JEBSS uses double-anonymous peer review: author and reviewer identities are concealed during review.

Workflow

Stage	Responsible party	Action
1. Technical check	Editorial Office	Confirms files, anonymisation, declarations and basic compliance.
2. Editorial screening	Editor	Assesses scope, baseline quality, originality and ethics; may decline without external review.
3. Reviewer selection	Handling Editor	Invites at least two independent experts and records conflicts.
4. External review	Reviewers	Evaluate the manuscript and provide confidential, reasoned reports.
5. Editorial decision	Handling Editor / Editor-in-Chief	Assesses evidence and reports; issues a decision and revision requirements.
6. Revision	Authors	Submit a revised manuscript and point-by-point response.
7. Re-review	Editor / Reviewers	Checks whether major concerns are resolved; further rounds may occur.
8. Final checks	Editorial and Production Teams	Verify ethics, authorship, references, language, files, metadata and licence.
9. Publication	Publisher	Publishes the version of record with dates, declarations, identifier and access links.

Editorial screening

Screening is an academic decision, not merely a formatting check. A manuscript may be declined before review when it is outside scope, lacks a defensible scholarly contribution, contains fundamental method or ethics problems, is not sufficiently developed, or cannot be reviewed reliably in its submitted form.

Reviewer independence

Reviewers must be qualified and independent. Editors avoid recent co-authors, close collaborators, supervisors, students, family members and other relationships that may compromise impartiality. If identity is inferred, the reviewer must disclose any conflict.

Decision making

Recommendations are advisory. Editors assess the reasons, evidence, reports, author response and journal policy; they may seek a third review. A split recommendation is not decided by majority vote.

Timelines

JEBSS aims to screen within 7–14 days and obtain first-round reports within approximately four weeks after reviewer assignment. Specialist reviewer searches and integrity questions may extend this. Targets are not guarantees.

Revisions and repeated review

Major revisions may return to the original reviewers; minor revisions may be assessed by the editor. The decision letter should identify decisive changes. Revision does not guarantee acceptance.

Editorial-board submissions and special issues

Submissions from editors, board members and guest editors follow the same criteria but are handled by an independent, non-conflicted editor. The submitting editor has no privileged access to review deliberations.

Appeals

An appeal must identify a material review, procedure or policy error. A non-conflicted senior editor considers one focused appeal per manuscript; that outcome is final within JEBSS.

Content not externally reviewed

Editorials, announcements, corrections and certain invited notices may be assessed editorially rather than externally reviewed. Their article pages must clearly label the content type and review status.