Open Access Policy

Open Access refers to the unrestricted access to online published content. Research published under the Open Access model is freely and permanently available on the internet. This model allows anyone and everyone to use, download, distribute or modify the content, provided that the original source is properly cited.

All the work published under Rivera Publications is under Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which allows reader to copy, distribute, display, perform the work, and make derivatives, only if the original source/author is properly credited.

Rivera Publications is a strong supporter of Open Access, and we are adamant on providing a solution to the existing serial crisis and the restrictions on the research dissemination using the traditional subscription policy. We believe that removing barriers from the distribution of published research will help accelerate research and open doors to innovation. At Rivera Publication, under Open Access, we particularly target low- and middle-income countries, where public universities and libraries are facing stubborn challenge of subscriptions owing to the rising subscription costs, gain unrestricted access to published research.

Rivera Publications charge a minimal processing fee for publication of research work, which accounts for costs involved in peer-review, hosting and maintenance, online archiving, and processing of the submitted papers. We follow a robust and transparent peer-review process in order to ensure quality of the published content. The Article Processing Charge (APC) has been kept very low so as to allow researchers from under-developed and developing countries publish and share their work on a global scale.

Peer Review Policy

Journals published by Rivera Publications aim at disseminating research on a global level. To achieve this, we make sure that all articles undergo rigorous peer review prior to their publication in our journals.

Reviewers are selected from the worldwide research community following a thorough scrutinization. Unbiased consideration is given to all submitted manuscripts regardless of the authors' race, gender, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, political philosophy, sexual orientation, age or reputation.

Invitation to Referee a Manuscript

All publications in our journals undergo double-blind peer review process, where authors and reviewers remain anonymous to each other. Reviewers should consider any potential conflict of interest before agreeing to referee a manuscript and should contact the editorial office to declare such conflicts, such as:

• if you are working or have worked with one of the authors
  
• if you are in direct competition with the author(s)
  
• if you are unable to provide an objective review of the submitted work
  
• if you are in a position to exploit the submitted work commercially or otherwise
  

Reviews and Anonymity

Reviews submitted on the manuscript are sent to the authors along with the Editor's decision letter. The reviews are sent only after stripping off any information that inadvertently reveal reviewer's identity. However, at times, the reviews may undergo minor editing for clarity or to remove typographical errors.

Reviewer identity is kept anonymous from the authors; however, the same may be disclosed to journal Editors. Similarly, author identity is not shared with the reviewers throughout the review process.

Peer Review

All the manuscripts submitted to Rivera Publications are subjected to rigorous peer-review process, in order to ensure that only relevant and authentic research with proper evidences is published. All the submitted work undergoes double-blind peer review process, and all the revisions are carried out as per the recommendations made by the field-experts.

Peer Review Process

Every manuscript submitted for publication is read by an Editor, for an initial review. If the Editor feels that the paper agrees with the editorial policies and with a minimum quality level, it is sent to at least two reviewers. The reviewers will evaluate the manuscript on different levels and share their opinion with the Editor. Based on the recommendations made by the reviewers and Editor's own evaluation, the Editor will recommend a final publication decision (accept, reject, revise). Editorial office has no role in recommending or taking part in publication decision.

The final decision is based on the recommendations made by the reviewers and Editor’s own evaluation.

• To accept the paper without any changes (Accept)
  
• To accept the paper after certain major or minor revisions (Revise)
  
• To reject the paper, but encouraging revision and inviting for re-submission (Reject and Resubmit)
  
• To reject outright without any consideration (Desk Reject)
  

Turnaround Time

Unlike, other publishers, we focus on thorough and quality peer-review, double checking the quality before publishing any data/results.

All the submitted work first undergoes an initial screening and pre-review check for plagiarism. If the paper is approved at this stage, it is forwarded to the Editor, who then assigns the paper to reviewers. However, if at this stage, any type of plagiarism is detected by Editors/Reviewers, the paper is sent back to authors for revision or rejected depending upon the quantity of similarity, which is again the sole decision of the Editor.

The Editor might ask the Editorial Office to locate and assign reviewers; however, the researched reviewers’ details are shared with the Editors prior to inviting. Only when the Editor approves the reviewers, an invitation is sent to these reviewers to referee the manuscript.

The whole process might take considerable time, and, also, since we are dealing with external scholars here, a timely response is never guaranteed. However, we make sure that each step is completed within the speculated time frame so as not to delay the author.

Revisions

Editor decision and reviewers recommendations are shared with the authors for manuscripts receiving revise decisions for revision. After the revised paper is submitted, it is sent to the original reviewers if they are available to conduct the second round of the peer review. However, if the original reviewers are not available, new field experts are invited, and, should they choose to evaluate the revised manuscript, recommendations made by the reviewers on the original manuscript are shared and the reviewers are clearly explained of the updates on this revised paper.

The authors might feel that the process might take a lot of time before the final publication, but, at Rivera Publications, we are adamant on maintaining quality of the journal by publishing only relevant and significant research.

Affordable Publication Charges

Rivera Publications follow the open access model of academic publishing. Since we follow a rigorous peer review process, the acceptance rate of submitted papers remains very low. The costs associated with review process, post acceptance processing, archive maintenance and hosting have to be covered in order to create a sustainable model. Authors are required to pay an article processing fee which will accommodate these costs. However, the article processing charge (APC) has been kept very low so as to increase participation of researchers from all over the world, especially those lacking any institutional funding.

Article Promotion

Sharing research with wider audience helps authors increase visibility of their research in their fields. Not only does this help get more citations, it enables authors promote research and cultivate stronger reputation among their peers. Thus sharing article is one of the most critical components of research, and it should be done responsibly so as to get most out it.

At Rivera Publications, we make sure that your research reaches the audience it deserves—which is also in line with the objective of open access publishing model.

With the advent of social media, no information is hidden. With our #socialmedia share program, all the published articles are shared on major social media websites.

As an author, you will be benefited in the following ways:

• Integrity of your research is not compromised
  
• You will receive credit—authors will be cited for every article shared
  
• Share network—a customized article link is shared with authors that can be used as and when required
  

How will sharing help us as a Publisher?

Article sharing, in line with copyrights, helps us maintain the quality of our journals. We support responsible article sharing on different platforms, and we do this on after obtaining author's consent.

While increased visibility helps authors in numerous ways, it helps us increase citations for our published articles, which eventually enables us sustain high-quality journals.

Rivera Research Digest

Rivera Research Digest program has been designed to increase visibility of articles discussing groundbreaking research. It is a collection of summaries of original research papers (not reviews or case reports) that significantly contribute toward a specific, groundbreaking topic and have a social impact.

The summaries or layman translations will be published on a quarterly basis as separate issue. The summaries will help increase visibility of published research, improve engagement and benefit wider society.

Post Acceptance Services

Have a pressing deadline? Language or formatting issue preventing your paper from getting published? Try our in-house Language Editing Service.

Authors can use our Language Editing Service before submitting their paper to any journal of their choice. Authors interested in publishing with us, we strongly recommend them to use our language editing service before submitting their manuscript. For details, please visit our Editing page.