Information for reviewers

General information

Contributions submitted to Royal Society journals that are selected for peer review are usually sent to two or more independent referees. Authors are welcome to suggest suitable referees, which the Society may consider. If you are approached to review but feel that there is a conflict of interest, for example if you collaborate with the paper's author, then please decline to review.

The referee reports constitute recommendations to the Guest Editor of the particular issue, and the Editor-in-Chief of the journal who is ultimately responsible for accepting or rejecting submissions.

Journal scope

Articles in any area of the physical sciences can be published in Philosophical Transactions A, providing they are of high quality and likely to be of interest to a broad readership. Articles are commissioned by individual issue editors of each issue, who also co-ordinate the review process.

Articles should either detail new discoveries across a broad scope or have implications outside the niche specialism of the article.

Selection criteria

The criteria for selection are: work of outstanding importance, scientific excellence, originality and interest to a wide spectrum of readers within the physical sciences.

Attention should also be paid to:

Electonic Supplementary Material: Supplementary material should also be reviewed in addition to the main text and attention should be paid to ensure that:

• Where possible, references only appear in the main article and not in the supplementary material.
• All relevant database accession numbers are included.

For more information on what is expected of authors please see our data and material sharing policy.

Statistics: A statement of good statistical practice is available. Referees may request that the article be sent to a specialist statistical reviewer.

Ethics: Any ethical concerns should be included in the referee's report. For example, concerns regarding animal experimentation, human studies or conservation issues.

Submission of referee reports

The report form asks a series of multiple choice questions and has space for comments to the Authors as well as for additional confidential comments to the Editors.

Referees may ask to see supporting data not submitted for publication, or a previous paper submitted but not yet published.

Refereeing Policy

Publishing Ethics policy
This describes the Royal Society's position on the major ethical principles of academic publishing. Authors, editors and referees are asked to comply with this policy.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) have published ethical guidelines for peer reviewers that provide basic guidance on the principles and standards that peer reviewers are expected to adhere to.

Anonymity
It is the policy of the Society that the names of referees are kept confidential, unless otherwise requested by referees in their report.

Confidentiality
When agreeing to referee an article, all referees undertake to keep the article confidential, and not to redistribute it without permission from the Society. If the advice of colleagues is sought, referees must inform the Editorial Office and ensure that confidentiality is maintained.

Conflicts of interest
Where referees have a conflict of interest (eg competing commercial interest or a personal association that could bias judgement) this should be declared upon invitation to referee.

Speed of refereeing
The Society endeavours to keep time from submission to publication as short as possible. Therefore, we ask referees to report back within 14 days of receiving the manuscript. In certain instances, an extension to this time may be granted by the Editorial Office, but should be agreed in advance.

If referees are unable to report, it is requested that the Editorial Office is informed as soon as possible so that the assessment process is not delayed. Where referees find they are unable to review the assigned manuscript, the Editor welcomes suggestions of alternative referees competent to review it. These suggestions should be passed to the Editorial Office.

Data protection
Referee details are entered on our editorial database to ensure that we can process articles efficiently. In accordance with the Data Protection Act, referees are informed that the data will be used for processing articles for publication as well as for general administrative purposes. We will not pass your information on to third parties other than our contractors, suppliers or agents who we use to provide services that you have requested or who help us provide those services. A copy of the Society's data protection policy, including data subjects' rights, is obtainable from the Society (ref DPSA/JHS).