Peer Review 

The peer review process is a fundamental step in ensuring the quality, integrity, and scientific credibility of academic publications. In essence, peer-reviewed (or refereed) journals rely on an editorial board of subject matter experts to critically evaluate submitted manuscripts prior to acceptance.

While specific procedures vary across journals, the peer review process generally follows a set of standard steps (see illustration).

Note: Journals that do not implement a peer review process are typically not indexed in major bibliographic and citation databases, such as Web of Science and Scopus.

FAO is strengthening its efforts to institutionalize peer review across its publications. The Publications Board has formally endorsed peer review as an integral component of the publishing process, overseen by the relevant Editorial Committees. For further information, please contact the FAO Publications Division.

In accordance with the  FAO POLICY ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, all FAO personnel must comply with the intellectual property provisions related to publishing activities. Once a manuscript has been accepted by a journal, the author should contact the Copyright Team in OCCP to obtain guidance on securing the appropriate licensing agreement.

Open Access 

Open Access publishing has gained a lot of momentum across the academic community. Major publishers usually provide Open Access options. Some journals are uniformly Open Access, offering academic content up to the research community as a global public good. Other journals provide hybrid solutions, allowing individual articles to be published Open Access for a fee, or allowing post-review manuscripts to be published in institutional repositories following a designated embargo period.    

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a reputable source for identifying quality, peer-reviewed, Open Access journals from around the world. It includes information on publishing fees, copyright, and publishing time frames.  

Sherpa Romeo is another useful tool. It provides simple summaries of journal copyright and Open Access archiving policies in one database.  

Both Sherpa Romeo and DOAJ are Open Access. 

Finding a Journal 

Reputable journals can be found a few ways:  

Web of Science (WoS) – FAO Staff has access to WoS, a database which indexes only high-quality, peer-reviewed publications. Users may consult the following tools through the WoS “Products” tab:  

Master Journal List – This tool includes a “Manuscript Matcher”, which allows researchers to enter the title and abstract from their manuscripts to match with the best, and most relevant, journals indexed in Web of Science.      

Journal Citation Reports (JCR) – Researchers can use the JCR to identify the most highly cited journals in their field and gain a better understanding of the journals specializing in their area of study. 

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) – mentioned above, is a good source for finding Open Access journals specifically. 

Predatory Journals 

Researchers must be aware of predatory publishers. These journals are of low quality and can be fraudulent, charging mysterious handling fees and making misleading claims about journal quality.  Predatory journals tend to reach out via email and offer easy publishing options. Inclusion in a predatory journal can harm both the academic reputation of the researcher and affiliated institution. A list of potential predatory journals can be found here.