The Saudi Journal of Special Education (SJSE) strive to ensure that all manuscripts receive fast and objective evaluation through the adoption of the following three stages:

The first stage: Receiving the manuscript

The manuscript must be submitted electronically through the online manuscript submission system established by King Saud University (http://prsj.ksu.edu.sa). Under certain circumstances, such as the inability to complete the online submission for some technical reason, the manuscript can be submitted as an attached file by e-mail to the journal’s address (SJSE@ksu.edu.sa). The author will be notified about the successful submission within three days of manuscript submission by receiving an automatic response text message or an email confirmation acknowledging receipt of the manuscript. Once the manuscript is submitted, the process of peer review begins immediately with the manuscript being assigned to a manuscript reference number to be used for all future correspondences. An initial screening is carried out to check that all the necessary forms associated with the submission, such as the declaration of intellectual property form, have been received. The manuscript will also be run through plagiarism detection software (e.g., Turnitin, iThenticate, Qarnet, Plagiarism Detector) to verify originality. The journal has a zero tolerance policy towards plagiarism; therefore identifying any copyright violation or infringement will result in the rejection of the manuscript without further review. When the initial screening is completed successfully, the manuscript will be sent to a member of the associate editors for preliminary evaluation.

The second stage: Peer review

This stage consists of three steps as follows:

The first step: Preliminary Evaluation

The manuscript will be preliminarily evaluated by one of the journal’s associate editors for compliance with the journal’s policies and guidelines. If the manuscript does not meet the journal’s requirements, it will be rejected and returned within ten working days to the author with an explanation for its rejection. If the manuscript adhering to the journal's requirements, it will enter a blind peer review process. The associate editor will assigned the manuscript to two outside reviewers.

The second step: Peer-review

The manuscript will be critically peer reviewed by three reviewers. The associate editor (who has preliminary evaluated the manuscript) and two outside reviewers with expertise in the topics covered in the manuscript. Reviewers are requested to evaluate the manuscript and complete the review form within three weeks.

The third step: Decision of the Associate Editors

Based on the reviewers’ evaluation and recommendations, the associate editors make a decision to reject, request revisions and resubmissions, or accept the manuscript for publishing. In cases where the associate editors disagree in their decision-making, the judgment of the associate editor who has preliminary evaluated the manuscript will be the tiebreaker. Within two days of the decision being made, the author will receive a comprehensive report including the journal’s final decision and reviewers’ comments on the manuscript.

The third stage: Publication

When the decision to accept the manuscript for publication is taken, the author will receive galley proofs (in PDF format) of the edited manuscript for final checking and confirmation. An electronic version of the manuscript will be published as Online First on the journal's website within three weeks. The paper version of the manuscript will be included in the next issue of the journal. The author will receive a publication notice and will be provided with a PDF file of the published manuscript.