Democratic Theory is a refereed journal. Submissions are considered on the understanding that the article is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. At submission, the Managing Editor will read your article. If it is deemed within scope for the journal and of sufficient quality, it will be assigned to an Editor in Chief and a Secondary Editor. Your article will be returned if scope or quality are deemed insufficient by the Managing Editor. After desk clearance, both assigned editors will read your article to determine if it is of sufficient quality and relevance to send out for anonymous peer review. If so, submissions will be sent to at least two qualified scholars in a double-anonymous procedure. If not, your article may receive comments from the Editors to bring it to the expected quality for peer-review. Once the reviews are returned, the two editors will determine whether submissions can be (a) published without corrections; (b) published with minor corrections; (c) revised and resubmitted; (d) rewritten and resubmitted with a new identifier; or (e) rejected. Submissions in category (b) will be given up to four weeks to finalize revisions. Submissions in category (c) will be given up to twelve weeks to finalize revisions. They will then be resubmitted to at least one of the original anonymous referees and both editors. A final decision will be made no later than two weeks after this final submission takes place. 

Appeals

To appeal an editorial decision, contact the Editor and specify the reason for your appeal. Your appeal will be reviewed by the Editor together with another member of the editorial team who was not involved in the review of the manuscript. The final decision regarding your appeal will rest with the Editor.