• All manuscripts are subject to a strict peer review process (double blind peer review process) involving members of the editorial board and external reviewers with expertise in the subject matter.
• The process starts with an initial review by the Editor-In-Chief or Co-Editor-In-Chief who makes an initial assessment of suitability for Microbes and Infectious Diseases Journal.
• All new submissions to Microbes and Infectious Diseases are automatically screened using Crossref Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate) to screen all new manuscripts for plagiarism within the editorial system. The Editor-In-Chief may also chooses to run a similarity report at any other stage during the peer review process or post-publication. Authors can also use iThenticate to screen their work before submission by visiting http://www.ithenticate.com/.
• If the manuscript is deemed of interest, it is then assigned to a member of the editorial board who serves as the principal reviewing editor.
• The reviewing editor invites external reviewers (a minimum of two independent expert reviewers) who are blinded to the manuscript author(s) to further assess the manuscript, recommend any revisions, and offer their opinion on acceptability.
• Depending on the reviewing editor/reviewers’ recommendations, the Editor-In-Chief is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles.
• Manuscripts can be accepted, with minor or major revision, or rejected. If the decision is ‘revision’, the authors are requested to take the remarks of the referees and editors into account. A second reviewing process can follow. Upon final acceptance, the authors will be notified by an E mail, and the accepted manuscript will be finally edited by the language editor for free linguistic edit service.
• After linguistic edit of the accepted article, the galley proof will be sent as a PDF file to the corresponding author. This proof must be carefully corrected and sent back within two working days.
• We encourage a systematic approach to manuscript review and provide reviewers with the "COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers" (Please, see: https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/cope-ethical-guidelines-peer-reviewers).

Timing:

Microbes and Infectious Diseases Editorial Board is committed to rapid editorial decisions and publication, and we believe that an efficient editorial process of high quality is a valuable service both to our authors and to the scientific community. We, therefore, ask reviewers to respond promptly within the number of days agreed. The journal’s first decision for the first-round revision may be expected at the earliest four weeks after submission, and the final decision of acceptance or rejection is expected within 6-8 weeks.

 Figure. The path of peer-review process in Microbes and Infectious Diseases