SIC reviews papers within approximately three months of submission. Every manuscript is reviewed by at least two anonymous referees and accepted articles are published upon receiving the final versions, in the next available issue.

SIC Journal carries out a two-stage peer review process: internal peer review and blind peer review (external peer review). Submitted manuscripts are assessed by the editorial team based on the following criteria: compliance with the research area of the journal, compliance with the structure mentioned in Instructions for Authors, and the use of English language (articles should be written grammatically correct and easy to read). During the desk peer review stage, articles that are not appropriate for the SIC area of interest will be automatically rejected. Articles that need improvement in structure and wording will be returned to the authors to make changes to the text. The manuscripts that are deemed eligible by our editorial team and passed the desk review stage (with or without changes) reach the double-blind peer review stage. In this stage, the article is sent for evaluation to usually two reviewers from our database who have volunteered for this activity and have the most appropriate expertise for the manuscript. If requested, the reviewers are credited for their activity by being awarded a certificate for each review made.

The manuscripts are evaluated by two academic subject experts and may be accepted for publication without changes, with minor changes, with major changes, or may be rejected. Each peer review report includes detailed comments, if the author is required to make changes. Authors are not permitted to request reviewers. In the case of manuscripts rated with “minor revision”, ”moderate revision”, or “major changes”, the authors will return the amended article according to the indications of the editorial team with a letter addressed to the reviewers, in which they will explain how they addressed the reviewers’ suggestions. The SIC editorial team will ask the reviewers to verify again if the text complies with the indications received. If the changes comply with the indications from the peer review report, the manuscript will be published. If not, the article is returned to the authors for further amendments or is rejected.

SIC has its own volunteer-based database of reviewers, made up of members of the editorial board, of the academia and business area related to SIC activity. The reviewer database is updated regularly by the editorial team and is categorized based on the subject expertise. The editorial team will ensure that the reviewer assigned for blind review is different from the author and has a different affiliation, by verifying the relevant identification details (full name and affiliation). SIC pays special attention to the peer review process and ensures the author-reviewer confidentiality. This means that the reviewer receives the manuscript for evaluation without the authors’ names and affiliations, and the authors receive the peer review report without the reviewer’s name.

All articles are copyrighted and may be reproduced without permission for non-profit use provided credit is given to SIC.

We welcome national and international subscriptions to the print edition of the journal at sic@ici.ro.