(Revised on December 13, 2025)

1. This explains the peer review process performed by the Editorial Board of the Human Geographical Society of Japan (hereafter the Editorial Board). In general, Articles, Reviews, Research Notes, and Focuses are all to be peer-reviewed. However, the Editorial Board may also solicit members or non-members of the Society to contribute papers (Reviews, Focuses, or as special contributions) by mutual agreement. These solicited papers may be accepted for publication after minor modifications based on a formality check by the Editorial board.

2. Contributors are requested to submit their manuscripts to the Editorial Board. Manuscripts must arrive no later than 24 days prior to an editorial conference concerned. The editorial conference is to be held six times a year (normally January, March, May, July, September, and November). The exact date of the conference will be announced in every first issue of the Japanese Journal of Human Geography and on the website of the Human Geographical Society of Japan.

3. Upon submission of a manuscript to be peer-reviewed, the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Editor deliberately choose referees based on their area of expertise. The referees shall comprise at least two members, including one editorial board member and one non-editorial member from the Human Geography Society of Japan. All referees must be selected from individuals who have no conflict of interest with the paper in question.

4. The referees evaluate the manuscript fairly in accordance with the “Notes for Contributors of English Papers.”

5. After evaluation, the referees will submit separate peer review reports to the Editorial Board. In the evaluation stage, referees must not discuss their evaluation results with each other. Results are graded on a scale of Grade S, Grade A, Grade B, Grade C, or Grade D. The meaning of these grades is explained in the “Grades of Peer Review Results.” 

6. The Editorial Board finally determines peer review results at the editorial conference. Contributors will be notified of the results immediately after the conference.

7. The Editorial Board will repeat the above process until a manuscript is accepted or rejected. Contributors must inform the Editorial Board immediately when they wish to withdraw their manuscripts after submission.

8. Contributors of solicited papers may be requested to modify their manuscripts based on a formality check by the Editorial Board.

9. The date of reception refers to the day when a new manuscript arrives at the Editorial Board. The date of acceptance refers to the day when the manuscript is approved with Grade S or Grade A at the editorial conference. These dates will be indicated on the first page of the published paper.