All submissions to Media Theory are double-blind peer-reviewed (meaning that the identity of both authors and reviewers are known only to the editors), so contributors should take care to remove any obvious indications of authorship; when citing your own work, replace your name with ‘Author’ in both the body of the text and in the references.
Once an article is received, the editors assign at least two external peer-reviewers whose research interests correspond to those covered in the article. Some members of the journal’s editorial board will also be asked to comment on the article. Referees and board members are asked to send their comments to the editors within 3 weeks. Once all comments have been received, the editors make a decision, often in liaison with additional members of the board, before contacting authors with the decision and feedback. This refereeing process normally takes 2-3 months.
Articles may be accepted or rejected, though in most cases revisions will be requested prior to formal acceptance, or substantial revisions may be required before a final decision can be made. Authors asked to make revisions will normally be given 6 weeks to do so (though this varies depending on the extent of revisions required). In some cases, the revised article will be returned to the original referees for their comments. The editor’s/editors’ decision is final.
Editorial decision categories are as follows:
ACCEPT: The article is accepted in its current form and authors will be asked to provide a final version before copyediting begins.
ACCEPT WITH MINOR REVISIONS: The article is accepted subject to satisfactory completion of specified and minor changes. The subsequent revised version will not need to be resent for peer-review.
REVISE: The article cannot yet be accepted, until the required revisions have been made. The subsequent revised version of the article will be sent back to the original set of peer-reviewers for further feedback before an editorial decision can be made.
REJECT: The article is rejected and there will be no further consideration of the article.