University of Hertfordshire Press

Peer review procedure

University of Hertfordshire Press (UHP) peer-review procedure for books is as follows:

Proposals and manuscripts may be submitted to UHP’s Press Manager. Both proposals and manuscripts are assessed internally to establish whether the book is a good fit for UHP’s publishing programme. A substantial sample of text is normally required with proposals (usually at least two chapters).

lf UHP wants to take the submission forward, then the proposal or manuscript is sent for peer review to the relevant series editors (who are expert scholars in their field, external to UH Press and independent), and where appropriate additional reviewers (ie: if the topic of a proposed book or of a manuscript falls outside the expertise of the series editor). When approached, external peer reviewers are requested to write a review following the ‘UHP Reviewer Report Form’. A single blind review process is used for all external reviews as standard.

Publication decisions are made by UHP once the reports have been received by them. Provided that authors have addressed reviewers’ comments and recommendations to UHP’s satisfaction, and UHP wants to proceed, a book contract is issued. lf the book has been commissioned on the basis of a proposal and sample text, then contractual acceptance of the full manuscript is subject to further review at the stage of manuscript delivery.