In their role as experts, reviewers are significant to FLC’s mission to uphold and sustain excellent scholarly standards. In their valuable contributions, expert reviewers will observe confidentiality, objectivity, and timeliness.

Confidentiality

Any paper received for review must be treated as a confidential document. They must not be shown to or discussed with others, unless authorized by the Editor-in-Chief. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer-review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Unpublished data and materials discussed and disclosed in a submitted paper shall not be used without the prior express written consent of the author(s).

Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is not neither helpful nor acceptable. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. Reviewers will not consider evaluating papers in which they have a conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the submission.

Reviewers will identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the author(s). They should also call to the Editor-in-Chief’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the paper under consideration and other published material of which they have personal knowledge. Such cases should be accompanied by relevant citation and proper documentation.

Timeliness

A reviewer who feels unqualified to review a paper or knows that its timely review will be impossible should decline the invitation to read the paper and notify the Editor-in-Chief, so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.