Reviewers’ Responsibilities and Ethical Guidelines

Reviewers for the International Journal of Contemporary Security Studies (IJCSS) contribute independent expertise while protecting authors, participants and the integrity of the scholarly record.

Accepting an invitation

Accept only when the manuscript falls within your competence and you can provide a timely, impartial review. Disclose financial, institutional, professional, personal or ideological conflicts and decline when independence may reasonably be questioned.

Confidentiality

The manuscript, supplementary files, author information and editorial correspondence are confidential. Do not share them, contact authors, use unpublished ideas or upload material to public AI systems.

Quality of review

Assess originality, relevance, methods, evidence, analysis, reporting, limitations and conclusions. Comments must be specific, evidence-based and constructive. Personal criticism, discriminatory language and requests intended mainly to increase citations to the reviewer are unacceptable.

Research integrity

Alert the editor confidentially to suspected plagiarism, redundant publication, fabricated or manipulated data, undisclosed conflicts, unsafe research or other ethical concerns. Do not investigate authors independently.

Anonymity and communication

IJCSS uses double-anonymous review. Reviewers must avoid revealing their identity in comments or file metadata. All communication must pass through the editorial system.

AI-assisted technologies

AI cannot replace expert judgement or write an undisclosed review. Any institutionally approved assistance must preserve confidentiality and be disclosed to the editor; the reviewer remains fully responsible.

Recommendation

The confidential recommendation should be consistent with the report. The editor, not the reviewer, makes the publication decision.

Questions

Reviewers should contact the handling editor or use the journal’s Contact page.

Effective date: 22 July 2026
Last updated: 22 July 2026