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   Referee Guidelines

HHA accepts original research papers which contain significant new results of interest to the community. See the Aims and Scope page for a description of the subject areas covered.

A referee report should evaluate each paper based on the following criteria:

  • Correctness.
  • Significance of the results.
  • Originality of the results or methods.
  • Interest of the results.
  • Clarity and style of the exposition.
In addition, the referee should give due consideration to the following issues:
  • Is the length commensurate with the significance and interest?
  • Does the author adequately cite other related work?

The number of articles submitted to HHA has been increasing and we currently have a backlog of accepted articles, so we ask referees to adhere to very high standards when evaluating submissions. In particular, long articles should contain results of great interest to the community, and the referee should consider whether a long article would be more focused if some parts were removed. For example, a paper of more than 30 pages should only be accepted if it is truly significant, and a paper of more than 40 pages should only be accepted in exceptional situations. (These page counts refer to papers in HHA format; a 25 page paper with narrow margins could easily exceed 30 pages when typeset with hha.cls.) It is possible for tabular data, computer code, or other similar material to be omitted from the print publication but be made available for download from the HHA website.

We ask that the report give a clear recommendation:

  • Accept.
  • Accept with revisions.
  • Resubmit with revisions, to be evaluated again.
  • Reject.
The handling editor may consult more than one referee and has the final say on acceptance or rejection. The exception is that for articles over 30 pages, the handling editor should consult with the Managing Editors before acceptance (and possibly before requesting substantial revisions).

We ask that referees respond promptly to referee requests, saying whether they agree to handle the paper and when they expect to complete the report. Ideally reports will be done within 6 weeks, but for longer or more technical papers, the referee can request more time. If the referee can quickly judge that the paper is not appropriate for publication in HHA, a short note to this effect will suffice.

If a potential referee has close connections or conflict of interest with the author, he or she should decline to referee the paper.

We thank our referees for all of the hard work they do to make the journal a success.

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