Review Procedures

  1. Manuscript Submissions and Editor Assignments. Authors must submit manuscripts to SIAM Review (SIREV) in electronic form. Hard-copy submissions will not be considered. Authors must enter submissions directly into the Journal Submission & Tracking System at http://sirev.siam.org. Authors should submit both the manuscript and a cover letter in PDF format.
    Note: Figures, if any, must be embedded "inline" in the manuscript.

    Some papers appearing in SIREV are written at the invitation of the Editorial Board. Authors are encouraged to send an informal proposal to the Editorial Board in advance of preparing and submitting a full paper. Proposals may be communicated to the Section Editor or other members of the Editorial Board for feedback on the potential suitability of the proposed paper. Full manuscripts should be submitted directly to SIAM. Once SIAM has processed a new submission, a copy of the manuscript goes to the Section Editor (SE) along with any reference material the author may have submitted. The SE decides which member of the editorial board can best handle the formal review.

    Papers authored by Editorial Board members:  Papers authored by Editorial Board members are subject to the same anonymous peer review process as other papers.  Submissions to the journal authored by the members of the Editorial Board - and submitted within their own section - will be handled by the Section Editor. Submissions to the journal authored by a Section Editor will be handled by the Editor-in-Chief. Submissions to the journal authored by the Editor-in-Chief will be directed to the Vice President for Publications, who will oversee the review process.

  2. Status Changes. Once the Review Editor has obtained referee reports and made a decision on a manuscript, the author receives an e-mail informing him/her of the decision. Anonymous referee reports are generally included, along with the Review Editor decision.

    NOTE: To protect referee confidentiality, all referee reports that are sent electronically are safest as plain text, or (La)TeX source. The Journal Submission & Tracking System also allows attachment of a PostScript file or a PDF, but this is not the preferred path in terms of protecting referee identity. If an attachment is sent, the editor MUST take care to make sure that all filename header information is edited out.

    The various status designations used by SIAM are discussed below. Note the distinctions among the following statuses: rejected, in revision, minor revision.

    Acceptance (A). The Review Editor generates an acceptance letter through the web-based system. This goes to the corresponding author via e-mail. In a follow-up step, SIAM staff contacts the author for TeX files to launch the production process.

    In revision (V, V1, V2, V3). When an author is asked to revise a paper, there is no guarantee that the revised paper will be accepted for publication. Usually, in fact, such revised papers must again be refereed. The editor's letter should make this clear.

    The author receives referee reports and an email requesting revisions. The email contains a link that the author may use to submit the revised version directly into SIAM's web-based system. Also, a deadline of no longer than six months for the revision should be stated.

    Minor revision (PA, PA1, PA2, PA3). Unlike one that is "in revision," a paper that is PA is more likely to be accepted, as long as the author(s) makes the changes specified but there is no promise and the editor may still reject it. The revision is minor; no major changes are necessary in order to make the paper acceptable. The author receives a decision letter and referee reports. The letter may state whether the editor intends that the revised paper will be sent back to the referees or not.

    Rejection (RJ). A paper that is of poor quality should never be transferred to another SIAM journal. The editor's letter should leave no doubt as to the status of the paper. The author receives a rejection letter and may also get referee reports.

    In review (R, R1, R2, R3). The paper is with the Section Editor, or with the AE who is handling the review process. Referees are usually contacted and asked to send reports.

    In review, re-routed from one editor to another (RR). This status change can be effected only by the EIC. It occurs in one of two situations:
    1. an editor cannot handle a given paper due to heavy workload or other considerations and requests that the paper be re-routed to another editor. The EIC should inform the SIAM office of the change in editors, and the Publications Manager or Editorial Associate can take care of the change in editors in the web-based tracking system.
    2. An editor has not handled a paper in a timely or responsible fashion and the EIC determines that the paper must be re-routed to another editor.

    Withdrawn (W). An author can withdraw a paper. The Review Editor, Section Editor, and the SIAM office must be notified. A paper is also considered withdrawn when an author fails to revise a paper within a reasonable amount of time. SIAM asks authors to revise and resubmit papers within six months. The decision to close a file out is made jointly by the SIAM office and the reviewing editor or the Editor-in-Chief. Files are never closed without first giving the author ample opportunity to submit a revision.

  3. Transfer. Papers that are of high quality but are inappropriate for the journal to which they have been submitted can be transferred to another SIAM journal for consideration. Both EICs involved and the author(s) must approve the transfer. The EICs must agree before the author(s) is consulted. If the author agrees to the transfer, the original paper is marked rejected (RJ) and a new file is opened with a different manuscript number. The submisison then goes through the system to the EIC of the second journal. However, SIAM staff should first include a "General Note" on the electronic file indicating its history as a transferred paper.

  4. Reports. Various reports can be run by SIAM staff. Selected reports are run and distributed to the journal EICs on a monthly and quarterly basis. One report shows all papers in process, while others emphasize papers that have remained in one status for an unusually long time.

    The Editorial Assistant working with SIREV sends editors an Individual Editor Report every other month. This report shows all papers assigned to that editor, and asks for status updates on all papers that have been in review for six months or longer (flagged). If a paper has gone back to an author for revision (V or PA) and the editor has not received the revision though six months have passed, the Editorial Associate will point this out in the report and will offer to contact the author to see if the author intends to complete the revision.

    It is helpful if the editors respond, within one week, to the Editorial Assistant. If possible, the editor should indicate approximately when the review will be completed. SIAM receives the greatest number of author inquiries about flagged papers and it is important that authors be reassured that the review is proceeding.

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