Article Review Process

All articles, unless otherwise noted upon publication, submitted to IFSJLM are peer reviewed. IFSJLM uses a double-blind review process: The author does not know who reviewed the article and the reviewers do not know who wrote the article. Thus, it is important that the author only be identified on the cover page. The editor will remove the cover page before the article is sent out for review. Avoid making references to previous research by referring to oneself in the third person and referencing such work. The
review version of the article should not thank colleagues for reviewing a draft of the manuscript or state that an earlier version of the paper was presented at a conference. If accepted for publication, the final version of the article can contain such information. As
they read an article, peer reviewers are trying to answer the following questions: Is the material in the article accurate and relevant? Is the article grounded in theory? Are the methods used in the study appropriate and appropriately used? Does the article significantly add to our understanding of fire leadership and management? If not, the article may merit publication, but not in IFSJLM.

Reviewers are asked to evaluate articles within a 60- to 90-day time frame. If they cannot meet this parameter, they are instructed to inform the editor as soon as possible so that a new reviewer can be selected. After the editor receives all peer reviews, a decision is made to (1) accept the article for publication (subject to preparation guidelines and editing by Journal staff), (2) accept the article pending specific revisions required by the peer reviewers, (3) allow the author to “revise and resubmit” the article for
review based on general guidelines suggested by the reviewers, or (4) reject the article. Articles accepted under the “revise and resubmit” category are sent out for a second round of reviewers with no implied guarantee of acceptance. The editor of IFSJLM
decides which articles will appear in the Journal based on the peer-review process. Decisions made by the editor are final. Reviewers’ comments are made available to manuscript authors.