The review process begins with an initial judgment of suitability. Submissions are sent back to authors without review if the editors judge that the paper is inappropriate for the Journal or is unlikely to survive the review process, saving time for authors and reviewers. Roughly one half of all submissions are not sent out for review.

Articles sent out for review are considered under a double-anonymized review process. We aim to obtain at least two external reviewers for each manuscript.

To maintain the quality of the review process, authors of submitted manuscripts are expected to review two manuscripts for APSR. Editors may refuse to review submissions of manuscripts by authors who repeatedly fail to provide invited reviews.

Articles submitted for review may be desk rejected by the editors upon initial submission if they do not satisfy the conditions outlined in these guidelines, including ethical standards and commitments to sharing data. Articles that are not desk rejected will be considered under a double-blind review process. To maintain the quality of the review process, authors of submitted manuscripts are expected to review future manuscripts for APSR. Editors may desk reject submissions of manuscripts by authors who repeatedly fail to provide invited reviews. Authors will be asked to agree to review at least two articles for the journal in the upcoming year as a condition of sending their article out for review.

More information on the the APSR peer review policy can be found here.