Krakowskie Studia Międzynarodowe / Krakow International Studies

Submission and Peer Review Procedure ↑

All manuscripts submitted to Krakowskie Studia Międzynarodowe / Krakow International Studies are subject to a rigorous, multi-stage editorial and peer-review procedure designed to ensure high substantive quality and compliance with international ethical standards.

Manuscript Submission ↑

Authors submit their article/manuscript via the Open Journal Systems platform:

Online Submissions

Initial Editorial Assessment ↑

Upon submission, the Managing Editor conducts a preliminary formal evaluation, focusing in particular on:

• alignment with the journal’s thematic scope (international relations, political science, global processes, international law, etc.),
• completeness of the files (anonymized manuscript with abstracts and keywords, title page containing author identification details),
• formatting of references to literature, legal acts, and case law in accordance with the journal’s editorial style.

If these requirements are not met, the article is returned to the Authors with a request for correction and/or completion.

Manuscripts that fulfill the formal requirements are forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor-in-Chief for an initial substantive evaluation.

If the article falls outside the journal's thematic scope or fails to meet basic academic quality standards – including a lack of originality, scientific potential, or proper engagement with relevant literature – a desk rejection decision is made. The Editorial Team is not obliged to provide detailed justifications for rejections issued at the initial screening stage.

Plagiarism Screening ↑

Articles positively evaluated from a substantive perspective are submitted for plagiarism detection screening (utilizing systems such as Plagiat.pl).

A high similarity index or a lack of source citations results in manuscript rejection. The journal does not apply rigid percentage thresholds for plagiarism; each similarity report is individually analyzed and evaluated by the Editorial Team.

Articles that successfully pass the plagiarism screening are forwarded to the peer review stage.

Peer Review Process ↑

Texts qualified for the next stage undergo a double-blind peer review process:

• reviewers do not know the identity of the Authors,
• Authors do not know the identity of the reviewers.

The Editorial Team appoints at least two independent reviewers affiliated with institutions other than those of the manuscript’s Authors. Reviewers are selected based on their expertise in the specific field and the absence of any conflict of interest.

Review Preparation ↑

Reviewers evaluate manuscripts using a standardized review form, taking into account, inter alia:

• substantive value of the work,
• adequacy of the title to the subject matter,
• relevance and timeliness of the topic,
• originality of the approach,
• appropriateness of the research methodology,
• formulation of final conclusions,
• use of literature and sources,
• language and stylistic quality.

The review concludes with one of the following recommendations:

• accept without revisions,
• accept pending revisions,
• reject manuscript.

Every recommendation must be thoroughly justified. The deadline for completing the review in the first round is 31 days; in the second and subsequent rounds (if applicable), the deadline is 14 days.

Editorial Recommendation and Final Decision ↑

Based on the received reviews, the Editorial Team formulates a recommendation. The final and binding decision to accept or reject a manuscript rests solely with the Editorial Team.

The procedure operates as follows:

• Acceptance without reservations – both reviews are positive and contain no substantive comments. The Editorial Team decides to accept the text.
• Revisions required – Authors are required to revise the manuscript in accordance with the reviewers' comments or to provide a substantive and reasoned justification if they disagree with a specific comment. The revised submission must be prepared in accordance with the requirements specified in the section "Preparation and Submission of Revised Files." The Editorial Team verifies whether the Authors have implemented the reviewers' recommendations. At the reviewer's request, the article may be sent out for re-review.
• One negative review – the Editorial Team decides whether to reject the manuscript or send it to a third reviewer, whose opinion will serve as the basis for further decisions.
• Two negative reviews – the manuscript is rejected. A revision procedure is not permitted following two negative reviews.

Notifying Authors ↑

Authors receive the editorial decision via the OJS platform. The decision is accompanied by anonymized review reports and editorial feedback, where applicable. Authors do not receive any information that could reveal the identity of the reviewers.

The editorial decision outlines the outcome of the manuscript evaluation, such as acceptance, rejection, or the necessity of revisions. If revisions are required, the decision also specifies the deadline for submitting the revised files.

Detailed requirements regarding the preparation and submission of revised files can be found in the next section: Preparation and Submission of Revised Files.

Preparation and Submission of Revised Files ↑

If the editorial decision requires revisions, Authors are obliged to prepare and submit the revised manuscript within the timeframe specified by the Editorial Team. The purpose of the revision stage is to clearly demonstrate how the manuscript has been modified in response to the feedback provided by reviewers and editors.

At the revision stage, Authors must submit the following anonymized files:

• revised manuscript with clearly marked changes – modifications should be tracked using change-tracking mode, including comments addressing the reviewers' feedback, particularly in cases of disagreement on substantive matters;
• point-by-point response to the reviewers' and editors' comments – the response must separately address each individual comment;
• clean version of the revised manuscript – a version free of comments and change-tracking marks, treated by the author as the final revised version submitted to the journal.

Submitting non-anonymized files or files that fail to meet the above requirements constitutes a violation of the double-blind peer review rules. The Editorial Team reserves the right to return such submissions for correction without further processing or, in justified cases, to reject the manuscript on formal grounds.

Final Acceptance for Publication ↑

Following the verification of the revised manuscript and its formal acceptance by the Editorial Team, the text is forwarded for copyediting.

Copyediting and Author Authorization ↑

Upon completion of the peer review process, articles are forwarded for copyediting. Subsequently, Authors receive the copyedited text for authorization of the introduced changes. Failure to respond within the deadline set by the copyeditor implies consent to publish the article in its edited form.

The Editorial Team reserves the right to propose amendments resulting from its own evaluation and/or the reviewers' feedback, and to make the publication of the article conditional upon their implementation.

Any doubts concerning the manuscript arising during the editorial work conducted by the Publisher, including copyediting or authorization, shall be finally resolved by the Editorial Team.

Typesetting and Proofreading ↑

Once the implemented changes are accepted, the article proceeds to typesetting and subsequent proofreading conducted by the Publisher. Authors receive a PDF file for re-authorization only in the event of modifications affecting the substantive content of the article. For strictly technical corrections, the article is published on the journal's website after such corrections are applied.

Publication ↑

Articles are published on the journal's website and indexed in relevant academic databases. All articles are made available in open access under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

Publication Fees ↑

The journal does not charge any article submission or publication fees. The costs of preparing the article for publication are entirely covered by the Publisher.