Editorial & Publication Process

All manuscripts submitted to Virtual Economics are processed through the journal’s online editorial management system in accordance with recognised standards of scholarly publishing, transparency and editorial independence.

Upon submission, the editorial office performs an initial technical and administrative screening to ensure that the manuscript is complete and complies with the journal’s formal requirements, including authorship information, affiliations, funding statements and conflict-of-interest declarations. Manuscripts that do not meet these basic requirements may be returned to the authors for correction prior to editorial evaluation.

The Editor-in-Chief or an assigned editor then conducts an initial editorial assessment to determine whether the submission falls within the aims and scope of the journal and demonstrates an appropriate level of academic quality, originality and clarity. Submissions that are clearly outside the scope of the journal, insufficiently original or not meeting scholarly standards may be rejected at this stage without external peer review.

All manuscripts are screened using recognised similarity-detection software, including iThenticate and StrikePlagiarism. Submissions indicating plagiarism, redundant publication or serious ethical concerns are rejected in accordance with the journal’s publication ethics policies.

Manuscripts that pass the initial assessment are assigned to a handling editor with relevant subject expertise and no conflicts of interest. The handling editor oversees the review process and all communication with authors and reviewers. The journal operates a double-blind peer review system in which both authors and reviewers remain anonymous. Each manuscript is evaluated by at least two independent reviewers selected on the basis of expertise, research competence and independence from the authors and their institutions.

Reviewers assess the originality of the work, methodological soundness, theoretical contribution, clarity of presentation and relevance to the journal. On the basis of the reviewers’ reports, the handling editor makes a recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief. The editorial decision may be acceptance, minor revision, major revision or rejection. Revised manuscripts may be returned to reviewers for further evaluation where appropriate. The final decision regarding publication is taken by the Editor-in-Chief.

After acceptance, the manuscript enters the production stage. The publisher carries out copyediting, typesetting, reference checking and preparation of the article metadata. Authors are provided with page proofs and are responsible for reviewing the proofs and correcting typographical errors prior to publication.

Following author approval, the article is published online as the Version of Record and assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). All articles are made immediately and permanently available as open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0). Article metadata are deposited with Crossref and disseminated to indexing and abstracting services.

After publication, Virtual Economics maintains the integrity of the scholarly record. Where necessary, the journal may issue corrections, addenda, expressions of concern, retractions or removal notices in accordance with the journal’s Corrections, Retractions and Article Removal Policy.