The flowchart of a submission, editorial process and publication.

General

The entire editorial procedure for a paper - from submission to publication - is automatic and carried out electronically. Hence the time required to process a paper is significantly reduced compared to traditional journals. Typically the time from submission to decision is about a month

Submission

Authors submit their manuscripts via the Internet, S(he) will fill in a template to aid Editorial processing that will capture fields such as Title, Author(s), Affiliation, contact details, Abstract, Subject Area that best describes the paper and upload the complete manuscript in PDF format. They will be requested to use a format, provided as a Microsoft word template as well as Tex file, both downloadable from the website. At the time of the submission the preprint receives a manuscript number [PE-12-01-xxx]which identifies the paper throughout the editorial procedure. After submission the robot automatically assigns the paper to the appropriate editor according to the subject area chosen by the authors to characterise their work, using relevant subject titles from a List. Please note that submitting a paper implies the acceptance of the copyright agreement.

Refereeing

The refereeing procedure is based on the traditional peer review system in which an editor receives the submitted paper, examines it, either referees him/herself or asks one or more of the referees for an opinion, and then decides accordingly. The confidentiality of both the submission and the identity of the referee are guaranteed.

Decision

Editors make their decision according to the PE- Editorial policy. They are ultimately responsible for deciding about papers, although their decision is generally supported by a referee, they choose. As a rule papers are processed as quickly as possible, in proportion to the time required to evaluate their scientific quality.

After acceptance

Chief Editor and the Editorial staff work on the accepted papers, reformat if necessary and compile each issue of the journal as appropriate. Authors may be asked to provide editable MS Word or Latex file for this purpose. Completed issue is published in periodic intervals (presently quarterly) together with an Editorial, distinct Cover page (or a default cover page) with a distinct dateline, Volume number and issue number. Copyright is considered to have been accepted at the time of submission. Published papers are made available to all interested readers on the PE website (and possible mirrors) in PDF format.

After a request for revision

If, following the recommendation of the Referee or otherwise, the editor requires a revision, authors must attend to the modifications requested and provide a new version of their papers within a reasonable time span. Revisions submitted later than 90 days after the editor's decision are handled as new papers, i.e. the original paper is treated as withdrawn and a new procedure begins. They are then reviewed again before a final decision or a further round of revision.

After rejection

Papers are selected, processed and reviewed as fairly as possible, with no discrimination. Authors of papers that have been rejected can appeal and reply to the chief editor. Appeals must be scientifically justified and not polemic.

Author inquiries and appeals

The editorial procedure is clear and reliable. Although editors often and referees always are anonymous, authors can communicate at all times with them through the Executive Office.

Subject Areas for classification of Articles of Physics Education:

1. Mechanics, Special Theory Relativity
2. Electrodynamics
3. Optics
4. Fluid Mechanics
5. Heat, Thermodynamics
6. Quantum Mechanics
7. Atomic and Molecular Physics
8. Statistical Physics
9. Condensed Matter Physics
10. Nuclear Physics
11. Particle Physics
12. Quantum Field Theory
13. Semiconductor Physics, Devices, Electronics
14. Mathematical Physics
15. General Relativity, Gravitation, Cosmology
16. Nano sciences, Nanotechnology
17. Material Science
18. Astrophysics, Astro-particle Physics
19. Teaching Laboratories
20. Geosciences, Biosciences
21. History of Physics
22. Other topics / emerging trends