Publication Process

CHAPTER III. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION, PEER REVIEW, EDITORIAL PROCESSING, AND PUBLICATION

Article 11. Manuscript Submission

1. Manuscript Submission Requirements

a) The Journal accepts electronic manuscript submissions only through its official online manuscript submission system available on the Journal's website.

b) Authors shall register an individual account within the system and provide complete information, including their full name, institutional affiliation, email address, ORCID iD, and nationality. The following documents must be uploaded:

  • Manuscript file (.doc or .docx);
  • Copyright Agreement / Publishing Agreement;
  • Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form;
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Disclosure Statement;
  • Author Contribution Statement (CRediT);
  • Research Ethics Approval documentation, where applicable (for studies involving humans, animals, biological specimens, or sensitive data);
  • Figures, tables, datasets, supplementary files, and other supporting materials, where applicable.

c) The Journal does not accept manuscripts submitted in printed form or through unauthorized third parties.

2. Preliminary Technical Screening and Plagiarism Check

a) Upon receipt, the Managing Editorial Office shall conduct an initial screening of each manuscript, including its formatting, structure, length, citation style, language quality, compliance with submission requirements, and completeness of supporting documents.

b) Only manuscripts that fall within the Journal's scope and comply with the prescribed formatting requirements shall proceed to editorial assessment. Non-compliant manuscripts shall be returned to the authors for revision before entering the peer-review process.

c) All manuscripts shall undergo similarity screening and plagiarism detection, together with an assessment of potential violations of research integrity, in accordance with Article 18 of these Regulations.

d) Only manuscripts that successfully pass the technical screening and plagiarism assessment shall proceed to the double-anonymized (double-blind) peer-review process.

Article 12. Peer Review Process

1. Double-Anonymized Peer Review

a) The Journal employs a double-anonymized (double-blind) peer-review system, under which the identities of both authors and reviewers remain confidential throughout the review process to ensure fairness and impartiality.

b) Each manuscript shall be evaluated by at least two independent reviewers possessing relevant expertise and having no conflict of interest with the authors or their affiliated institutions.

c) Where reviewers' recommendations differ substantially, the Editorial Board may appoint a third independent reviewer to assist in reaching an editorial decision.

d) The entire peer-review process, including reviewer reports, author responses, editorial correspondence, and editorial decisions, shall be managed through the Journal's online manuscript management system to ensure transparency, auditability, and secure recordkeeping.

e) Editorial decisions may include one of the following:

  • Accept;
  • Accept with Minor Revisions;
  • Major Revisions Required;
  • Revise and Resubmit for Further Review;
  • Reject.

2. Review and Revision Timeline

a) Reviewers are normally expected to complete their review within ten (10) days of accepting the review invitation. Where justified, an extension of up to five (5) additional days may be granted.

b) Upon receipt of reviewers' comments, the Editorial Board shall forward the comments to the corresponding author for revision. Revised manuscripts, together with a detailed response to reviewers, shall normally be submitted within:

  • Three (3) days for minor revisions; or
  • Seven (7) days for major revisions.

Requests for additional time must be submitted to and approved by the Journal.

c) Revised manuscripts shall normally be returned to the original reviewers for further evaluation before a final editorial decision is made.

d) Depending on the quality of revisions and the complexity of the manuscript, the peer-review process may involve one to three rounds of revision.

3. Resolution of Conflicting Reviews

a) Where reviewers provide conflicting recommendations, the Editorial Board shall evaluate the reports carefully and determine the most appropriate course of action in a fair and objective manner.

b) Where necessary, the Editorial Board may invite an additional reviewer or seek advice from the relevant Subject Editorial Committee before reaching a final decision.

c) In cases involving substantial disagreement or particularly complex scientific issues, the Editor-in-Chief may consult an additional independent reviewer, the Subject Editorial Committee, or an independent panel of experts before making the final editorial decision.

Article 13. Scientific and Language Editing

1. Scientific Editing

a) After a manuscript has successfully completed peer review and has been accepted in principle, the relevant Subject Editorial Committee shall conduct a final scientific review to ensure academic accuracy, logical consistency, compliance with the Journal's formatting standards, and overall scholarly quality.

b) Scientific editing includes verification of research data, equations, tables, figures, captions, citations, references, scientific terminology, units of measurement, and other technical content.

c) The Subject Editorial Committee may request that authors revise, clarify, supplement, verify, or remove content as necessary to ensure scientific quality and research integrity.

d) The Chair of the Subject Editorial Committee shall recommend whether the manuscript proceeds to language editing or should be rejected. The final decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief or an authorized representative.

e) Any substantive academic changes made during the editing process must be approved by the author(s) through the Journal's OJS platform before publication.

f) Authors remain responsible for reviewing and approving the final version prior to publication. Errors identified after publication shall be addressed through the Journal's correction, retraction, or other post-publication procedures.

2. Language Editing, Technical Editing, and Bilingual Abstracts

a) Following scientific editing, the Journal's Language and Technical Editing Unit shall edit grammar, spelling, academic writing style, terminology, and linguistic consistency.

b) Articles published in Vietnamese and/or English shall include bilingual abstracts and keywords that accurately and concisely represent the content of the manuscript.

c) Language editors may improve linguistic quality in accordance with international scholarly publishing standards without altering the scientific meaning or interpretation of the manuscript.

d) The Technical Editing Unit shall be responsible for formatting manuscripts, numbering tables and figures, verifying citations, DOI registration, metadata preparation, and final quality control before publication.

e) For manuscripts written in English, authors are encouraged to use professional academic language-editing services provided by the Journal or recognized international providers to ensure compliance with international publication standards.

Article 14. Final Acceptance, DOI Registration, Metadata Verification, and Publication

1. Final Editorial Approval

a) Following completion of scientific and language editing, manuscripts shall be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief or an authorized Deputy Editor-in-Chief for final publication approval.

b) Before granting final approval, the approving editor shall verify the manuscript's content, formatting, copyright compliance, figures, tables, captions, references, and overall conformity with the Journal's editorial policies and applicable publishing regulations. Additional revisions may be requested where necessary.

c) Final acceptance or rejection shall be based upon the peer-review reports, recommendations of the Subject Editorial Committee, and the authors' final approved version.

d) Before publication, the corresponding author shall review and approve the page proofs within the deadline specified by the Journal.

2. DOI Registration, Crossref Registration, and Metadata Verification

a) Each published article shall be assigned a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registered through Crossref, ensuring permanent identification, accessibility, citation, and international interoperability.

b) The Technical Editorial Office shall register, activate, and verify the DOI and associated metadata, including the article title, author information, institutional affiliations, ORCID iDs, abstract, keywords, references, manuscript history (received, accepted, and published dates), and Open Access license.

c) Article metadata shall comply with Crossref XML and OAI-PMH standards to facilitate indexing and integration with international scholarly databases.

d) Following DOI registration, Crossref will generate a persistent DOI link. The Journal shall verify the accuracy of the DOI, metadata, and PDF files before publication. A DOI shall only be activated for manuscripts that have completed all editorial and publication procedures.

e) Any metadata errors or DOI-related issues identified after publication shall be corrected promptly through Crossref, and a public correction notice shall be published on the Journal's website.

3. Publication and Distribution

a) Following final approval, accepted manuscripts shall be transferred to the Technical Editorial Office for publication processing.

b) Articles shall be published electronically on the Journal's official website. Printed issues shall be produced, deposited in accordance with legal deposit requirements, and distributed by the Vietnam National University of Agriculture Publishing House.

Article 15. Appeals, Complaints, Corrections, and Post-Publication Error Management

1. Appeals and Complaints

a) Authors, reviewers, readers, institutions, or other interested parties may submit appeals or complaints regarding manuscript handling, peer-review reports, editorial decisions, or published content where reasonable grounds exist.

b) Appeals shall be submitted in writing or via the Journal's official email within 15 days of notification of the editorial decision.

c) The Editor-in-Chief shall review all appeals and, where appropriate, establish an independent Appeals Committee consisting of three to five members who have had no prior involvement with the manuscript.

d) A written decision shall normally be issued within 15 working days, explaining the basis and outcome of the appeal.

e) Decisions of the Editor-in-Chief or Appeals Committee shall constitute the Journal's final internal decision without prejudice to any legal rights available under applicable law.

f) All appeals and complaints shall be handled confidentially, fairly, and impartially and shall not prejudice future submissions by the complainant.

2. Post-Publication Corrections

a) Following publication, authors or other parties may request correction of errors relating to scientific content, data, figures, authorship, or publication information.

b) The Editorial Board shall determine the appropriate corrective action, including:

  • Minor Corrections (Errata): typographical, formatting, or technical errors that do not affect the scientific conclusions.
  • Major Corrections (Corrigenda): substantive errors affecting data, methodology, figures, or authorship, which may require confirmation by the authors and, where appropriate, the original reviewers.

c) All corrections shall be published as formal Correction Notices, linked to the original article and indicating the corrected content, the reason for the correction, and the date of publication.

d) Where errors fundamentally compromise the validity of the research, the Journal may retract the article in accordance with Article 16.

e) Corrections shall be reflected simultaneously on the Journal website, DOI records, and Crossref metadata to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.

Article 16. Manuscript Withdrawal, Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

1. Grounds for Withdrawal, Correction, Expression of Concern, and Retraction

Published articles may be retracted where there is clear evidence of:

  • plagiarism, duplicate publication, or redundant publication;
  • fabricated data, falsified results, or manipulated images;
  • violations of research ethics involving humans, animals, biological specimens, or unauthorized data use;
  • serious authorship disputes or undisclosed conflicts of interest;
  • content that substantially misleads the scientific community or the public;
  • violations of national laws relating to sovereignty, state secrets, or other legally protected information.

Before publication, manuscripts may be withdrawn if:

  • the authors request withdrawal for legitimate reasons;
  • publication ethics violations are identified before publication; or
  • the Journal terminates processing because of academic or legal non-compliance.

Where substantial errors can be corrected without invalidating the principal conclusions, the Journal may issue a Correction or publish an updated version instead of retracting the article.

Where serious concerns exist but investigations have not yet concluded, the Journal may publish an Expression of Concern to alert readers.

All post-publication actions shall be conducted in accordance with the Journal's policies and the COPE Retraction Guidelines.

2. Investigation and Public Notification

a) Upon receipt of credible allegations of publication misconduct, the Editor-in-Chief shall establish a Publication Ethics Investigation Committee, which shall normally complete its investigation within 30 working days.

b) Following the investigation, the Editor-in-Chief shall issue a written decision regarding correction, expression of concern, manuscript withdrawal, or article retraction. In exceptionally serious cases, decisions involving article withdrawal, replacement, or retraction shall be reported to the President of the Vietnam National University of Agriculture.

c) Every correction, withdrawal, replacement, or retraction shall be accompanied by a formal public notice published alongside the original article on the Journal's website.

d) Such notices shall clearly state the article title, author(s), DOI, publication details, reason for the action, and the date on which the decision was issued.

e) The Journal shall promptly update the article status and corresponding metadata in Crossref, DOI records, and all relevant indexing databases.

f) The Journal shall retain all investigation records, committee reports, and documentation relating to corrections, withdrawals, expressions of concern, and retractions for a minimum of ten (10) years, ensuring transparency, accountability, and regulatory compliance.