Review Policy and Procedure

Submission and Initial Evaluation

All manuscripts must be submitted in English. Every manuscript will be checked with Turnitin, a plagiarism-detection software. Authors are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the entire work, including any parts generated or edited by AI. Authors are responsible for checking the validity of the output of any automated tools used in their research and preparing their manuscript, and are required to submit a declaration stating which part of the manuscript used AI. In the declaration, authors should specify how the AI was used, e.g., for language editing, summarizing literature, or assisting with data visualization.
 
Submissions that do not align with the journal's scope or fail to conform to the Journal of Tropical Crop Science guidelines will be returned to authors for correction. Upon submission, a unique manuscript number will be assigned and sent to the corresponding author.
 
The Managing Editor performs an initial pre-qualification assessment to ensure the scope is suitable and compliant with formatting guidelines. Based on this evaluation, the manuscript will either be:

  • Recommended for the formal peer-review process.

  • Returned to the author for initial revision.

  • Rejected if the quality or relevance does not meet the journal’s requirements.

Double-Anonymous Peer Review

The journal employs a double-anonymous (double-blind) peer-review process, ensuring that both authors and reviewers remain anonymous to one another to maintain total impartiality.

Manuscripts that pass the initial evaluation are assigned to at least two external experts in the relevant field. Reviewers evaluate the work based on relevance, originality, methodological soundness, data analysis, significance, and readability.

Reviewer Recommendations

Reviewers provide an explicit recommendation for the manuscript, classified as:

  1. Publishable (Acceptance)

  2. Publishable with Revisions (Minor or Major)

  3. Not Publishable (Rejection)

If there is a significant discrepancy between reviewers (e.g., one recommends rejection while another recommends acceptance), the Managing Editor will assign a third reviewer or consult the Editorial Board to reach a final decision.

Revision and Final Acceptance

Reviewed manuscripts, along with consolidated reviewer comments, are returned to the corresponding author. Revisions may be requested more than once. Along with the revised manuscript, authors must provide a detailed point-by-point response explaining the changes made or justifying why certain suggestions were not implemented.

Post-Acceptance and Publication

The Chief Editor makes the final decision based on the Managing Editor's recommendation. Accepted manuscripts undergo professional copyediting and layout by the Technical Editor. 
A galley proof will be sent to the authors for final review before publication. Corresponding authors will be notified of each milestone via email and the journal’s online platform.
 
Processing Time: average 32 weeks from submission to publication