THE PROCESS OF PUBLICATION

SUKUK: International Journal of Banking, Finance, Management and Business operates an international, double-blind peer-review system designed to maintain academic integrity, editorial independence, and transparency throughout the scholarly publication process. Manuscripts undergo a structured workflow comprising initial submission, administrative screening, editorial assessment, independent peer review, editorial decision-making, author revisions where required, and final production and online publication.

The editorial workflow is coordinated by the Managing Editors under the overall supervision of the Editor-in-Chief, with scholarly support from the Editorial Board and independent reviewers. The journal's editorial decisions are informed by the scientific quality, originality, methodological accuracy, relevance, and contribution of submitted manuscripts. The responsibilities of each editorial participant and the stages of the publication process are explained below.

Manuscript Submission and Initial Screening

Authors submit manuscripts electronically through the journal's Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform. Each submission must comply with SUKUK's aims and scope, author guidelines, publication ethics, and manuscript preparation requirements.

Upon submission, the Managing Editors conduct an initial administrative assessment to verify manuscript completeness, formatting, relevant documentation, and compliance with journal policies. This includes checking the manuscript's alignment with the journal's subject areas and screening for potential plagiarism or other ethical concerns. Manuscripts requiring administrative corrections may be returned to authors before proceeding to editorial assessment. Manuscripts that satisfy the preliminary requirements are forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief.

Managing Editors and Editorial Coordination

The Managing Editors are responsible for coordinating the day-to-day editorial workflow and facilitating communication among authors, reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief, and Editorial Board members.

Their responsibilities include overseeing incoming submissions, coordinating administrative screening, facilitating reviewer invitations and correspondence, monitoring manuscript progress, communicating editorial requests to authors, and supporting the timely completion of the publication process. The Managing Editors provide administrative and operational support. Final decisions regarding manuscript acceptance or rejection remain subject to the journal's editorial decision-making procedures.

Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Oversight

The Editor-in-Chief holds overall responsibility for the journal's editorial direction, academic standards, peer-review integrity, and publication decisions. Following the initial administrative screening, the Editor-in-Chief evaluates manuscripts for their relevance to SUKUK's aims and scope, originality, scholarly contribution, methodological suitability, and adherence to publication ethics.

Manuscripts that do not meet the journal's editorial requirements may be rejected at this preliminary stage without external peer review. Manuscripts considered suitable are forwarded for independent peer review, with support from appropriate Editorial Board members where required. The Editor-in-Chief oversees the evaluation of reviewers' recommendations, considers revised manuscripts, and exercises final authority over acceptance, rejection, and publication scheduling.

Editorial Board and Manuscript-Handling Responsibilities

The Editorial Board supports the Editor-in-Chief in maintaining the journal's scholarly standards and international academic perspective. Editorial Board members contribute expertise in banking, finance, management, business, economics, Islamic finance, and related interdisciplinary fields. Where formally assigned to handle a manuscript, an Editorial Board member may assist with assessing subject relevance, identifying appropriate reviewers, evaluating review reports, examining revised submissions, and recommending editorial decisions.

Editorial Board members performing these manuscript-specific responsibilities may be designated as Handling Editors. This designation describes an assigned editorial function rather than a separate permanent editorial rank. The Editor-in-Chief retains final decision-making authority. The appointment of a Handling Editor is based on subject-matter expertise, availability, and the absence of conflicts of interest. Editorial Board membership does not automatically imply responsibility for handling every submitted manuscript.

Double-Blind Peer Review and Reviewers

All manuscripts progressing beyond editorial screening undergo a double-blind peer-review process involving at least two qualified expert reviewers. Under this arrangement, authors' identities are concealed from reviewers, and reviewers' identities are concealed from authors during the evaluation process. Reviewers are selected according to their academic expertise, research experience, suitability for the manuscript's subject matter, and independence from the authors. Reviewers must disclose potential conflicts of interest and maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts and review reports.

Reviewers evaluate submitted manuscripts according to their originality, research contribution, theoretical foundation, methodology, analytical accuracy, clarity of presentation, interpretation of findings, and relevance to the journal's scope. Each reviewer provides an independent assessment and recommendations concerning the manuscript's suitability for publication, including acceptance, revision, or rejection. Reviewer recommendations are advisory and do not independently constitute the journal's final editorial decision.

Editorial Decisions and Manuscript Revision

Following completion of peer review, the editorial assessment considers reviewers' reports and the manuscript's overall scholarly quality.

The possible editorial outcomes are:

• Acceptance: The manuscript meets the journal's publication requirements and may proceed to production.
• Minor Revision: The manuscript requires limited corrections, clarifications, or improvements before final consideration.
• Major Revision: Substantial changes to the manuscript's content, methodology, analysis, argumentation, or presentation are necessary.
• Rejection: The manuscript does not sufficiently satisfy the journal's academic or publication requirements.

Where revisions are requested, authors must address the reviewers' and editors' comments and submit an appropriately revised manuscript. The revised submission is reassessed by the editorial team and may be returned to the original or additional reviewers where further independent evaluation is necessary. A revision request does not guarantee subsequent acceptance. The final editorial decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief after consideration of the available scholarly assessments

Copyediting, Language Editing, and Production

Following acceptance, manuscripts enter the production stage, which includes copyediting, language editing, typesetting, layout preparation, and proofreading. The journal's designated Language and Copy Editor supports the editorial preparation of accepted manuscripts. Copyediting and language editing focus on improving readability, grammatical accuracy, terminology, academic presentation, consistency, and adherence to the journal's formatting and referencing requirements without altering the substantive findings or arguments of the research. Subsequently, accepted manuscripts are prepared for publication in the journal's designated digital formats. Proofreading provides a final opportunity to identify typographical errors, formatting inconsistencies, and production-related issues before release.

Online Publication and Archiving

Following the completion of editorial and production procedures, accepted manuscripts are prepared for online publication through the SUKUK journal platform. Articles may be made available through an online-first publication arrangement where such a procedure is implemented, followed by formal allocation to the relevant journal issue. Published articles are included in the journal's online archive to support accessibility, scholarly dissemination, and long-term discoverability.

The Editor-in-Chief oversees the publication sequence and issue allocation, taking into account the journal's editorial planning and publication schedule.

Editorial Independence, Confidentiality, and Accountability

SUKUK is committed to maintaining editorial independence, fairness, confidentiality, and transparency throughout the publication process. Editorial assessments are based on academic merit, relevance, research quality, ethical compliance, and independent expert evaluation.

Editors and reviewers are expected to disclose conflicts of interest and maintain the confidentiality of unpublished manuscripts. When an editorial participant has a conflict of interest involving a submission, responsibility for the manuscript should be reassigned to an appropriate independent editor. The Managing Editors coordinate editorial administration; designated Handling Editors provide manuscript-specific scholarly assessment where assigned; independent reviewers provide expert evaluations; and the Editor-in-Chief retains overall responsibility for final editorial decisions.

This division of responsibilities is intended to ensure that manuscript handling, peer-review evaluation, editorial judgment, and publication preparation remain clearly defined and accountable.