Editorial Practices and Procedures for External Peer Review

1. Church Law Review is published four times a year at regular intervals of approximately three months. It is a peer-reviewed scientific journal listed in the List of Peer-reviewed Non-impacted Journals Published in the Czech Republic, which is issued by the Research, Development and Innovation Council of the Government of the Czech Republic.
2. The journal is included in the following scientific journal databases: Web of Science, the European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS), the Central and Eastern European Online Library (CEEOL) and Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals.
3. The electronic address of the publisher spcp@prf.cuni.cz is stated in the colophon of each issue. Authors offer their expert articles for publication by sending them to the aforementioned e-mail address. This address is also stated on the website of the publisher <http://spcp.prf.cuni.cz>, where authors can find out more about the scope and aim of the journal. The website also includes instructions for authors, which they are obligated to follow. Instructions for authors can also be found on the third cover page of each issue.
4. The editor will send confirmation to the author that the article draft has been delivered. If it is obvious that the content of the proposed article does not fit the scope of the journal, or for some other serious reason cannot be included in the editorial programme, the author is notified immediately.
5. An editor studies the draft of the article soon afterwards. The editor checks whether the author followed the instructions for authors, so that the uniformity of each issue is preserved, and also studies the content of the article. If needed, the editor consults with other members of the editorial board on any issues that arise. If necessary, the author is asked to amend or to add to his or her draft. After two months, the prospective inclusion of the article is discussed at the meeting of the editorial board. In the case of preliminary acceptance, the editor or the editorial board selects peer-reviewers. The author is notified about the commencement of the peer-review proceedings.
6. Peer-reviewers (at least two per article) are asked to deliver a written review. The review is mutually anonymous. Peer-reviewers cannot be of the same institution as the author, or have any other conflict of interest. Reviews without the names of peer-reviewers are sent to the author together with the notice about the next steps of the editorial process.
7. In the case that peer-reviewers generally recommend the article to be published in the Church Law Review but also highlight some deficits of the article, or they propose some additions to the article, the author is notified and asked to consider revisions in the finalization of the article.
8. When the peer review proceedings are positively concluded, the editor and the editorial board determine in which issue the article will be published. This decision reflects the desire to cover various topics in one issue of Church Law Review, and also takes into account the order in which article drafts were received. The author is notified about the decision and about the planned date of publication.
9. The editor (editor-in-chief, deputy editor-in-chief, executive editor) and the editorial board are bound to comply with these Rules and Procedures for external peer review. They are monitored by a three-person oversight committee from the publisher of the journal, Church Law Society.
10. Once the issue of the journal is delivered from the printers, administration sends each author at least five copies free of charge. An author fee is not paid.

Prague, 1st August 2019