Article Evaluation Process (For Authors and Reviewers)
The International Journal of Food, Agriculture and Animal Sciences (IJFAA) is an international, peer-reviewed, and scientific journal. The peer-review process is one of the most critical components that determine the scientific quality of the journal. With this awareness of responsibility, the International Journal of Food, Agriculture and Animal Sciences subjects all submitted manuscripts to a three-stage evaluation process.

1. Preliminary Evaluation
In the preliminary evaluation stage, no scientific assessment is conducted on the manuscript. The Editor/Field Editor reviews the manuscript within 7 days and makes a decision after performing the following preliminary checks:
• Verifies whether the manuscript falls within the journal’s scope.
• Checks if the manuscript has been uploaded to the system correctly and completely.
• Reviews whether the manuscript has been prepared according to the journal’s author guidelines.
• Conducts a plagiarism/similarity check.
If the manuscript is outside the journal’s scope, incorrectly/incompletely uploaded, or not prepared according to the author guidelines, the editor may decide to:
• Return the manuscript to the author for necessary corrections, or
• Reject the manuscript.
If plagiarism is detected or suspected, the editor immediately rejects the manuscript and informs the author. Please review the IJFAA Plagiarism Policy for more details.

2. Double-Blind Peer Review
Manuscripts submitted to the International Journal of Food, Agriculture and Animal Sciences undergo plagiarism/similarity screening and preliminary evaluation before being sent for scientific peer review.
The journal employs a double-blind peer-review system, which is recognized as a crucial process for enhancing the quality of academic publications.
In this system, both the reviewer’s and the author’s identities remain confidential, and no direct communication between them is allowed. The manuscript must not contain any statements or symbols that could reveal the author’s identity. Reviewers submit their evaluation reports directly to the editorial office, which then communicates them to the author. All correspondence occurs via the editorial system.
The journal maintains a Scientific Advisory Board and a Reviewer Board composed of faculty members from both domestic and international universities. For each manuscript approved for peer review, at least two expert reviewers are selected based on the subject area. If necessary, the editor may assign reviewers outside these boards.
Reviewers submit their evaluations via the online system using the Reviewer Evaluation Report, indicating one of the following decisions:
• The manuscript is suitable for publication as it is.
• The manuscript can be published after the suggested revisions are made.
• The manuscript should be revised and re-evaluated.
• The manuscript is not suitable for publication.
For a manuscript to be accepted for publication, at least two positive reviewer reports are required.
If one reviewer’s opinion is positive and the other’s is negative, the manuscript is sent to a third reviewer.
If reviewers request revisions, the editor forwards their reports to the corresponding author and asks for the corrections to be submitted within 15 days. Failure to submit revisions within this period may result in rejection by the editor.
The peer-review process concludes when the editor submits two positive reviewer reports to the Editorial Board for final consideration.

3. Final Evaluation
All manuscripts that receive two positive reviewer reports proceed to the final evaluation stage.
At this stage, the Publication Board conducts a final review and makes the “Publishable” decision. The board also determines in which issue the accepted manuscript will appear.

4. Evaluation Timeline
The International Journal of Food, Agriculture and Animal Sciences aims to initiate and complete the publication evaluation process as efficiently as possible.
Under normal circumstances — when no third reviewer is assigned, reviewers do not request to re-evaluate the manuscript, no major revisions are required, and the author submits corrections within one week — the entire process is completed within 6 weeks.