The process of research paper peer-reviewing is a key stage of scientific publishing. Furthermore, one of the policies of Al-Azhar Journal of Education is to ensure the professionalism of the peer-reviewing process and commitment to the international publishing ethics and principles; Consequently, the peer-reviewer ought to:
- Completely abide by to the standards of the international publication ethics committee for peer-reviewing when reviewing research;
- Inform the Editor-in-Chief if s/he is not ready to review the research submitted and withdraws from the peer-reviewing process.
- Distance himself/herself from any personal interests, such as using information obtained from research that was peer-reviewed for his personal benefit.
- Reject peer-reviewing of research when there is a conflict of interest as a result of competitiveness or other relations with the research author.
- Ensure that research is free from plagiarism as the peer-reviewer must inform the editor-in-chief of any similarity between the research that has been peer-reviewed and any other published work that he has already encountered.
- Abide by the standards of confidentiality related to the peer-reviewing process as the research submitted must be treated as confidential documents; such research data must not be disclosed or discussed with others except what is authorized by the editor-in-chief.
- Ensure the objectivity of the peer-reviewing and the results issued by the peer-reviewing process.
- Express the opinions honestly and clearly with supporting arguments.
- Commitment to the time allotted for the peer-reviewing process.
- The editor-in-chief of AJED, in cooperation with the editorial board, is responsible for selecting the peer-reviewers according to the research topic and the peer-reviewers specialization with complete confidentiality.
- Expanding the number of peer-reviewers to include peer-reviewers from the Egyptian, Arab and international universities.
- AJED’s editorial board is responsible for the full disposition of all publishing processes, namely receiving research papers to peer-reviewing on the official website, finalizing the review, reviewing amendments and publishing.
- The publishing decision is mainly based on the referees’ reports and observations, the scientific value of the research, its originality and its relevance to AJED’s field of specialization.
- AJED imposes a strict moral obligation on the editorial board and the reviewers must not disclose any information or scientific materials contained in the research being reviewed for publication; added to that the opinions and observations contained in the peer-reviewing reports must be kept confidential.
- The editorial board is responsible for notifying the researcher of the publication decision; whether by approval without making any amendments or making specific amendments, based on what was stated in the peer-reviewing decision, or by apologizing for not publishing with an explanation of the reasons.
- Ensuring that the peer-reviewing process and the information received from the peer-reviewer are kept confidential.
- Ensuring that the research submitted for peer-reviewing is consistent with the ethics and principles of scientific publishing.
- Responding to the authors' enquiries as soon as they are received to be taken into consideration, as well as keeping any documents related to such enquiries.
- Ensuring that the research is carefully reviewed after accomplishing the amendments thoroughly for ensuring that the researcher is abiding by all the comments received from the peer-reviewers.
- Not only does AJED abide by its duties and responsibilities towards other parties, but also all rights are reserved for all the peer-reviewed published research.