FWF Austrian Science Fund

Peer review procedure

All funded books pass through an independent academic peer review process prior to publication.

Either the FWF or the publisher handle the peer review process. The FWF asks for at least one written review from an international renowned expert outside of Austria.

In cases where the publisher itself handles the peer review process, the publisher has to ask for at least two peer reviews meeting the requirements of the FWF.

This means:

  • Reviews must not be carried out by persons who may have or may be suspected to have a conflict of interest with regard to the authors, editors or other persons involved in the publication.
  • Reviewers are considered to have a conflict of interest in cases where:
    • they might benefit personally or financially from the approval or rejection of the application. The same applies to cases where
      • reviewers have worked at the same research institution, published or cooperated with the applicant or another person involved in the publication in the last five years, or
      • where the reviewers have fundamental differences of scholarly opinion or close professional and/or personal relationships with the applicant or another person involved in the publication.
  • Scholars who work in Austria must not be called in as reviewers.

Peer reviews must be meaningful and comparable with reviews obtained by the FWF.

Publishers could only conduct the peer review by themselves if they have an international peer review process for the selection of publications. The review process must be described in a transparent manner on the web site of the publisher.