Timelines for reviewing a revised article
This is normally a quicker process than reviewing an original manuscript. The deadline for your comments will be between five and 21 days, depending on the journal. Again, if you need an extension please get in touch with the editorial office.
ebook cover design
Introducing our design and branding values
Strong design values are one of the strategies IOP has developed to promote and support our publishing activities. By increasing brand awareness and visibility, IOP strives to help our authors stand out in a crowded, ubiquitous market place, both in print and digital. We offer a unique competitive advantage with our own in-house design department, promoting a strong design culture within the organisation and beyond. Our design studio has evolved into a highly effective design force within the STM sector—we see design as one of the key components of publishing, in both editorial and marketing activities, and a strong offering to help authors promote their work within the scientific community.
- Design implementation
- Each book is designed to fulfill its individual requirements, delivering a design solution to best respond to its specialist scope and audience. But we also think of our design holistically—in addressing both the detail and the bigger picture, we consider its opportunities within the wider marketing and editorial context of our ebooks programme.
Our design strategy cascades through to marketing communication, both in print and online, where a book cover design is implemented for adverts, leaflets/brochures, exhibition presence, etc. We make the visual work hard both as an individual piece of communication and within the context of promoting it at a series or collection level.
- Platforms
- It is important to emphasise how our ebooks are implemented across media and platforms, and expand from the traditional model of book publishing. An ebook exists primarily in digital form while its print-on-demand version is generally produced in smaller quantities. In terms of design and branding, the visual approach we have developed aims to best portray our programme in digital form, where our covers are primarily promoted as small thumbnail images and digital covers on tablets.
- Cover creation
- During the production stage, our in-house design studio will also be drafting a unique and beautiful IOP Publishing-branded book cover. This cover will be graphically designed by an IOPP studio specialist to ensure your book will be noticed in the marketplace and complement our book program. Our design technique greatly impacts the exposure of your book.
What is a platinum open access journal?
Platinum (also known as sponsored or diamond) open access journals allow immediate access to the content of the journal without the payment of a subscription fee or licence. Authors pay no article publication charge and all the costs of publishing the journal are met by one or more sponsoring organizations.
IOP publishes two sponsored open access journals on behalf of partners:
- The Vietnamese Academy of Science & Technology: Advances in Natural Sciences: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
- China Academy of Engineering Physics: International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing
- Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory: Materials Futures
ebook production
We acknowledge and respect the significance of an author deciding to publish their work. Throughout the publication process, we remain fully committed to providing our authors with the best possible publishing experience, including efficiency and personal service throughout each phase of the publishing process.
Each manuscript undergoes full copyedit and proofread (including grammar, tense, punctuation, and spelling). After your manuscript undergoes editing and typesetting, you will be provided with a set of proof pages for. Please review all corrections carefully.
It is important to remember all submitted manuscripts are to be considered final and should only undergo minor corrections and changes to not disturb typesetting.
Submitting your reviewer report
To submit your report, either click the link in the email you received with the paper attached, or log into your account on ScholarOne. If you have forgotten your log in details, click ‘Reset Password’ on the log in page. This video will take you through the stages of submitting your report.
How to submit your report on ScholarOne
Comments to the author
Most of your report should go in this section. Please remember to use appropriate language in your comments for the author. IOP Publishing retains the right to make minor edits to reports if the reviewer has used language that is inappropriate or offensive, or if they have revealed their identity on a double-anonymous journal. In exceptional circ*mstances IOP Publishing has the right to withdraw reviewer reports.
Please justify any literature reference(s) you suggest the authors should cite, especially any to your own work. The Editor reserves the right to exclude irrelevant citation suggestions from reports.
- Structure
- Start your report by briefly summarizing the purpose and results of the paper. This shows the authors and editors of the journal that you have read and understood the work. The body of your report should concentrate on the quality of the article. It can be helpful for the author if you number your points. You should comment on the strengths of the paper as well as what could be improved. Please provide full references to earlier work if you believe the research does not add anything new.
- Length
- Reviewers are not required to give a detailed summary of the paper. However, your report should be substantial and thorough. You should explain your thinking and give the author and editors enough reasoning to support your recommendation. If you are requesting the author to revise the article, be clear about what is needed to bring the article up to the required quality standards for publication.
Occasionally we receive very short referee reports that do not provide evidence to support the recommendation. On receipt of such reports we may contact the referee to request some additional comments, both to assist us with assessment and to assist the author with any potential revision.
- Tone
- Your report should be polite, objective and constructive. You should not make any personal comments. Think about what kind of report you would like to receive.
You may also upload a file containing your comments.
Comments to the Editor
Please use this section of the report form to record any confidential comments intended for the Editor only.
Copyright and permissions in relation to articles published under the subscription model
Articles published under the subscription model are fully protected by copyright.
In most cases, following acceptance of the article, IOP grants back to authors of articles published under the subscription model, the rights set out in the applicable author rights policy.
Original content from subscription articles can only be used in accordance with the rights set out in the copyright form, and in the applicableauthor rights policy. All other uses by the authors require the express permission of IOP and/or its publishing partner(s).
All uses by persons, companies or organisations that are not the original authors of the article require the express permission of IOP and/or its publishing partner(s).
For information on how to request permission, see the permissions section.
Author rights under the subscription model
Information on author rights for subscription articles can be found as follows:
- For most IOP journals: author rights page
- For AAS journals: contact permissions@ioppublishing.org
ForECS journals, contact permissions@ioppublishing.org
- For SISSA journals: contact permissions@ioppublishing.org
- For Nuclear Fusion: contact permissions@ioppublishing.org
- For PASP journal: PASP Author Rights page
- For Other Publishing Partner journals: for those journals not listed in either the ‘Current author rights policy’ or the ‘Alternative author rights policies’, please contact the relevant publishing partner Partner Owned Journals: titles for which IOP does not handle permissions requests
What is Creative Commons licensing?
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that has released several copyright licences known as Creative Commons licences free of charge to the public. The licences grant rights to the users of the content but do not replace the copyright, which remains with the copyright owner. IOP generally publishes open access articles under a CC BY 4.0 licence. This licence lets others distribute, remix, tweak and build upon the author’s work, even commercially, as long as they credit the author for the original creation.
Making your recommendation as a reviewer
You will be asked to give a recommendation. The Editor will take into account your recommendation along with those provided by any other reviewers. Your recommendation should be either:
- Accept
- Amendments required before acceptance
- Unsatisfactory revision
Make sure you explain the recommendation you have made in your report. You may see fewer recommendation options if you are reviewing a revised manuscript.
