Review Procedures

• Manuscript Submissions: Authors must submit manuscripts to SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing (SISC) in electronic form. Hard-copy submissions will not be considered. Authors must enter submissions directly into the Journal Submission & Tracking System at http://sisc.siam.org. Authors should submit both the manuscript and a cover letter in PDF format.
  
  

  SISC’s Editorial Policy specifies that authors must specify which of three journal sections their paper fits.

  • Methods and Algorithms for Scientific Computing
  • Computational Methods in Science and Engineering
  • Software and High-Performance Computing

Authors can indicate the appropriate section through the submission form at http://sisc.siam.org. Note that the editors reserve the right to re-assign the manuscript to the section of SISC they think is most appropriate.

Note: Figures, if any, must be embedded "inline" in the manuscript.

After the submission has entered SIAM's tracking system, the corresponding author receives an e-mail that acknowledges receipt and provides the manuscript number. Authors are asked to include the manuscript number in all correspondence regarding the paper.

After checking the files the author submitted, the SIAM office contacts the EIC to let him/her know that there is a new manuscript that needs to be routed. Note that all contact with the EIC and all subsequent review correspondence with the Section Editor (SE) and Associate Editor (AE) and the SIAM office regarding the manuscript will be done via e-mail. The EIC briefly reviews each submission to determine whether it is appropriate for the journal. If so, the EIC sends it to the appropriate  Section Editor, who decides which AE is appropriate to handle the review. In making this decision, the SE takes into account both the areas of expertise and the current workloads of the editors. If the SE assigns the paper to an AE, he/she does so by letting the SIAM office know to whom the submission should be routed for review. The SIAM office then contacts the AE. This e-mail provides the AE a direct link to the manuscript and the cover letter. Assuming the AE accepts the assignment, the paper is considered in review (status R) at this point. Note that the EIC or the SE can reject papers that are clearly inappropriate for SISC without assigning them to a Review Editor

• Note on Manuscript Length: There is a limit of approximately 20 journal pages. The limit can be exceeded; however, substantial deviation from the limit requires that the referees, reviewing editor, and EIC be convinced that a longer paper is required.
  
  
• Direct Submissions: Members of the editorial board occasionally receive submissions directly from authors. In such cases the editor should ask the author to resubmit the paper to the SIAM office through the Journal Submission & Tracking System at http://sisc.siam.org. This procedure ensures that the SIAM office will have the opportunity to access the manuscript for proper processing and tracking throughout the review process. Editors should not review a new submission without the approval of the EIC, who assigns the Review Editor for each paper.
  
  
• 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 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.
  
  
• Conflicts of Interest and Rerouting: It is vital to the reputation of SIAM and all of its journals that conflicts of interest be avoided. Therefore, it is SIAM policy that editors not review papers authored by their friends, colleagues, co-workers, students, or recent former students. The same policy applies to referees: editors should not send papers to referees who work at an author's institution or who are known to have close ties to the author. To help avoid conflicts of interest, it is SIAM policy that editors who receive manuscript submissions or who are assigned manuscripts that present a conflict of interest decline the assignment. The EIC can then reassign the paper to another editor.
  
  
• Status Changes and Communicating with Authors
  It is vital that, in all communications with authors, AEs avoid wording that could make the status of the paper seem unclear (e.g., in a rejection message to the author: Is the intent to reject clear, or is a revision being implicitly encouraged?). Please note especially the important distinctions among the following statuses: rejected (RJ), in revision(V), minor revision (PA).
  
  Accepted (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 as part of the editor's e-mail requesting revisions. The e-mail 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). 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 EIC, the SE, 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 Assistant 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, the SIAM office, and the EIC 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 Review Editor or the Editor-in-Chief. Files are never closed without first giving the author ample opportunity to submit a revision.
  
  
• Transfer: Manuscripts that are of high quality but are inappropriate for SISC can be transferred to other SIAM journals 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. 
  
  
• 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 Associate working with SISC sends Review Editors an Individual Editor Report every quarter. 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. 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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