JTM Appeals Process for Authors

General

Authors may request an appeal of publication decisions rendered by a JMT Decision Editor or the Editor-in-Chief. This policy defines the process once the JMT Editorial office receives the appeal.

Qualifying Appeals

Appeals will be considered only if they assert that (1) an error of fact or substantial misunderstanding occurred, and/or (2) a disqualifying conflict of interest exists on the part of a reviewer, the Decision Editor, or Editor-in-Chief.

Appeals Process

All appeals must: (1) be made in writing to the Editor-in-Chief; (2) clearly state the basis for the appeal and provide substantiating information; and (3) be received by the JMT office within 30 days of the date of the letter of rejection.

The editorial staff will forward the appeal to the Editor-in-Chief or the Associate Editor within 5 business days. If unavailable, the Editor-in-Chief or Associate Editor may delegate this to another member of the Editorial Board not involved with the initial decision.

The Editor-in-Chief, the Associate Editor, or their designee will receive the initial and revised (if applicable) manuscripts, all referee reports, and all correspondences relating to the manuscript.

The Editor-in-Chief, the Associate Editor, or their designee will choose a disposition within 30 business days of receiving the above materials. The decision may be: (1) to reaffirm the initial decision and take no further action; (2) to overturn the initial decision and accept the manuscript or write a specific revise/reconsider letter; or (3) to decide that additional information is required. If additional information is required, then the manuscript will be sent, with no other background material, to at least two reviewers not associated with the previous review, following usual manuscript review operations/timelines.

The Editor-in-Chief, the Associate Editor, or their designee will consider all referee comments at this point to choose final disposition. This decision is final and the author will be notified in writing per usual mechanisms.