Frequency and Peer Review

Publication Frequency and Peer Review

Journal of Vocational Education Studies (JOVES) publishes twice a year (May and November).

1. Initial Desk Evaluation

Upon submission, the Editor-in-Chief and/or Managing Editor conduct an initial screening for the suitability with the focus and scope of the journal, the similarity, the soundness of English language used in the manuscript, and the article formatting based on the article template. If the manuscript meets the criteria, then it will be sent to the next evaluation. Submissions failing desk standards are rejected within 7 days.The similarity of the submitted manuscript shall not be more than 20%. If the author has checked the similarity of their manuscript, we are encouraged to upload it together with the manuscript submission to make the initial evaluation faster.

2. Double-Blind Peer Review

Qualified manuscripts are anonymized (all author identities and affiliations removed) and assigned to at least two (2) independent peer reviewers with documented expertise in the field to evaluate its contribution, originality, relevance, and presentation. Reviewers must hail from distinct universities or international institutions outside the author's institution. Reviewers' comments are then sent to the corresponding author for necessary actions and responses. The editor shall inform the author about the review results in 1 to 6 weeks.

3. Review Criteria

Reviewers evaluate manuscripts based on:

  • Originality and scientific novelty statement;

  • Clarity and soundness of methodology;

  • Depth of analytical discussion and literature comparison;

  • Up-to-date primary reference coverage (min. 80% primary journal articles from the past 5 years).

4. Strict AI Prohibition for Reviewers:

In accordance to COPE guidelines, peer reviewers are strictly forbidden from uploading manuscripts into generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude) to generate review reports, as this violates manuscript confidentiality and intellectual property rights.

5. Editorial Decision

Decisions (Accept, Minor Revisions, Major Revisions, or Reject) are rendered within 4 to 8 weeks based on reviewer recommendations. The suggested decision will be evaluated in an editorial board meeting. Afterward, the editor will send the final decision to the corresponding author.