We send electronic or paper copies of manuscripts for anonymous review by three reviewers: usually members of Arête’s editorial review board but occasionally guest reviewers with special expertise or members of the College of Social Work faculty.

We ask each reviewer to evaluate the following aspects of a manuscript:

- Relevance to the social work profession (i.e., will appeal to wide audience or a significant specialized audience)

- Contribution to the profession’s knowledge base (e.g., original research, develops a conceptual framework or practice model)

- Quality of scholarship:

-- Clear statement of research issue, question or hypothesis;

-- Appropriate background, history or literature review;

-- Appropriate selection and adequate description of research methods;

-- Addresses limitations,

-- Well-developed discussion and conclusions consistent with the body of the manuscript;

-- Suggestions for further study

- Clarity of presentation:

-- Organization

-- Writing style (e.g., paragraph structure, grammar, no unnecessary jargon)?

-- American Psychological Assocation (5th ed.) style

-- Conciseness

- Values and ethics (e.g., consistent with NASW Code of Ethics; no biased or stereotypic language):

Considering the above criteria, the journal editor makes a disposition based on the comments and recommendations made by reviewers and on his own reading of a manuscript. The usual dispositions include the following: 1) reject, 2) reject but invite the author(s) to revise and resubmit, 3) conditional acceptance, and 4) acceptance. With the disposition letter, we send copies of the reviewer comments. The initial manuscript review process generally takes up to three months.

Upon publication of a manuscript, we send each author two complimentary copies of the issue in which it appears.