Peer Review Policy

CARDINAL uses a double-blind peer review process scoped to each branch's methodology community (Empirica, Theoria, Praxis, Poiesis, Historia) rather than a single generic editorial board. Reviewers are matched to submissions by methodological expertise, not subject-area keyword alone.

Timeline

Every submission receives a first decision within 6–8 weeks of submission. This SLA is tracked automatically per submission and escalated to the handling editor if a reviewer does not respond within the configured reminder window.

Decision rationale

Every editorial decision — accept, revise, or decline — includes a written rationale from the handling editor. The system does not permit a decision to be recorded without this field populated.

Anonymization

Author-identifying fields are stripped from the manuscript before it reaches reviewers, and this redaction is enforced server-side, not only hidden in the interface, including removal of identifying document metadata.

This policy page is a Phase 0/1 deliverable published ahead of DOAJ application, per the platform roadmap.