Peeters Publishers

Peer review procedure

The majority of manuscript proposals Peeters receives are unsolicited.

Upon receipt, a first screening of the proposed book manuscript will take place internally at Peeters, with regard to some basic criteria, e.g. the subject of the book, if it fits or not in one of our book series.

If Peeters declines to pursue the proposal, it will be returned to the author. If it is not returned, the proposal will be submitted for peer review.

The editor-in-chief of a book series will be informed and (s)he will examine the proposal’s relevance for the series. In some cases the editor-in-chief of a series will suggest another Peeters series which is more appropriate for the proposed manuscript. If considered relevant for the series, the peer review of the proposal can start.

The editor-in-chief, in consultation with the editorial board, will appoint 2 blind peer reviewers.

After peer review by the reviewers, 3 possibilities can occur:

  • The proposal is rejected;
  • The proposal is accepted for publication;
  • The proposal is accepted for publication on the condition the author revises the manuscript taking into account the comments of the peer reviewers.

After a meeting of the editorial board, the author will be informed about the result of the peer review (refusal, acceptance, or acceptance after revision). A manuscript accepted under condition will be re-evaluated after revision, resulting in a final acceptance or rejection (if the revisions are not satisfactory). After acceptance the publishing process can start.