At first, a material sent to The Beacon: Journal for Studying Ideologies and Mental Dimensions, is evaluated by the members of the Editorial Board. A decision to submit it for reviewing or reject at the initial stage, is based on the following criteria:
1) compliance of the text with the journal's profile;
2) correspondence of the title with the content of the paper;
3) compliance with the basic norms of scientific writing;
4) correctness and relevance of the references provided;
5) absence of explicit serious mistakes, in both content of the manuscript and its form;
6) absence of incorrect borrowings (plagiarism);
7) absence of defamatory language.
If the Editorial Board decides to submit the article for review, the anonymised copies of the text are sent to three reviewers chosen from the Editorial Council and a group of external renowned specialists on the topic of the paper. No less than two reviewers are chosen from the group of external specialists. These experts may be recommended by the members of the Editorial Board and/or Editorial Council.
The author is encouraged to suggest potential reviewers for his/her manuscript, but the final choice is at the discretion of the Editors.
The Beacon: Journal for Studying Ideologies and Mental Dimensions applies the principles of double-blind peer review (the review process is anonymous for all the parties). If there are at least two positive reviews, the Editorial Board decides to publish the text a) as is; b) after minor corrections; or c) after significant revisions. After improving the text has been accomplished (if necessary), the material is sent for review once again.
The overall procedure of initial evaluation, reviewing and making a final or interim decision on the submitted material takes about three months, but may be shorter or longer depending on the workflow. We are committed to making a grounded decision and inform the author(s) as soon as possible.
All reviewers should striclty observe the Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers of COPE.
The main criteria of selecting an article for the publication:
a) novelty;
b) importance of the contribution of the author's ('s) hypotheses and concepts for the studying of ideologies;
c) independence and originality of the work;
d) logic and consistency of the presentation of ideas and conclusions;
e) depth of understanding the problem;
f) good level of language proficiency;
g) good author's (s') knowledge of the academic literature on the topic.
