Peer Review Policy

Editorial Commitment

The European Journal of Family Business (EJFB) is committed to a fair, rigorous, timely, and constructive peer review process that ensures the scientific quality, originality, and relevance of the research it publishes. Peer review is a fundamental component of scholarly communication and serves not only to evaluate manuscripts but also to improve their quality through independent expert assessment.

The journal operates a double-anonymized peer review system for research articles, ensuring that neither authors nor reviewers know each other's identity throughout the review process. All editorial procedures are conducted through the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform, which provides a secure, transparent, and auditable record of the editorial workflow

Editorial assessment

All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment before being sent for external review. During this stage, the handling editor evaluates whether the manuscript:

  • falls within the journal's aims and scope;
  • meets the journal's standards of originality, scientific quality, and relevance;
  • complies with the journal's submission requirements; and
  • is suitable for external peer review.

Manuscripts that do not satisfy these criteria may be declined without external review.

Double-anonymized Peer Review

Manuscripts that successfully pass the initial editorial assessment are normally evaluated by two independent expert reviewers under a double-anonymized peer review system.

Reviewers are invited on the basis of their expertise and are asked to provide an objective, constructive, and confidential evaluation of the manuscript. Their reports are intended to assist both the authors in improving their work and the editors in reaching an informed editorial decision.

Review Criteria

Reviewers are invited to evaluate manuscripts according to criteria including:

  • originality and contribution to knowledge;
  • relevance to the journal's scope;
  • theoretical and practical contribution;
  • methodological rigour;
  • quality of data analysis and interpretation;
  • clarity, organisation, and presentation of the manuscript; and
  • adequacy of the conclusions.

Reviewers are encouraged to provide constructive feedback that supports authors in improving the quality of their work.

Editorial Decision

Editorial decisions are made independently and are based on the scientific merit of the manuscript.

The final decision regarding publication rests with the Editor-in-Chief, who considers the recommendations of the handling editor together with the reports provided by the independent reviewers. When necessary, additional reviewers may be invited to assist in the evaluation process.

Editorial decisions may include:

  • Accept;
  • Minor Revision;
  • Major Revision; or
  • Reject.

Acceptance of a manuscript is never based solely on reviewers' recommendations but results from the independent editorial assessment of all available evidence.

Confidentiality

The peer review process is confidential. Manuscripts submitted to EJFB, together with reviewers' reports and editorial correspondence, are treated as confidential documents and may not be disclosed or used for any purpose other than the editorial evaluation of the manuscript.

Reviewers are expected to respect the confidentiality of the material received and must not share or use unpublished information obtained through the review proces

 

Peer Review of Other Contributions

While original research articles are normally subject to double-anonymized peer review, other types of contributions—including commentaries, viewpoints, debates, practitioner-oriented papers, invited contributions, and similar editorial content—may follow a different review process depending on their nature and purpose.

Where appropriate, these contributions may undergo single-anonymized peer review or another form of editorial assessment. The review model applied in each case is determined by the Editor-in-Chief according to the characteristics of the submission, while maintaining the journal's commitment to fairness, scientific quality, editorial independence, and transparency.