JIR PROCESS

• Manuscripts receive a desk review by the Editor to determine fit and relevance for JIR. Manuscripts that pass desk review will be posted on the journal's website for interactive public review.
• During the one-month interactive review stage, manuscripts are publicly available for review by the journal's peer review board as well as scholars in the broader academic community. Papers posted for discussion are NOT anonymous. Copyright information will be posted along with each paper to ensure ownership of all posted information. Scholars wishing to contribute to the discussion surrounding each paper must register with JIR in order to publicly post their comments. All comments, replies and suggestions are publicly posted along with the paper during the public review stage. To ensure a permanent, documented record of review and authors' publication precedence, the title and abstract of each discussion paper will remain permanently as a public archive on the JIR website at the conclusion of the public review period. At the author's request, the entire manuscript (with corresponding comments) can be permanently archived on the JIR website.
  
• Following public review, authors have the opportunity to revise their papers based on the feedback obtained during the public review discussion.
• Revised papers are subjected to a traditional masked peer review to determine final acceptance for publication. Participate in the public review process does not guarantee publication; publication decisions will be based on the combined information gleaned from both the public and private review stages.
• Designated reviewers from the Peer Review Board will be assigned to review the discussion paper and provide feedback; reviewers may elect to sign their public comments or remain anonymous.

Review Criteria

The following dimensions will be utilized to evaluate manuscript submissions:

• Relevance - Relevance highlights the impact of the paper for influencing best practices in post-secondary instruction.
• Significance - Significance refers to the value, importance and worth of the manuscript within the context of higher education.
• Originality - Originality refers to the level of innovation in practice, approach, technique or purposeful self-reflection.
• Methodology - Methodology emphasizes appropriate methods of inquiry and theoretical interpretation.
• Generalizability - Generalizability examines the extent to which findings and conclusions have implications across a range of academic disciplines or student populations.
• Theoretical grounding - Theoretical grounding refers to the ability to quality of the literature review and the ability to ground manuscript within relevant literature/theory.
• Clarity - Clarity evaluates the ability to communicate information in a clear, cohesive fashion.

Review Outcomes

Utilizing feedback from the two-stage public and masked review process, the Editor will make a final publication decision. The review process will take approximately 12-16 weeks. Decisions categories include:

• Reject - Rejected manuscripts will not be published and authors will not have the opportunity to resubmit a revised version of the manuscript to JIR.
• Revise and Resubmit - Manuscripts receiving a revise-and-resubmit decision have value, but need significant revisions prior to receiving additional consideration for publication.
• Accept Pending Revisions - A manuscript accepted-pending-revisions meets all the major requirements for publication but needs revisions in substantive, mechanical or methodological issues.
• Accept - Accepted manuscripts will be published in the current form with no further modifications required.

Process Calendar

Papers may be submitted for discussion at any time. Papers will be posted for discussion during the next available discussion period. Discussion periods:

• February
• March
• October

Deadline for submitting revised papers for publication consideration in the final JIR print/online volume is June 1.