AETHERION: International Journal of Society, Education, and Development (IJSED) uses double-anonymous peer review. Reviewers do not know the identities of authors, and authors do not know the identities of reviewers.

Coverage

Original research articles, review articles, theoretical or conceptual articles, methodological articles, and research notes with original data go through external peer review. Editorials and book reviews go through editorial assessment and, at the editor's discretion, external review.

Stage 1, editorial screening

The Managing Editor checks each submission for fit with the Aims and Scope, completeness, anonymization, compliance with the Author Guidelines, research ethics documentation, and similarity. Manuscripts failing screening return to the authors for correction or receive a desk rejection. Authors receive the screening result within 14 days of submission.

Stage 2, reviewer assignment

The handling editor invites at least two independent reviewers with expertise in the subject and method of the manuscript. Reviewers hold a doctoral degree or show an equivalent record of peer-reviewed publication in the field. Reviewers do not share an institution with any author and have not collaborated with any author in the past three years. Manuscripts written in Filipino go to reviewers fluent in Filipino with matching subject expertise.

Stage 3, review

Reviewers submit reports within 21 days of accepting the invitation, using the journal's review form. Reviewers assess originality, contribution to the field, fit with the journal scope, soundness of theory and method, quality of analysis, ethical compliance, clarity of writing, and accuracy of references. Each reviewer recommends one of four outcomes: accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject.

Stage 4, decision

The Editorial Board makes the final decision by vote, based on the reviewer reports and the handling editor's assessment, and the Editor-in-Chief informs the authors. Reviewer recommendations guide the decision but do not bind the board. When the two reviewers disagree sharply, the editor invites a third reviewer.

Stage 5, revision

Authors return minor revisions within 14 days and major revisions within 30 days. Each revision includes a point-by-point response, a clean manuscript, and a version showing changes. Major revisions return to the original reviewers where possible. A manuscript receives no more than two rounds of major revision.

Timeline

The journal aims to give authors a first decision within eight weeks of submission and a final decision within 16 weeks.

Editorial independence

Decisions rest on scholarly merit alone. The author's institution, nationality, gender, religion, or political views, the payment of any fee, and the commercial interests of the publisher have no bearing on the outcome. No fee buys a faster review or a favorable decision.

Submissions from editors

Manuscripts written by the Editor-in-Chief, editors, or editorial board members go to an editor with no conflict of interest. The author-editor has no access to the review records and takes no part in the decision. The published article names the handling editor. The journal tracks the share of articles from board members and from Central Mindanao Colleges in each issue to keep every issue open to authors from diverse institutions.

Reviewer conduct

Reviewers keep manuscripts confidential, declare conflicts of interest, decline assignments outside their expertise, write objective and respectful reports, and never contact authors directly. Reviewers do not upload any part of a manuscript to generative AI tools.

Recognition

Reviewers receive a certificate of review for each completed report. With the reviewer's consent, the journal records the review on the reviewer's ORCID profile.