University of Sindh Journal of Animal Sciences (USJAS) follows a full double-blind peer review process, comprising the following steps:

• All papers submitted to the (USJAS) are first examined by an Editor for the initial review. The editor may assign to experts to review the quality and scope of the submitted manuscript. If the article fails to meet the journal criteria, the paper is rejected immediately and authors are notified.

• Once the paper is submitted, the editor ensures that the paper follows the double-blind review policy. If the author names are found, then the author name(s) and affiliation(s) are removed from the paper and updated version is uploaded on the system by the editor.

• Every submitted article is checked for the Similarity report by the Editor, before forwarding it to the reviewers. Turnitin website is used by the journal as prescribed by Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, to check the similarity of paper. As per HEC policy, in case manuscript has been found to have a similarity index of more than 19% it will be immediately either returned back to the author for correction and resubmission, or will be rejected and archived. This decision is made by the editor, based on the similarity ratio. (Please Note that the parameters for similarity check involve, Add to No Repository, Exclude Bibliography, Exclude Quoted Text).

• If the paper satisfies the criteria, then the editor will send the article to at least (02) reviewers for review. Each article will be reviewed by at least 01 National and 01 International reviewer with a double-blind, peer review policy.

• Reviewers are recruited from the national and international universities having a PhD with reputed research profile (checked through Google Scholar , Research Gate and Web of Science) for the given area/ field of submitted article.

• Each reviewer is initially invited to review the article showing them the article title and abstract only. Upon acceptance of the review request the full paper is presented and a review form is used to record their feedback and suggestions through online management system.

• The reviewers' recommendations will determine whether to “Accept Submission”, “Revision required”, “Resubmit for Review” or “Decline Submission”. The final decision if made by the Editor based on the reviewers’ report.

• Once the decision has been made, the review response - including the review form and suggestion, are sent to all authors of the article with editorial decision.

• For the papers which require only revisions, the editor will re-review the paper for ensuring that the reviewer’s suggestions have been incorporated or not.

• For papers that require resubmission for review, will undergo second Round of review by the same or different reviewers to ensure that the quality of the revised paper is acceptable.

• After final Acceptance, the Author/Corresponding author will be notified and paper will be forwarded to Publication Manager/Editorial Assistant for copy-editing, layout editing and proof reading.