1- Submission of Paper

The corresponding author submits the paper to the journal. This is via an online system (https://ijfrpr.areeo.ac.ir/).

2- Editorial Office Assessment

The journal checks the paper’s composition and arrangement against the journal’s Author Guidelines to make sure it includes the required sections and stylizations. The quality of the paper is not assessed at this point. In case of non-compliance with Journal format, it will be returned to the author to revise it and if approved it will be sent to the editor.

3- Appraisal by the Editor

The Editor-in-Chief checks that the paper is appropriate for the journal and is sufficiently original and interesting. If not, the paper may be rejected without being reviewed any further. If the paper is suitable enough, it will be sent to one of the members of the editorial boards (as Associate Editor) for further review.

4- Evaluation by one of the editorial boards (as Associate Editor)

The article will be reviewed by one of the editorial board (as Associate Editor) . If it does not fit the goals and objectives of the article, it will be rejected and if approved, at least 3 reviewers will be introduced to the chief editor to continue the process.

5- Invitation to Reviewers

The chief editor sends invitations to individuals she believes would be appropriate (at least 2) reviewers. As responses are received, further invitations are issued, if necessary, until the required number of acceptances is obtained – commonly this is 2.

6- Response to Invitations

Potential reviewers consider the invitation against their own expertise, conflicts of interest and availability. They then accept or decline. If they accept the arbitration, the full text of the article and the arbitration questionnaire will be provided to them.

7- Review is Conducted

The reviewer sets time aside to read the paper several times. The review is then submitted to the journal, with a recommendation to accept or reject it – or else with a request for revision (usually flagged as either major or minor) before it is reconsidered.

8- Journal Evaluates the Reviews

The chief editor considers all the returned reviews before making an overall decision. If the reviews differ widely, the chief editor may invite an additional reviewer so as to get an extra opinion before making a decision.

9- The Decision is Communicated

The editor sends a decision to the author including any relevant reviewer comments. At this stage, the article maybe rejected or sent to the corresponding author for revision.

10- Revise the paper by the corresponding author and resend it

The author will improve the article according to the reviewers's comments. After revising the article, the author submits the revised article again.

11- Review of the revised article

The revised article will be reviewed by the editor and members of the editorial board, in order to reach a conclusion, it will be sent to one of the reviewers for re-review.

12- Final steps

If accepted, the paper is sent to production. If the article is rejected or sent back for either major or minor revision, the handling editor should include constructive comments from the reviewers to help the author improve the article. At this point, reviewers should also be sent an letter letting them know the outcome of their review. If the paper was sent back for revision, the reviewers should expect to receive a new version, unless they have opted out of further participation.