. All details that may enable a reviewer to identify the authors of a manuscript are removed from the manuscript before the manuscript is sent to the reviewers. Similarly, the reviewers’ identities are also concealed from the authors when sending the reviewers’ comments to the authors.

Mobility Humanities considers the double-blind peer system a more effective review system because it limits possible bias from either the selected reviewers or from authors. The journal invites more than two reviewers for articles and creative/visual essays and more than one reviewer for book reviews and introductions.

Mobility Humanities employs a three-stage review process: Editorial Office, Double-Blind Peer Review, and Acceptance/Rejection Decision.

The first stage of the review process takes place in the editorial office. On submission, a manuscript is reviewed to ensure that it meets the minimum requirements of the journal before it is sent to external reviewers. At this stage, the manuscript is reviewed for the following:

• Possible plagiarism: The manuscript is evaluated to compare the level of similarity with other published works. Mobility Humanities uses the “Copy Killer” plagiarism detection system to achieve this goal. Manuscripts that have a high level of similarity with other works (including the author(s) previous works) are rejected at this stage. Authors are provided with the similarity report together with the decision to reject the manuscript.
• Scope: After a manuscript has undergone similarity check and the level of similarity is judged to be appropriate, the content of the manuscript is checked to ensure that it fits within the scope of the journal selected by the author(s). In situations where the content of the manuscript does not fit the scope of the journal, the author’s consent is sought for the manuscript to be transferred to a more suitable journal. A transferred manuscript does not automatically translate to an accepted manuscript in the receiving journal. The manuscript still undergoes the usual peer review and may be accepted or rejected if it is not suitable.
• English Language: Mobility Humanities currently publishes articles, Creative/Visual Essay, Book Review, and Introduction only in the British English language. Manuscripts are checked for the structure, organisation, correctness and clarity of the language as it adheres to the journal’s Guidelines for Authors. The editorial office usually makes corrections to minor grammatical errors in such a manner that it does not alter the manuscript. However, in situations where language is substantially difficult to comprehend, the manuscript is returned to the author to improve the clarity of the language.
• Manuscripts that fail in this first stage of the review process are returned to the author(s) for modification and resubmission. This first stage of the review is very important as it enables the author(s) to improve the manuscript at an early stage. This first stage of the manuscript review is usually completed within a week.

Once a manuscript successfully completes the editorial office review process, it proceeds to the second stage. The second stage of the review process employs the double-blind review system. Reviewers are selected from our database, the editorial board of the journal or other sources. These reviewers have expert knowledge of the subject area of the manuscript. The reviewers are invited to review the manuscript by sending them the abstract of the manuscript. Upon acceptance to review the manuscript, the full text of the manuscript is sent to the reviewers after the author(s) have been concealed.

According to the MOBILITY HUMANITIES Guidelines for Reviewers of Manuscripts, reviewers are required to evaluate manuscripts and provide useful comments to enable the author(s) to improve their quality. Reviewers also score the manuscript in terms of originality, contribution to the field, technical quality, clarity, and depth of research. Finally, reviewers make one of the following suggestions about the manuscript.

• Accept: The journal will publish the manuscript in its original form.
• Minor Revision: The journal will publish the manuscript after making minor corrections suggested by reviewers.
• Major Revision: The journal will publish the manuscript, provided the author(s) makes the changes suggested by reviewers and/or editors.
• Revise for Language Editing: The journal will ask the author(s) to resubmit their manuscript(s) after revising for language editing.
• Reject: The journal will not publish the manuscript or reconsider it even if the authors make major revisions.

It should be noted that although one reviewer may give a positive report on a particular manuscript, if another reviewer raises concerns that may fundamentally undermine the study and results, the manuscript may be rejected. Upon receipt of the reviewers’ comments, the Editorial Office will review the comments. If the two reviewers’ comments have significantly different or conflicting opinions on the same manuscript, the Editorial Office will invite a third reviewer to review the manuscript. All reviewers’ comments (including the third reviewer’s comment where necessary) are thereafter sent to the authors. The identities of the reviewers are concealed from the authors. The total time taken to complete the second stage is dependent on the availability of the reviewers. Using the reviewers’ comments, the authors make corrections to the manuscript and submit a revised manuscript.

Upon receipt of the revised submission, the manuscript undergoes the third and final stage of the review process. The original manuscript, the revised manuscript and all the reviewers’ comments are sent to an editor of the journal. The editor reviews the manuscript and makes one the following decisions:

• Acceptance: The journal will publish the manuscript in its original form.
• Minor Revision: The journal will publish the manuscript after making minor corrections suggested by reviewers.
• Major Revision: The journal will publish the manuscript, provided the author(s) makes the changes suggested by reviewers and/or editors.
• Revise for Language Editing: The journal will ask the author(s) to resubmit their manuscript(s) after revising for language editing.
• Reject: The journal will not publish the manuscript or reconsider it even if the authors make major revisions

Manuscripts accepted are scheduled for publication. Manuscripts that require corrections (either minor or major) are sent to the author(s) to affect the corrections suggested by the editor. After effecting the corrections, the editor reviews the manuscripts again before the manuscripts are accepted for publication. In some cases, the editor may require authors to make corrections a second time. In other cases, the editor may request for the revised manuscripts with (or without) the additional corrections to be sent to a specific reviewer who had earlier reviewed the manuscript before the manuscript can be accepted for publication.

Mobility Humanities follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on appeals and disputes to journal editor decisions and its editorial management of the peer review process.

Queries concerning the peer review process should be sent to Associate Editor and/or the Mobility Humanities Editorial Office as follows: Associate Editor Jinhyoung Lee (gespenst@konkuk.ac.kr), The Mobility Humanities Editorial Office (mobilityhumanities@gmail.com)