QELJ follows a structured editorial and peer-review process designed to maintain academic quality, fairness, transparency, and research integrity.

1. SUBMISSION

Authors submit manuscripts and required metadata through the official QELJ Open Journal Systems platform.

2. INITIAL EDITORIAL SCREENING

Each submission is evaluated for:

• conformity with the Aims and Scope;
• scholarly contribution;
• completeness;
• originality and textual overlap;
• methodological or theoretical adequacy;
• ethical requirements;
• authorship information;
• competing interests;
• required declarations; and
• compliance with the Author Guidelines.

Manuscripts that clearly fall outside the journal's scope or fail to meet minimum scholarly or ethical requirements may be rejected without external peer review.

3. EDITORIAL ASSIGNMENT

Eligible manuscripts are assigned to an editor with relevant subject expertise.

Editors must disclose conflicts of interest and recuse themselves where impartial handling cannot be ensured.

4. DOUBLE-ANONYMOUS PEER REVIEW

Manuscripts proceeding to external review are normally evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise.

Author identities are concealed from reviewers, and reviewer identities are concealed from authors.

5. EDITORIAL DECISION

Following peer review, the responsible editor evaluates the reviewers' reports.

Possible decisions are:

• Accept
• Minor Revision
• Major Revision
• Reject

Reviewer recommendations are advisory.

The final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief or an appropriately delegated editor.

Where reviewer reports differ substantially, an additional independent reviewer may be invited.

6. REVISION

Authors must respond systematically to reviewer and editorial comments.

Revised manuscripts may undergo additional peer review where necessary.

7. ACCEPTANCE

A manuscript is formally accepted only after all scholarly, ethical, reporting, and editorial requirements have been satisfied.

8. PRODUCTION

Accepted manuscripts undergo:

• metadata verification;
• copyediting;
• reference checking;
• DOI verification;
• layout and typesetting;
• author proofreading; and
• final production quality control.

9. PUBLICATION

The final Version of Record is published online with complete bibliographic metadata, copyright information, license information, and persistent identifiers where applicable.

10. POST-PUBLICATION

QELJ maintains responsibility for the scholarly record following publication.

Corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or other notices may be issued where necessary.