All Unsolicited Contributions to Disputatio are triple-blind refereed: the names and institutional affilliations of authors are not revealed to the Editors, the editorial committee and editorial board, or to the referees. Without the prior permission of the Editors, referees and Board members will not show to other people material supplied to them for evaluation. All published submissions have been anonymously reviewed by at least two referees.

The evaluation process has up to five sequential stages, as follows:

• • Preliminary vetting by a member of the Editorial committee.

• • Refereeing, 1

• • Refereeing, 2 (referees may be members of the Editorial Board, or indicated by members of the Editorial Board or the Advisory Board).

• • Scrutiny of submission and referees’ reports by the Editors.

• • Scrutiny of submission, referee’s reports and Editors’ opinion by members of the Editorial committee.

• • Final decision by the Editors.

A paper may be rejected, or returned to the corresponding author for revision, at any stage in this process. Successful completion of each stage will lead to the next. Authors should note that positive referees’ reports are not a sufficient condition for acceptance. The Editors take the final decision about acceptance.

In recent years, Disputatio has accepted about 12% of submission. Our average reply time is currently 3 months.

The Editors (Joao Branquinho and Teresa Marques) and members of the Editorial Committee will not submit Articles or be commissioned to write Critical Notices during their term of office. (They may submit replies to Articles or Discussion Notes that involve their work. In this case, they will not participate in the process of assessmnt, and an Associate Editor or member of the Editorial Committee will serve as Prosy Editor Throughout the process.)
If a member of the Editorial Board submits an Article, a Discussion Note, or is commissioned to write a Critical Notice, then s/he will not be involved, in any way, in the assessment process. The Editors will not participate in the evaluation of material submitted by a close colleague, joint grant holder, former student, etc.