The content of the Journal of Institutional Economics (JOIE) is managed solely by its Editorial Board. The Editorial Board consists of the Editor in Chief and the other non-guest editors. As owner of the journal, Millennium Economics Ltd delegates all editorial decision-making to the Journal’s Editorial Board and does not engage in disputes between authors and the Editors.
JOIE is a peer-reviewed journal. The Editors are under no obligation to send submitted manuscripts for review. They are also under no obligation to follow reviewer recommendations, favourable or negative. All decisions on submitted papers are taken by the Editorial Board as a whole.
Peer review is undertaken on condition of anonymity and the Editors will not disclose the identity of peer reviewers to authors or others. The Editors are ultimately responsible for the selection of all its content, and their editorial decisions may be informed by issues unrelated to the quality of a manuscript, such as suitability for the journal as outlined in the published information and advice for authors.
The Editors reserve the right to reject any article at any time before publication, including after acceptance if concerns arise about the integrity of the work.
If you wish to raise a complaint
Editors don’t expect frequent appeals and they rarely reverse their original decisions. Therefore, if you receive a decision to reject your manuscript, you are generally advised to submit to another journal.
Authors may appeal to the Editorial Board against decisions to reject if they have a demonstrably valid reason for doing so. Authors must raise complaints, in writing. All correspondence concerning the appeal must be addressed to the Editor in Chief.
Authors intending to make an appeal must not submit the rejected paper to another journal. Submission to another journal during the appeals process will nullify the appeal itself.
The concerns of the authors about the editorial decision, or about the editorial process, must remain confidential, before and while the complaint is being considered by the editors. To do otherwise may threaten the integrity of the appeals process or its confidentiality, and lead to the right of appeal being withdrawn.
How do you appeal?
Appeals of editorial decisions will only be considered if they refer to a specific manuscript and must be based on evidence that either: (1) an editor or reviewer made a significant factual error or had a major misunderstanding of a manuscript; or (2) the integrity of the editorial decision-making process was compromised.
Step 1: Contact the Editor in Chief via email. Your email should situate the grounds and provide appropriate evidence for complaint within the appeals framework as given above.
Step 2: The Editor in Chief will handle your complaint and the Editorial Board will consider your appeal. Granting of appeal does not guarantee final acceptance of your article by the Journal.
The Editorial Board may decide to seek external advice, including from members of the JOIE International Advisory Board. An Editor with a deemed conflict of interest with the appellent(s) will be recused from a vote. The Editors will reach their decisions by majority vote.
The Editorial Board’s investigation will be restricted to the parameters of our appeals framework, namely whether (1) an Editor or reviewer made a significant factual error/a major misunderstanding of a manuscript, or (2) the integrity of the editorial decision-making process was compromised. If the Editorial Board does not consider either (1) or (2) to be true, you will be informed in writing that the appeal has been denied.
The Editors may provide one round of additional feedback to authors clarifying how they reached their decision, but they will not engage in further discussion. Editors may elect not to submit additional feedback if it is felt that the original decision commentary was sufficiently clear.
Step 3: If, following the editor’s response to your complaint, you are still not satisfied, you may make another appeal, asking the Editor in Chief to obtain one or two additional reports on the paper. The Editor in Chief will decide if additional reports are necessary. If it is deemed that there is already sufficient evidence from reviewers, then this request will be denied. Otherwise, if and when the reports are received, the Editorial Board will reconsider its decision in the light of the new and previous reports. The Editors will try to resolve the issue in reasonable time, but obtaining and considering additional reports is likely to take several months.
The editorial decisions in Step 3 will be final. No further complaints or appeals concerning the paper will be considered.
Step 4: If, after the editorial verdict in Step 3, the authors are still dissatisfied, then they may lodge a complaint with the publisher of the journal and/or the Secretary of Millennium Economics Ltd. Notification of receipt of this complaint should be expected, but the publisher and owner of JOIE are under no obligation to take the matter any further, and they will fully respect the autonomy of the Editorial Board.
The Journal of Institutional Economics is a member of the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE). Authors are entitled to approach COPE’s Facilitation and Integrity Committee if they believe the journal is not upholding the standards or Core Practices expected of COPE members. Normally, authors should first appeal to the Editorial Board of JOIE.
If there are any questions about these procedures, then please contact the Editor in Chief of JOIE.
Version of 2 May 2024.